Children can be some of the hardest to nail the voice for. I have heard, I don't know how many times, that my child characters sound too old. I only have one response to that. Go talk to my kids for five minutes then come back and tell me that my characters sound too old. LOL

When {suser;bobmob} was three or four he was on a road trip with my mom and sister. They drove past a field of cows and Alex said, "Oh, Nana look at the field of cattle!"

My mothers reaction: "Only Becca's kids could see a field of cows and call them cattle."

She was telling me the story when they got back to our house and after she left, Alex looked right at me and said, "I don't know what the big deal was. Its not like I called them chattel."

Your grand kids grew up on military bases. Who you need to listen to are military kids. I moved as often as a military kid but I was a preachers kid. So, though experiences were similar with making new friends and that kind of thing, the cultures were completely different. You need to find military kids you can talk to or after Nano starts, hit the forums on the nano website. there is one forum where you can ask for advice on things you don't know. I think there is also a forum for specific groups like the military. You can go to either of them and ask if there is anyone willing to read a small section of your story to let you know if the dialogue comes across as real,

I hope that helps. I am sorry you don't get to see your Grand kids. I can honestly say, I have been on your daughter in laws side of things with both my own mother and my mother in law. I could explain my reasons but they won't help you. I am sure your situation is different. Though I can say with all honesty, that if my mother in law had ever even made an effort to fix things between us, I would have given her a chance. My suggestion, is talk to her without judgement or going on the defensive. Tell her you want to be closer to your grand kids and ask her what the two of you could do to make that happen.

She may not be aware that you want to be a part of their lives. My mother in law never made an effort to even send my kids birthday cards. I wasn't aware she wanted anything to do with any of us until I started hearing from my sister in laws that they wouldn't be talking to me anymore because I was being mean to their mother. It was never my intent for her to feel as though I didn't want her around her grand kids. She could have come to visit at any time. She could have asked to talk to them. She didn't. She never even sent a birthday card.

Though I doubt that is true for you... You never know what people misconstrue as an intended slight when it wasn't.