My son’s mother visited him here over the weekend for the first time in nearly 4 years

@Gusman He will be visiting her over Christmas where she lives.

@SW-User He could use his calendar... but I thought that making something specially for it might make it feel that bit more special for him.

Think like an advent calendar at Christmas. You probably mark the day off on the calendar, then open the advent calendar, too.

@HootyTheNightOwl That could work as well. Maybe even something he could create himself.

@SW-User Yus!!! That's what I'm saying!!! 🤣🤣🤣

Take your little man out, and get a big piece of paper/card, some pens and some stickers/decorations of his choosing, then fetch him back home and the two of you assemble a Countdown calendar together that you can hang in his bedroom and mark the days off on.

He can even include things like Thanksgiving and "Pack suitcase day", too so that he knows what needs to be done on that day.

@deathfairy Thank you. I spent a lot of time with him in his room trying to help comfort him. He will get to see her where she lives over Christmas. Sadly, she didn’t seem very upset or as if she was really missing him the same way when she left. She did more with him this weekend than she ever did when she was here. But she can only do it in small doses.