Every time that there is a knock at my door, Trey goes nuts and starts yelling Mommy Mommy Mommy, then runs to the door to open it. As soon as he sees it's not Jamie at the door he gets sad, and all he wants is for me to hold him. After about 5 minutes, he will be fine and go on his merry way again, but it breaks my heart every time. I have actually told people when I know they are arriving to call me as they are coming down my street, so we can just go out and meet them so that he doesn't react that way. Hopefully this is just a phase that he will grow out of.

I don't have it with the door so much as the phone. My son still goes through this phase every once in a while, but the good news is that his attention span is also short and he moves on quickly.

Perhaps you could see if she'd be willing to knock different so he'd know the difference? I know it sounds silly, but I alleviated part of our phone issue by changing ring tones for his Dad so he knew the difference.

I'm not sure how long it lasts once the child has a bond with their absent parent.

My son never really had a strong bond with my ex, and my daughter was tiny when we split, so they really never cried for him. The fact that he never visited without me begging him for months played a roll in that too, I guess.

I'm sorry you're struggling with this. Maybe the different knock idea would work for you. Good luck. You've got a real cutie on your hands.

All three of my kids used to do this, (my youngest still does) and it just took time for them. They had to adjust to the schedual of "daddy time." I don't know if you guys have a routine yet, but that helps then they kinda get used to only seeing the other parent at certain times. I am lucky in that if my ex says he is coming he will, (I know lots of parents don't) and I can then tell my kids and they are waiting for him. I also think the different knock thing is a good idea.

quote:

"having a child is accepting that your heart will forever walk around outside your body". Amen.

So true!! It's so hard to see your children hurt and disapointed, and also to not kill that people that do it! TD you sound like a wonderful Daddy and Trey is lucky to have you, he is too cute, ya gotta love little blonde haired blue eyed boys!

The special knock is a great idea.

I haven't had to go through that with my daughter- she's not expecting him to come by anymore so when he does it's a pretty big surprise.

tobi can recognize the ring on my phone for his daddy, but if he sees me on the phone, he will generally think it is my mother or "geisha" (grandma sheila)...

for me, the sad part is tobi going up to various men and call them dad. good looking men in the grocery store (perhaps that might be helpful in another year), my brother-in-law, any guy friend that he comes across... breaks my heart

quote:

Originally posted by Trey's Daddy:
I have actually told people when I know they are arriving to call me as they are coming down my street, so we can just go out and meet them so that he doesn't react that way.

That's a great idea!