It's the time of the year where my stress levels naturally rise, wondering about the school year and what will happen. This year defies all odds, as we're looking for full-time in-home childcare who will take COVID seriously and follow precautions outside of work to keep our family safe. And that childcare provider is also filling in as the virtual learning supporter of a 3rd grader on top of whatever Teddy's education looks like. Right now, Teddy's schedule includes traveling to Appleton or Neenah for therapy 4 times a week. So this childcare provider needs to be an educator, therapist, chauffeur, entertainer and childcare provider for a non-verbal child who never stops and rarely listens. Sounds simple enough, right?
Actually, it sounds like an incredibly impossible order ... but I have faith. As I look back at the last 5 years, we have been blessed with absolutely incredible childcare providers.
The first of our in-home childcare providers was a nursing student, Miss Katelyn. Miss Katelyn was fun, great with both boys, reliable, dependable and made our lives so much easier. We discovered that nursing students were a great match for Teddy's diagnosis, as the fear of seizures that got him kicked out of one in-home daycare, was not a concern for them. (And, thankfully, we've never needed that skill set when he's been in their care.)
Miss Katelyn was so amazing that when she could no longer work all the hours, we were concerned that she left too big of shoes to fill. But she referred her friend, who quickly became Miss Melanie to our family. Like Miss Katelyn, she was reliable, dependable, fun and a great fit for our family. She ran a slightly tighter ship, leaving our house as clean as it started every time, which is no easy feat with Teddy. She also diagnosed our boys successfully with impetigo, when we thought they just had a rash that would go away. Whoops! Unfortunately for us, both Miss Katelyn and Miss Melanie graduated and moved along to become real nurses. I'll remain forever grateful that after our ICU stay Miss Melanie was willing to come work with Teddy again for a day when we needed her.
We had someone for just a couple weeks, who didn't work out well at all, before we landed on another friend referral from Miss Melanie. Her friend was pursuing a degree in human services but had her CNA license. That was the start of our time with Miss Bri, which thankfully hasn't ended and has just had a few breaks. Miss Bri took the bar and raised it even higher. She took the kids on so many adventures, heading to her family's lake house, inviting us to her graduation dinner, journeying to Bay Beach and taking the boys to the water park as she'd recruit friends to help her watch AJ. She spoiled our kids, not by giving them things, but by giving them great experiences and so much fun. We convinced her to stay on after she graduated for the summer and then miraculously convinced her to come back for another summer after that. Although she's looking for full-time work in human services now, she still does respite for us and is going to help us out temporarily as we start the school year.
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| If you have human service job leads, I know someone pretty awesome. |
We transitioned to an agency for childcare during the school year, which worked out well for the first year but became a struggle with staffing last school year. They actually gave us notice right before Christmas, which meant we were looking for another agency this past spring. We found one, used them for 2 weeks, and then COVID happened. That meant we needed in-home care and needed it quickly. Fortunately one of Teddy's paraprofessionals had mentioned her school schedule didn't work for her to continue in his classroom but that she'd love to still see him. I offered her the chance to do respite, which with COVID evolved into childcare multiple days a week, which then became full-time summer employment. Miss Sigrid helped us through that rough transition to at-home learning and had as much success with Teddy as anyone would, especially with her background from working with him at school.
Miss Sigrid has truly become a part of our family, especially with COVID. She took the virus as seriously as us, so we had no concerns that she would put us at risk. (Seriously, I think once she made it 5 weeks without grocery shopping!) We couldn't go out to eat, so we'd invite her to stay occasionally for dinner, which made it more fun for us and saved her on that grocery bill. She's been limited in the fun things she can do with the boys, but that doesn't stop her from making every day as fun as it can be. She's willing to pull Teddy along for bike rides, take the boys on walks to explore and has kept the peace during the times they drive each other crazy. When your circle of human interaction without a mask is as limited as ours, it's amazing how quickly she becomes a part of our family.
So why do I know things will work out for the fall? It helps that we have Miss Sigrid helping as much as her school schedule will allow, which covers at least 16 hours a week. It also helps that Miss Bri will help out at least temporarily another 16 hours a week. That only leaves us with two mornings to juggle, which we'll figure out. But I also know things will work out because there's no way we're so darn lucky to win the lottery with our childcare four times in a row. God entrusted Teddy (and AJ) in our care, and he's been faithful thus far. He will provide for our childcare needs ... we just need to put forth the effort.
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