When tapestries of life get tangled in the loom.

[adinva]

Hi Bruce. Why are you not skyping with your son a lot more, for short stretches of time, so he begins to know you better?

Christmas and New Year's calls make you sound like a great-uncle.

Why not look for information on how to bond with a 2yo so he knows you love him? I don't know, maybe google it. Ask soldiers serving overseas how they do it; there are quite a few on these boards who either served or had a spouse who did.

It would be sweet to read him a short bedtime story, inviting him to interact - "what's this" "what's that" "where's the doggie, can you point to him?". He's captive and can't wander away if he's in bed. Maybe even ask MIL to hold the laptop or the boy - instead of W - to start erasing the very obvious impression you've created that he's a tool to get your W back to you. You can give your W the space she's begging for, and have a chance to make a good impression on her mum.

I think a 2yo has a very short attention span, I don't know how long your calls have been but if he has time to wander away it was too long. Shorter and more frequent is better.