The Changing of Guards: A New Sitter

I found Alison, our current sitter, on Care.com back in August of 2013. Nora was one and a half and we were fairly new to Milford. Alison has now been helping us for five and a half years. 

I knew at some point, not only would Nora age out - which she now attends her elementary Extended Day (before and after school care), but also Hannah. I was going to tell Alison that we were aiming to get Hannah into her preschool summer camp and then the preschool Extended Day for next school year. I was a little nervous and sad to inform her.

About mid-January Alison turned the table; she was ending her in-home sitting mid-March! Oh! Didn’t see that one coming. 

Her husband had started a side business fixing leaky basements and the business has taken off quicker than they thought. Alison handles the calls, billing, etc. so her time to attend to the kids is waning. I totally understand and am very happy for them, albeit bittersweet. 

Saying “see you later” to Alison will be emotional. I had a hard time leaving Holly when Nora was 9 months! But Nora and daughter, Adalyn, are friends and hopefully will have playdates along the way. 

This proved stressful: finding new childcare in the middle of the school year. 

As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, we attempted some daycares to avoid dealing with others’ sicknesses. This proved harder than we thought with attention to Hannah, so we posted again on Care.com and I thought I’d give a shot on our neighborhood site, Nextdoor.com. 

We had a handful of responses, one woman stood out because she’d had an aunt with Down syndrome. Bingo - I had to dig further. 

We agreed to meet up on a weeknight at her home. Shannon is my age, husband works at home, three girls, ages are 11, 9 and 7 who attend another Milford elementary. She watches two brothers, ages 18mos and 3. Hannah would be the only other child in care. 

Shannon had an aunt, who has since passed at age 61, who had Down syndrome and Shannon spoke with such love about. Hannah went and played right away and made herself at home. Even Nora played with the very friendly daughters. Tim and I both felt really good leaving that evening. 

After seeing three wonderful referrals, we knew we found the next person who we trusted Hannah with. We’ll drop Hannah for two Fridays before she starts full time at Shannon’s on March 4. 

Grateful for people who are not scared off by a diagnosis.