I have worked for the same family for about a year and a half now! I have seen the youngest two (now 4, 2) hit some major milestones and have gotten to be a part of their growth! I LOVE my job, and am so grateful that I finally get to go to work doing something I genuinely enjoy. I honestly never thought the nanny life was for me, but now I wouldn’t trade it for anything!
Since I am having a little one of my own, I am going to be taking some time off when the baby comes. Then when I return, every day gets to be bring-your-baby-to-work-day! Yet another blessing!
Knowing that this year holds some pretty big stuff made me think about what I am doing with the kiddos and had me looking forward to the skills they need to work on this year. For instance, Miss Sassy-Pants is going #2 on the toilet fairly consistently, and we are sort of working on potty training. I know that she would benefit from being totally potty trained before she goes to day care while I’m off, and that I will benefit from having her out of diapers prior to bringing my little guy into our daily circus.
A few of the goals I have for them so far …
Miss Sass (2) – potty training, using words to accomplish goals, work on math/pre-reading skills more consistently
Mr. Crazy (4) – social skills (speaking and listening, eye contact, attention) following directions, speech – articulation, and work on math/pre-reading skills more consistently
Nap/rest time routines as well as our daily and weekly schedules as a whole were also something that I took a fresh look at as we started this new year.
To be honest I’ve felt like I’ve been slacking a bit and blaming it on being pregnant, and I didn’t want to keep doing that!
I looked at what we have to do, what I’d like to do, and what we probably should do. Then I scheduled in activities for little sis and I after we drop L off at PreK MWF. I treat our Tuesdays and Thursdays as either big outing days or stay home days. I try to have a little activity for us to do if we stay home, but honestly we usually need to get out! Our Family Museum and Zoo both offer programs that the littles fit into age-wise, so I’m making use of those resources. We will also go to some of the places we visited in the summer, since it’s much cheaper with 2 instead of 4 kids.
Our afternoons are for nap/rest and usually free play time or a learning activity. A goal I made for myself was to work on re-structuring rest time and L’s special boxes. Little sis has not been consistently napping at the same times, so I am also going to work on finding a better routine for her. Another goal I am working towards is having more independent play activites (activity boxes/bags, sensory bins) as well as “sit-down” learning games that I can pull from as I get closer to my due date and don’t have as much energy!
I just hope that our routines are strong enough to fall back into place once I come back to work… so we will see. I am sure that I will be writing more on that process, so stay posted!
What goals are you working on with your kids at the start of this new year?