Nanny or Preschool

Our nanny hurt her leg this past week. Poor thing! She told me she might be out for weeks. Eeks – for her and for me. I’ve got clients to serve and work to do too! Back in June when our nanny said she needed to work either two full days (we were doing half) or she would need to find another family to work for where she could work full-time, we decided to go ahead with the two full days.

At the time I had put Elle in nursery school for M, W so she could get some socialization. We ended that because it didn’t work financially and I didn’t really like being away from Elle that much. Yes, I could take on more work but I decided to work part-time from home so I could get to spend this special time with my special girl.

Since having our nanny two days a week, I’m really enjoying these other three days with Elle. But, this new development has put a kink in my plans. So, I revisited two preschools I had liked before. One I hadn’t gotten to take a tour of but I did that yesterday. I truly loved what I saw. The kids were very personable, super sweet and very well behaved. It was a Montessori-based preschool for toddlers between 18 months to 3 years. One teacher, six kids.

I observed the teacher and kids for about an hour and half while they went about their normal day. The teacher was really great with the kids and knew when to help them work out an argument and when to observe. I watched as FIVE 2 and 3 year old boys sat quietly around a picnic table and each poured milk into their own cups and waited patiently for the teacher to hand them their cut up apples. That was just one highlight.

With the baby coming in January, I want Elle to have something of her own. A place where she can go and things are as they were before the baby came…some sort of normalcy. I also want her to have friends and also learn some of this discipline (that I’m not so good at but working on.)

The problem is that the preschool isn’t open on Fridays and is either a 3-day or 4-day program. My nanny is only available on Tuesdays and Thursdays PLUS I can’t afford to do preschool and a nanny. BUT I’m going to need help with the baby while I work after he/she comes which would put us in the game of needed a nanny/preschool again.

The other thing is I really LOVE having this time with Elle. It’s the last couple of months that we’ll have with just us. I don’t want her to be watched by someone else five days a week anyway. She has an AMAZING bond with our nanny who I completely trust, who works her butt off doing whatever she can get her hands on to help around the house when Elle is napping and never thinking twice about it. When we’re on vacation, she even comes over and tidies the house because she doesn’t feel right being paid without having done something for it.

On the other hand, I know psychologically Elle will be thrown in a whirlwind when the baby comes whether it’s detectable or not. I’m at a loss of what to do! Any suggestions?