Snail Mail SWAK

The girls have been dealing with Brian's deployment very well so far. Experts say children, even toddlers and preschoolers, can act out in sometimes nonverbal ways to express their concern about a deployed parent's departure. But because Sydney and Miranda seem to be verbalizing their thoughts and feelings, I'm starting to think my girls understand more than people, myself included, would generally give them credit.

We had many "prep" talks a few weeks in advance, of course, which maybe helped their understanding. Then in the two weeks before deploying, Brian went to work on the ship each day and came home, and every couple of days Sydney would ask, "Is Daddy coming home for dinner today?" She anticipated one day he wouldn't be coming home and wondered if this was the day. (We told her we'd give her a little notice, so she didn't have to worry!)

Even Miranda at times will--out of the blue--confirm that "Daddy's on a ship" in a tone that is somewhere between a statement and a question, as she positions her face directly in front of mine to get my attention, listen to my words and I suppose, read my expressions. I am always impressed when she's engaged in this special, direct way and it shows me she understands and is committing to memory more than I realized.

So rather than give Mommy extra grief, thankfully Sydney chooses to channel her thoughts of and feelings for Daddy into her crafts. (Miranda makes crafts too, but is not as interested in being creative as Sydney is, so I try to get away with doing crafts during her nap.)

Since Sydney's really into writing and mailing letters, I was excited to point out to her that we could mail letters to Daddy to make him feel better about being away from home. To encourage this, I did supply them with a few new tools to make these special letters for Daddy, including plenty of paper, blank cards, envelopes, Valentine stickers and decorations, and a few new rubber stamps--my favorites say "Snail mail" and "SWAK." Since that's literally what we're sending to Brian.

So, in the past 2 weeks, Sydney's created at least 10 different cards or letters, all of which she has placed in separate envelopes with her name sprawled in huge letters all across the front--leaving no room for an address. I'm now teaching her to leave the front blank for an address, AND trying to convince her to consolidate the cards into fewer envelopes to save on postage. And if that doesn't work, I will have to add some "Daddy wants to save a tree" logic. But I'm not sure if her artistic license will let her deviate from her creative vision and allow such logical practicality. Time will tell! (This drawing is a playground for Daddy's ship!)

And apparently even more time will tell if Brian gets his homemade treasures in time for Valentine's Day (and then his Birthday)! There is a steady stream of them on the way, so odds are good.