My 1 Year Old Cries a Lot

I agree that he is missing him - until recently my husband was working the 3pm-3am shift so he would be gone by the time my son and I got home ( he would need to sleep during the day so my son was at daycare). We did the picture of daddy, and the "goodnight" on the phone and that seemed to help, but mostly it just took time for him to adjust to just seeing Daddy on Saturdays. It is just going to take a little time for him to adjust - hang in there!!

I just wanted to say that this topic has made me cry. Those are really good suggestions that others have already offered.

Oh yeah, he is definitely noticing that the dynamics of the household are off! They are sooooo much more perceptive than they look, aren't they. He is definitely missing his daddy. It would probably be a good idea at first for your hubby to call as often as he can - ideally my opinion is that you guys should be talking every day. Of course, that depends on how much you want the phone bill to run! Even short calls are better than nothing.

Is there something of Daddy's that he can hold on to or something, like maybe one of his shirts, or his pillow? Pictures of Daddy would be nice to have.

Also, even though he can't verbalize how he is feeling, he can definitely understand if you talk about what Daddy is doing and how you all miss him, but that he will be home soon. You could get a truck (a toy one, I mean!) that looks like Daddy's, too, for him to play with, and that way things seem more concrete than "where did he go??" And talk about what he is doing.

You could get a U.S. map and track where he is going! That would be fun for the boys to see where all Daddy drives. You could put a sticker on HOME and then others on places he's heading. If you could find something where you could put pushpins/etc. and remove them that is cool, or you could just get an El Cheapo paper one and when it gets filled up just get another one! Or print something from online.

You could keep a journal, scrapbook, or memory box for Daddy to look at when he gets home from his trip, too! I am sure y'all are going through so much adjusting to his being gone, and your husband is going to be missing you and the boys terribly as well. This would help him catch up on things and not feel so "absent" and it would help you as well!

Best of luck to you!

You are exactly right. He misses Daddy. I went through the same thing when my husband was out of town with the military for a few weeks when my son was the same age as yours. I work during the day, so I was in a little different situation than you, but he was definitly not the same kid in the evening. He kept going to the window to look for Daddy and when he didn't see him, he would cry. It is amazing how much kids can understand before they can express what they understand to us. I showed my son a picture of daddy before we started our night time routine and tried to involve "picture daddy" in night time conversations. For example "Let's ask Daddy what he wants for dinner. Ravioli and carrots? Sounds good daddy!" You will ridiculous at first, but soon it will become routine. In the air force, when dads leave on deployment, the family makes a daddy dolly before dad goes. Basically the put a picture of dad on a soft ragdoll and the child has "daddy" to snuggle with. I've never actually made one of these, but I have heard good things. I also made sure that each night Jayden got to "talk" to Daddy on the phone. Of course Jayden didn't really have much to say, but he loved hearing daddy's voice. Good luck!

Have pictures out where he can see his Daddy, can your husband call threw the day and night just so he doesn't think Daddy left? That is probably what he is feeling since he is a Daddy's boy and dad isn't there right now, it will just take some getting use to for him,just let him know Daddy is coming home soon. K.

Before my husband deployed, we made a video of him reading bedtime stories so the kiddos could see him, if your husband has a cell phone with him, maybe they could look at a picture of him while he talks to them, or even have 2 sets of books so daddy could read the book while your little one looks at the pictures. The video really helped my babies.