Daycare Update:

So Cherylle found several home daycare sites to investigate this afternoon through CCRCLA, which is the Child Care Resource Center of Los Angeles. She called ahead and got two appointments for tours, both in our area, one for $125 a week and the other for $185 a week. Yep, that's anywhere from $300 to $500 less a month! I was running late trying to make it for the first one, so she went inside first with the intent that I would join as soon as I got in town. Five minutes after she'd gotten there, I got a text message saying "No way in HE-double hockey sticks - I'll meet you at home." Apparently from the minute she walked in it was disgusting - the yard was all dirt, the toys (of which there were many) were dirty and in poor repair, the baby bassinet that Caits would be sleeping in was piled with junk "since I don't have any babies right now" and the entire tiny house was buried in bric-a-brac - walls, counters, everything. Our daughter spends as much time at daycare every day as she does awake with us, so there was no way in Hades that we were gonna accept a place that we couldn't stand to hang out ourselves.

Stop two was a bit further away than we were originally hoping, and a little more expensive than we wanted to find, but we figured we'd visit anyway at least to get a sense of what the current home daycare market was like. We pulled up, and it was a beautiful house in a nice neighborhood (nice defined as "one we would like to live in" - not all expensive neighborhoods are nice, just as not all cheap neighborhoods are bad...). We got inside, noticing immediately that she was wearing her cordless home phone (we've been placed before that can't even answer the phone!) and that the home was very attractive and clean. She'd converted her large den into the kid's play area, placing colorful rubber playmats and industrial carpet over the tile floor which made it very comfortable. There were also lots of little kids' toys in the room, but all neatly stored and organized, much of which was no more than a year or two out of Caitlin's age range. She had two playpens converted to infant/toddler cots in the living room next to the den, easily within hearing range of the main area, and a long row of high chairs near the table for mealtime. The backyard was even better - not only were the toys nice and clean, but the lawn had been replaced by one of the high-tech attractive artificial lawns - long, variegated blades of "grass" that was very comfortable to the touch and made a nice, soft, and clean playing surface for the little ones.

Talking to her was even better. Not only did she have many of the same opinions as us on parent responsibility and creating a loving, nurturing environment for the kids in her care, she restricted the ages to 3-4 at the oldest and was a big fan of Sunshine Day Care, the preschool/pre-k program that Evan had just finished. In fact, the reason she had openings right now was because she just had several kids leave to go to Sunshine since they were now old enough for that. She also had a live-in housekeeper/teacher's aide who was there helping clean up while we were taking our tour. And, while we still need to provide milk for Caitlin (since every parent has different opinions on brand, milk-fat content, etc), home-made food (two snacks and lunch) was included in the price. That's worth at least another $15 a week or so, if we don't have to buy any more baby food jars!

The real clincher, though came when we went back into the playroom and she asked if she could hold Caitlin. We'd explained briefly outside about Caitlin and achondroplasia, and the first thing she did when she picked up Caitlin was to lay her down on the floor and start exercising her legs & arms the way a good PT would do. She then asked if we had talked to the Regional Center about Caitlin yet (for those of you outside CA, the Regional Center is a network of centers throughout California who collect disability services funding from the county, state, and federal government and then locate and pay for services for developmentally delayed individuals. Cherylle actually used to work for the Kern Regional Center before we moved to LA!). She then explained that her son had been born premature with a very low birth weight (1 pound!) and had been expected to not only have many health problems, but to never be able to walk. Now, thanks to the Regional Center and its services, he was a healthy, happy three year old who was not just walking but he was running! She told us that if it was okay with us, she would be happy to do many of the same gentle exercises that she'd learned for her son with Caitlin!

As soon as we drove away, we looked at each other and asked each other nearly the same question at the same time - "I liked her - what did you think?"

Whew! One major decision completed... Yay for us!