School

Chris will be graduating in May, but our unborn babies will be starting school in the fall.  Apparently there is high demand for child care in this town.  We think it's early to be thinking about child care, but from what I hear the waiting lists are quite long.  We started researching on Thursday, and by Friday afternoon we had visited three places. 

The first was a "Child Care Center" here on campus which is supremely convenient for me.  The only problem was that the waiting list was daunting, and we just didn't feel that dropping a deposit for two spaces that may or may not open up was not for us.  Also, while this place had a decent tuition, as well as a 1:3 teacher to infant ratio, they offer no discount for a second child.  Plus we discovered hidden fees, such as annual enrollment fees, activity fees, etc. per child. 

The second was a "Day Care" disguised as an "Academy" nearby, in between home an school, but nowhere near Chris' work route.  The teacher to infant ratio was 1:4.  I witnessed a teacher bottle feeding one infant while bouncing another baby in a bouncer on the floor with her foot, as another two infants slept in a swing and bouncer.  As she finished feeding the baby and about to change her diaper, the other two sleeping babies were waking up and ready to wail, I felt as though that extra baby was too much for her.  Between this baby overload, the fact that there were drop-down cribs with the screw-in attachments, and the fact that the only thing separating the place from the highway was a chain link fence, we cut the visit short.  The low tuition fee coupled with the 10% discount was a big draw for us, but not enough to make it worth our childrens' future.  The Director (ex high school cheerleader - VERY intense energy) was also a little much, but she understood when we told her that we had to be at another school in ten minutes.  She made sure to tell us that there were two spots that would open up in the fall if we were interested.  Right.

The third was a "Child Development Center", very conveniently located close to home and on my way to work, as well as Chris'. We had learned that the school had only been open for a month and a half.  The place was totally clean and organized.  I fell in love immediately.  The thing that I loved was the structure that they had, even with infants.  The teacher to infant ratio is 1:3, and all of the infants learn sign language.  By seven months, they already move to another class (7-12 months) with kids who are walking or close to walking, to motivate them to walk.  By 1-2 years, the classes take on another schedule that includes yoga and massage!  Bunch of spoiled....anyway, the rest of the school is awesome, complete with a library and extra soft playgrounds.  The 4-5 year-olds sit in a classroom to get them ready for kindergarten. We also learned that many of the teachers have Masters Degrees in Early Childhood Development.  The best part was that with the tuition very comparable to the other places we'd seen, they also offer the 10% discount for the second child.  We decided to sit down in the main office and they were able to hold our spaces for the fall, with the application fee good for both children.  Out of curiosity I asked if we were early, because I cannot imagine that most people were out securing a space for their child six months away from birth.  To my surprise, we had secured the last two spaces in the fall.  Booyah! 

So now we can cross child care off our list, we have to start looking for a Pediatrician.  Sigh.