Daycare

I sometimes still feel guilty for putting him in Daycare, even while acknowledging that it is for the best.

It was worse before. The baby would cry when we got near Reeba's house. He would cry (generally) when we handed him over. When we picked him up, he'd be crying. He'd spend the next day or so (plus the rest of that day) being SUPER needed and clingy. Little things got to him and some of his enthusiasm waned. It made it all hard.

Then she let him go. Just like that. Because he was crying too much. Then she started to demanded money. We had to pay what we owed ASAP (which was understandable) but she called me THREE times in one day to ask where her money was...despite the fact that I had explained after the first call that James was in class ALL day and would drop it off when he was done...somewhere around four or five o'clock.

We scrambled to find a replacement. Reeba had a lot of advantages. It was close to the apartment (about 5 blocks), it was on a bus route, and she watched kids whenever. That is why we hadn't taken him out of daycare...yet (though we were going to give him another week before deciding what the next move was).

I called three places, two were on bus routes and close to my house (one was two blocks closer then Reeba's had been). The last one was near work and between two bus stops but not actually on a bus route.

Only the latter got back to me. Her name is Sarah. Do to a SNAFU, only James went to check her out. But we were more prepared this time. In the end, James approved.

Since then we've noticed a major change in David-Michael when he goes to day care. He is smiling and happy walking up to the door. He is happy when we pick him up (though there have been occasions when he fussed, it was much more the 'I see you mommy, pick me up NOW' fuss then the 'Get me out of here!' fuss). She feeds him and talks to him and holds him and lets him play. She has three kids, the youngest of which is 19 months old. He is her only daycare kid at the moment, unlike at Reeba's where she was probably violating the terms of her license regarding the amount of kids.

It isn't all perfect. It adds forty minutes of walking to any trip I have. It is in between two stops, so it requires walking two blocks either way. I got lost my first time going to pick him up. The weather is turning, so the extra forty minutes are going to start adding up. She also doesn't watch kids on weekends, which mean we are going to have to plan for that.

But that's it. So we like her and plan on keeping her.