To solve the problem of T regularly rescheduling, cancelling, or forgetting me I have decided to switch from evening appointments (which apparently are more risky because of T's kids and school stuff) to morning ones.
Hiring a babysitter every week for this really would be adding to our monthly expenses in a way I would prefer to avoid, so I worked out an agreement with a friend (who is also a SAHM to toddlers) where we would trade babysitting once a week. I thought this was a perfect solution. It would mean more socialization for the kids, too.
Except that it really isn't helping much towards my goal of making my sessions more consistent and reliable. First I had to change my preferred session day because my friend is busy on Mondays. Then last week she was ten minutes late. This week her kids are sick so she won't be able to watch mine. Today I cancelled my appointment and T and I scheduled a phone session for later.
Now I am thinking maybe that would be best-- switching to phone sessions permanently. We could have them during my kids' afternoon nap. I would not be at the mercy of my friend's schedule, or a babysitter, or T's evening unpredictability (yes, there have been times I've had afternoon appointments that T has forgotten or been drastically late for, but this happens less often). Of course, the only problem is phone therapy is really not so great. Better than nothing but not as good as being with T in person.
It seems I just keep going in circles with this. If only I could roll with the changes and unpredictability without becoming so anxious and unsettled. So far I haven't been able to figure out how to do that, and when these sorts of things happen several weeks in a row, it's even destabilizing. Ugh.
Here are my options as they are appearing to me now, summarized:
a) Go back to evening appointments and deal with the anxiety. (nerve wracking. . . )
b) Hire a babysitter. (expensive. . . )
c) Keep up the babysitting swapping arrangement with my friend. (unpredictable. . . )
d) Switch to phone therapy. (but I would miss seeing T in person. . . )
What would you do?
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