Daycare decision

We (mostly Rachel and Meggan) have spent much of our free time in the last two weeks visiting daycares.  The general plan is that Meggan will have a work permit and can start work by the end of January.  So Rachel will begin daycare.  Since we have no idea what Meggan's hours will be, we have signed Rachel up for full time day care.

Day car is serious business and can stimulate a lot of discussion around a group of parents.  Nanny?  Share a nanny with another family?  Stay at home parent?  Family/grandparents?  Parents switch schedules to avoid daycare?  Family home-based daycare?  Licensed or not?  Daycare center?

Although I cannot say exactly why, we have chosen a daycare center.  It is difficult to find space in a family home-based daycare for children under 2 years old, but I also feel comfort in the apparent accountability to a name and an obvious business.

We seriously considered six places and toured five of them.  We did not consider places that had no spots or were really expensive.  Only one of them refused to do cloth diapers.  One of them was dirty.  One of them was snooty.  One of them was cramped.  Some of the staff were animated and excited to see Rachel.  Other staff were lame.  Some playgrounds seemed small. 

So we've chosen a place in Louisville, which is between Boulder and Lafayette and quite close to Jason's school.  It's called La Petit Academy, which is a chain that is everywhere and has been around for ages.  Rachel will be in the '1 year old' classroom.  Apparently she'll be doing artwork, have a theme every month, lie down and sleep on a mat in the middle of the day with other children trying to do the same all around her, and eat meals there. 

Let's hope that come January Rachel will be able to physically let go of her Mommy (have I mentioned she's EXTREMELY clingy lately?) and actually let us drop her off and pick her up from this place...