Daycare woes

Or maybe opportunities?


We've loved our daycare. It's an in-home licensed daycare. A wonderful "older" woman who'd been doing this 20+ years. Her breadth and depth of experience has been wonderful in how she deals with Angelina and what she's taught us about child rearing. We like the in-home environment, though it does have its drawbacks, because it feels like a "family" situation - she gets to interact with kids of all ages.

Though we hoped to send her to pre-K this year, the one we want was full. I had this plan that when the baby arrived, she would still go 2x/week to keep some consistency, some attention from "Nana," some play time for her with her friends, and give me some time with the new baby. And then back to full time and add in the new baby in March. It was so hard to find a good babysitter, esp. with a baby, that I was glad we already had someone we trusted.

Well, it seems she's finally worn out "Nana". Alas, "Nana" told us Tuesday she's retiring at Christmas. Oops. Can't say as I blame her - especially after seeing Angelina and her friend Miranda playing together. Talk about 2 hyper kids. I don't know that I could handle them!

Timing isn't too bad since I will be home on maternity leave then anyway, so we're not desperate. And thanks to all our friends here we've already got lots of recommendations and unlike last time we looked, most have plenty of space available.

The hard part will be the transition for Angelina. We're looking at places a bit more "school" oriented, and she's excited to go to school, so I think if we focus on that aspect it'll help. Still, she's going to have a very hard time not seeing "Nana" and Miranda (her favourite friend) every day, at the same time as having to share Mommy and Papa with a new baby.

Hopefully she'll prove to be adaptable (jury is still out on whether or not she inherited my "always try something new" tendency....) and the new situation will work out. And hopefully we'll find as good of a place for the new baby. At the very least, we won't be driving to the other side of town anymore, which is a silver lining.