Is this normal behaviour for a child of a single parent?

[MsSpentYoof]

DS (2) keeps talking to 'Daddy' as if he is stood right next to me, for example, if he wants me to pretend to eat something he has made in his toy kitchen he will go "mummy eat" and I will pretend to eat, and then he will hold it out next to me and say "daddy eat"
Or if he wants me to kiss and cuddle his teddy dog thing ("uff uff", lol) he will say "mummy kiss/mummy cuggle" and then turn around and do the same to 'daddy' right next to me.

Is this normal? I makes me so sad every time he does it, but he never seems to be upset about it, justs acts as if he is actually there...

Does he see his father?
My DS didn't pretend, but at 2 yrs old he was desperate to have a daddy-he obviously felt the lack.

He does see him sometimes, although the regular contact we used to have has dwindled down a lot, I keep photos of him around the house so he stays a part of DS's life.

He did have a period of not seeing Daddy at all... and he had started to go around calling everyone daddy

I would say it is completely normal but I haven't got any answers I'm afraid.

Thanks PM

I never know what to do, I have just been ignoring it or saying "daddy isn't there" but don't really know what I should be doing...

I'm sure it normal.
My ds (3)has never seen his daddy but knows all about him and when he has hurt himself/being told off he cries for his daddy.
He also makes up stories and fantasies about his daddy.

Lots of DCs that age have imaginary friends-I think that it is very similar.

DS is currently running around the house looking for daddy.

I have no idea if I should be sitting him down and explaining (would a 2yo understand) or just ignoring him?

My friend's 2 year old seems to have sort of an imaginary daddy, and she calls men daddy quite a lot. So I think it is normal.

Does your friend ignore it or does she sit them down and try to explain? or even play along?

I have no idea...

My friend's situation is a bit different as her husband died so her children are not going to see their daddy again (except in photos). At first it freaked her out thinking her DC could see his ghost/feel his presence, then it became sort of comforting/endearing. She does talk about him a little bit in a 'he's watching down on you but hes not here' sort of way. So sort of casually explaining rather than heavy explaining. Does that make sense?

If hes not upset I would play along with an additional comment on the end of 'I wonder what daddy's really doing at the minute, I bet hes mowing his lawn (or whatever)' So you have joined in with the pretend play that all toddlers need but without lying to or conning your DS.