Other Mamas...

[jgoo]

Looking for some creative ways to help the kids deal with Daddy being gone for Basic & Tech.

Jack is almost 3 and Lily is 18 months.

I'm going to work on a video of DH and the kids playing, so they can watch a "Daddy movie" while he is gone. But I'm kind of stumped on what else I can do.

Any ideas?

[softspot]

You can record him reading stories to them too.

[NomadicMama]

You can put together albums/books of photographs. DH and I had pictures taken by OpLove before he deployed in 2009. They gave us a small book of pictures. My three year old son enjoys looking through it

I got my son a Daddy Doll. www.daddydolls.com. DH doesn't have to be in uniform.

I agree with recording DH reading their favorite books. My son loves his Daddy DVD.

Also, remember to get in the videos, of the family playing, and pictures, too. The kids will benefit from seeing you with their Daddy too.

Good luck!

[jgoo]

Thanks ladies! Great ideas, especially the book reading.

[drunkpeggy]

Once you get a window for homecoming do a countdown chain. It gets the kids involved and gives them a concrete understanding of how much time is left.

[NomadicMama]

Jul 18, 2012 18:44:18 GMT -5 jgoo said:

Thanks ladies! Great ideas, especially the book reading.

Get your DH to read as many books as you can. DH read five books. I wish we had recorded 25 books!

[nsl]

Jul 18, 2012 19:09:17 GMT -5 drunkpeggy said:

Once you get a window for homecoming do a countdown chain. It gets the kids involved and gives them a concrete understanding of how much time is left.

Since windows can change, one thing we did was a "count up" chain. We just kept adding links every day starting a month or so before we expected H to come home. I also typed up the words to some of our son's favorite books, and H would read to him while we were on Skype.

One thing my son LOVED (and still talks about a year after H's homecoming) is this little Elmo figuring H took with him. They each had one, and they would play with their toys together when we were Skyping. H carried his with him in a pocket the whole time he was there, and when he came home he gave the toy back to our son.