We Love Our Flat Daddy!

I'm not exactly sure where my last few posts went, but let's try this again!

(this is the picture we used for our flat daddy)

Flat Daddy is such a wonderful concept and our boys are in LOVE with him. It has definitely made this deployment easier for them to handle. Here are a few pictures of our life with our "temporary daddy."

Flat Daddies and Flat Mommies are life-size photos of deployed service members. They are provided to help children better cope with the separation they experience when a parent is away from home for long periods of time.

I would 110% recommend a Flat Daddy for any family with a soldier preparing to deploy. Kids love seeing it everyday and knowing their soldier is still with them even though they aren't physically there. Our boys like it when we bring "dad" for a ride with us or bring him to a special event. Flat Daddy will also come in handy when dad is home for good because he is often training or "playing army" for a few days here and there.

(when we moved into our new apartment)

(Like father, like son)

(Halloween - daddy went as a mummy!)

(Our photo for our Christmas cards.

 Some people even thought he was home when they saw the picture.)

(Christmas)

(Celebrating my birthday with me)

Let me know if you have any questions because I'd be more than happy to tell you about the benefits of having Flat Daddy around.

Kisses From Daddy

One of the first ideas I came across while preparing for deployment was a deployment countdown jar. I started by filling a jar with Hershey kisses (hence the "kisses") - one kiss for each day your loved one is gone. We obviously don't have enough room to hold a piece of candy for each day (x2 because each of the boys get one) so I fill it up every couple days so they don't see the level going down. It'll be REALLY exciting once we're counting down our last few weeks because we'll actually see the candy level disappear!

Once we moved, unpacked and got situated I set up the jar. I explained the concept of the jar to our boys who nodded in excitement about the thought of getting a piece of candy every night. Considering they're only 4 and 2 years old I can't imagine they really comprehend the idea. The original plan was to get a "kiss" from daddy every night after dinner. I was surprised when we went to get their first piece of candy. I picked up our 2 yr. old so he could reach in and choose his kiss on his own. When I took the lid off, little man raised his hand to his mouth and blew a kiss into the jar before choosing his chocolaty treat. Our 4 yr. old then followed in his steps...

Hershey's was nice enough to give us milk chocolate and the NEW air delight kisses to help us get our Kisses From Daddy jar started. I've always been in love with the regular milk chocolate kisses, but was pleasantly surprised when I tried the air delights. It was like my favorite chocolate kiss, but lighter! My oldest son asked me where we got the "fun" Hershey's kisses from and all I could do was smile and laugh to myself. We all love the cute little kisses and the boys look forward to them every night after dinner (and I look forward to them when the boys are in bed).

Getting Our Deployment Ducks in a Row (For the Kids)

We attended a Family Prep course this weekend to help us prepare for our upcoming deployment. Some things weren't new, but I did come out with a lot of info. regarding our boys. We haven't mentioned anything about the deployment even though it's just a few months out and after this weekend I think we'll be breaking the news this week. I guess it's never too early to start talking about it. We'll let the boys know that they can always come to us (or myself after he leaves) to ask us any questions. It's nice that they're not old enough to understand what's going on when we watch the news. We received the Elmo dvd along with several books that will help us explain what's going to happen. (Once I go through them I'll let you know which ones I think are better than the others.) We were told we shouldn't use the term "deployment" when we talk to the boys and that we should come up with our own term. Some people said daddy is "helping people" or "playing army." I will be updating the "Fun Ideas" page with other suggestions people shared with us.
Now the question is...what term do we use when we talk about daddy going away?

Dropping the Deployment Bomb!

My husband's deployment will be here before we know it. How (and when) do you explain it to a 4 year old? Three weeks of training here and there are easier to explain, but a whole year? I have ideas to help him count down the days until daddy comes home once he leaves, but I don't know how to break the news to him. How do you tell a 4 year old that daddy is going half way across the world and won't be here for holidays, birthdays, etc?
If anyone has any ideas I'd LOVE to hear them. Let me know what works and what doesn't work.