For better or worse, we shared the news with our son that we’re headed to Walt Disney World next month for a much needed family vacation. We figured it wouldn’t really ruin the surprise since at 3 and a half, he doesn’t begin to comprehend what it means enough to know what we’re doing. He does know it’s big and exciting. My guess is he’s comparing it to his two recent Great Wolf Lodge trips. Before the second trip, we were frequently told that he wanted to go “today” even when it was weeks off. To help him visualize, we marked his calendar with a pawprint sticker leftover from the first trip (so glad I saved that!).
For Disney, we did a bit of the same. I helped him mark the days on his calendar with Disney stickers from a recent DVD club mailer. Easy, free and a good visual. But thanks to too much time spent on Pinterest, I decided to do one more thing – create a paper chain.
It hangs on the side of our fridge next to his chore chart (good reminder to earn those stars!) and I spelled out “Days to Disney” using his Melissa & Doug alphabet magnets. He was so excited and, amazingly, has been really good about tearing only one off – at night after dinner with us watching. We all cheer as the chain gets one link shorter.
There are some really clever chains pinned, but this newly fulltime working mama still trying to find that balance between work, family, crafting, etc kept it simple. Next time though, I think I might like to try one with the Mickey ears on the black links. So cute.
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