I admit that I know very little about daycares. I've done some initial research and gathered information about what to look for, what questions to ask, etc. I've talked to friends and coworkers and gathered recommendations of places in the area and thought that all of this would prepare me for visiting daycares to select the perfect place for Grayson.
Our first choice had always been the Child Development Center (CDC) on our base. Wil has heard great things about them. They are monitored very closely and have strict regulations by the government and military and frankly, it's close. Wil could be to the one on base in probably less than 5 minutes. And I could probably get there in about 5 minutes, so it seemed like the perfect choice.
I put us on the wait list for the CDC when I was about 3 months pregnant with Grayson, but he doesn't move to the "active" list until he is born, so I called the day after he was born to move him to that list. Thinking that because I was going to be off almost 4 months and they said that the wait was usually 4-5 months that there would be no issue with him getting in there. I had the names of back-up locations, but I thought for sure he would get into the CDC. Not to mention the fact that on the wait list, we were supposed to be priority 2 (so should have preference on the wait list--priority 1 is for single military households or dual military households). Well, I was wrong. I called in early March because I hadn't heard anything from them only to be told that the wait list was 2-3 months from that point and there were several children ahead of Grayson for the infant room. Argh.
With this realization, I began to call the other locations that coworkers had recommended. Fortunately, I found 1 (yes, I said 1) place that was accepting 1 (yes, I said 1) infant. Gray could start April 12th which was past my original planned date to return to work. I talked to Grandma Alice and Grandpa Paul since they were planning to come out the first week of April anyway to see if they would be willing to babysit so that I could return to work on April 5th. As you can probably guess, there wasn't a hesitation. Maybe that's because they didn't realize at the time that Grayson had started teething, so has moments of not quite being himself...oh well, they'll figure that out soon enough.
I talked to work to let them know that I would have to delay my return. I filled out all of the paperwork and dropped it off along with the deposit. Everything was settled. This place, I'm sure was good enough. (although it kind of reminded me of a "baby farm" with a room filled with cribs lining the walls and toys in the middle of the room. This place had high praise from some coworkers, but was about double the cost of the CDC. I assured work that I really wasn't being picky here...it was the ONLY place I could find that was accepting an infant in this general timeframe.
You would think this would be the end of the story, but no...that would be just too simple. Just as we were getting ready to leave for Florida I got a call from the CDC saying that they had a spot available and Grayson could start there...April 12th. Ahhh...What to do...I called Wil and since the CDC had always been our first choice for the strict adherence to regulations and monitoring and the closeness to us during the day (and frankly at being half the price of the other place--although if it had been bad, I would have chosen the more expensive place obviously), we decided to make the move and accept the position at the CDC and cancel the other one.
Again, I filled out all of the paperwork and updated my 2-page "Getting To Know Grayson Information Sheet" that I had prepared with tricks to calm him if he gets upset, his likes and dislikes, etc. (Don't worry Wil laughed at me too.) Gray and I stopped over to see the CDC and the general information, the concept was very similar to the more expensive place. The major difference is that while we still have to provide, diapers, wipes, etc...we don't have to provide sheets and things like that, that we would have at the more expensive place. Another major difference was that at the CDC the cribs are metal, not wood. I'm sure there is some reason for that. Perhaps because wood is porous and maybe germs or splinters or something...but when you look at a section of metal cells...er cribs you can't help but wonder if you're sending your child to daycare or prison.
So, while at the first place I feared that it was a baby farm. I'm now concerned about sending Gray to the prison daycare and began to wonder whether prisons and daycares have more in common than I first thought. Should I send Gray with a tin cup to bang against the metal bars of his cell to ask the warden for some "yard" time? Do I have to worry that he'll come home with a daycare tat one day with his gang sign? What kind of gangs would they have in the infant room at daycare? The "Cribs" and the "Bottles".
I have been assured by several people that daycare will be much more traumatic for me than for Grayson and so far, that seems to be true. Although I will admit that Gray seemed a little concerned when we were there with the screaming little boy. His poor little face looked like "where in the heck are you taking me? is this an insane asylum?" Fortunately, they said that that boy was about one and so was getting ready to move up to the next room. Hopefully, Gray's other cellmates will be a little more laid back.
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