This adorable video shows the moment tot Amelia Batiz didn’t recognize her own daddy – after he shaved off the beard he’d worn for her entire life.
Amelia’s dad Jeremy, a 32-year-old contracting officer, has donned a beard for most of his adult life, and even his wife Sofia had only seen him without it once before.
“I didn’t know that he was going to shave it off that day either,” said Sofia, 36, a professional photographer who lives with Amelia, Jeremy and their son 11-year-old Adyan in Tucson, Arizona.
“He just asked me to get the camera rolling on my phone and then he walked out of the bathroom.
“It was a big shock for Amelia and for me!
“Ever since Amelia was born daddy always had a beard, so when it was gone she had absolutely no idea who he was.
“The expression she made was priceless, it was a disgusted face, like, ‘eeew get away from me.’”
After the big reveal 14-month-old Amelia remained very skeptical of the “strange new man” in her house.
“It took about half a day before she realized that this strange new man was actually daddy,” said Sofia.
“She kept ignoring him and running over to me, my mom or my brother instead, he was a complete stranger to her for a while.
“He was trying to do all the things that he always does with her, like he takes her out to get the mail with him every day, but she was suspicious.
“It wasn’t until he read her favorite book to her that she finally caught on, he always reads it to her in this special way, so she twigged.”
Now the rest of the family are trying to adjust to a beardless Jeremy.
“Jeremy always has a beard, he had a beard when I met him so it was a big change for all of us,” said Sofia.
“He looks ten years younger, my son says he looks like a college student now, my mom said he looks like a teenager.”
Thankfully Amelia and Jeremy are back to being best chums again.
“Once she realized it was daddy under there they went right back to how they always are, it just took her a while.”
