Managing 2 toddlers alone?

[confustication]

My DH has taken a job a long way from here. We will be following him in a few months, but until then, I will be alone with an 8 year old, a 2 year old and a 1 year old.

The eight year old drives me batty on a regular basis, but really is an amazing and responsible kid- she's even morphing into a pre-teen now so I really don't have to micromanage her stuff nearly as much as I did.

The little guys- oh my! Our two year old has some special needs and is still non-verbal. My almost one year old is super dare-devil child and will soon take off walking. He is also (sadly) becoming less content with being worn.

Town/groceries/therapy appointments for the the two year old are all almost an hour drive away. I have 'in an emergency' childcare, but not ongoing childcare.

I need strategies for keeping my sanity, logistics for managing something as simple as a shopping trip and so on. Help!

[Super~Single~Mama]

Wow you're going to have a full plate!

Can you find some ongoing childcare? Even if its just regular, a few mornings a week for the time before you join your dh that might make things lots easier.

[confustication]

Finding some childcare will probably be doable in a month or so, but right now finances just don't allow it. As soon as they do, I will hire arrange for some (probably minimal) childcare and probably a once-a-week housecleaning.

My two year old does not tolerate an unknown caregiver- at all. The last time we tried was during his E+D assessment and I returned to find him, quite literally, standing in a puddle of his own tears. He's had HUGE anxiety issues since which we are just beginning to get past. (My anger at the caregiver who did not contact us when he could not be soothed even though we were only in another room of the same building is something I will not get past. This happened in the children's therapy room where he has his sessions- it's taken me months to enable him to enter the building without a panic attack.)