I Can Hardly Wait & Childcare Decisions

My parents are coming up on Friday evening for a visit and leaving Saturday morning to go back home. They live in southern Arkansas, so it’s about a 4 hour drive to Memphis. That’s 8 hours of driving to visit for about 15 hours, several of which will hopefully be filled with sleep. I can hardly wait, though. I love my parents dearly. We were originally planning to go down there this weekend, but money matters around the Fey household are T.I.G.H.T. I’m glad they decided to come visit us for the night, though, because Tree Faerie is growing so quickly. It seems like she won’t be a baby for much longer, and I want them to experience her babiness. After all, she’s an amazing kid!

Speaking of her being an amazing kid, our childcare place now has an opening for Tree Faerie at the location (Location B) closest to our house, but I’m torn on whether to switch now or wait until she is going into the toddler room. I love her teachers at the location (Location A) she’s currently attending, and they all absolutely LOVE her. Tree Faerie also seems pretty fond of them, too. I’m afraid that I won’t like Location B’s infant room as well, be it the teachers or the environment or whatever. I’m afraid she won’t like them, either. Location B is also about $50 a month more expensive and I’ll only be saving about $20 in gas.

My only reason for wanting to change? Location B is only 2 miles from the house and on my way to work, whereas Location A is 7 miles from the house in the opposite direction of work. I know it would take less time to get to work, including the time it takes to drop Tree Faerie off, but is that really worth paying more? I’m going to go check out their infant room either tomorrow or Friday morning before taking Tree Faerie to Location A so I can see what it’s like when they’re actually taking care of kids and also see how she takes to them.

Dangit! I thought I would have until October to prepare for this! And of course DTTF is leaving the decision up to me because I’m the one who takes Tree Faerie to and from childcare and interacts with the teachers and staff.

The other thing that makes me cautious right now is Tree Faerie has started exhibiting signs of stranger anxiety. She’s a very social baby and loves people, but now it takes her a moment to warm up to new people before she’ll let them hold her. She even fussed when I handed her to her Nana (DTTF’s mom) on Sunday because Nana had just arrived and Tree Faerie hadn’t warmed up to her yet. She doesn’t mind smiling and talking to strangers from the safety of my arms, but she’s not too keen on being passed off until SHE decides it’s okay.

What can I say? Right now, she’s definitely a mama’s girl.

Did I mention I love her current teachers? Yes, I did, but let me say it again. I LOVE her teachers! They are sweet, they interact with all the children beautifully, and they are very responsive to my questions and concerns as well. The only time I’ve ever had an ‘issue,’ it was addressed immediately and has not been a problem since.

I’ve pretty much made up my mind, but I guess I feel obligated to go check out Location B because that’s the location we really want Tree Faerie to attend long-term. I am walking in there knowing that unless they absolutely knock my socks off, which will be pretty hard seeing as I won’t be wearing socks, I’m not switching right now. I’m going to go ahead and check them out, though, because I really want to get a feel for the place to be prepared in January when Tree Faerie should be switching to the toddler room. Plus, you never know… My socks may get knocked off!