The Daunting Search for a Childcare Provider.

What...you are taking me where mom?? This was little Jack's face when I dropped him off for his first day at daycare and these were the words I imagined he would have said if this little boy could talk. This little face broke my heart. He was so confused. And the entire day was especially hard for mama. I mean I was leaving him in someone elses care for over 9 hours. Don't get me wrong he has definitely had babysitters, but they have always been people he has known and never more than one other kid if any at all. Needless to say it was a LONG day for all of us! But we survived, and he has now been going for two months.

And I must say...I sure am glad that search is over! It took us ages (two weeks really - felt like ages) to land on somewhere and quite frankly I think we decided on the place Jack's at simply because we were running out of time, definitely not running out of options, just running out of time! And they had an opening and the price was really good. And after praying about it...we truly felt at peace about our decision.

I should say though, we started the daycare conversation months before Peter's last day at COTN. Hence, we had months to investigate, but in typical Peter and Malia fashion, or maybe in typical Malia fashion I put off making a decision or even beginning the search as I knew it was going to be daunting. And I must say in typical Peter fashion...he took charge and pursued the giant list of places we got from Childcare Resources. This is a great website where you can input your zip code and it will give you a list of childcare options based upon your preferred location. Great resource, great tool, however, you still have to call all of them to narrow your search down.

Things to consider and things to ask:
1. Childcare center vs. family in home daycare?
2. How many days a week? Do they offer part-time, one day a week, etc?
3. How soon do you need care? Do they have openings?
4. How much do they charge for one day, part-time, etc?

It does list on the website whether it's a childcare center or a family in home daycare. So this you know straight away. And we found that alot of the in home daycares had openings immediately, and quite a few of the childcare centers had a long waiting list, or they just weren't able to accommodate our one day a week request.

Peter and I quickly decided that we wanted to go the childcare center route with Jack rather than an in home daycare. We wanted Jack to be with kids his own age in a more structured classroom setting rather than with a wide range of aged kids and a more flexible structure. And we preferred a Christian environment as well, and most of the childcare centers were located in churches with some type of a Christian curriculum. Anyhow, all of these requests really limited our list and the search continued. And our preferred location expanded to include even more miles. We went and visited a few spots and finally landed on the spot where Jack now goes! A friend had told us about this spot and I was a little reluctant as it's not exactly on my way to work, a bit out of the way, but we felt so good about it when we visited for the first time, that we figured it was worth the 45 minute commute from home to daycare to work! And I still feel that way.

As I said earlier, Jack's been there about two months now, and I must say it hasn't gotten easier for us. It probably doesn't help that he's just there one day a week to be honest. Last week, he clung to my dress and started bawling his eyes out as soon as I made a run for the door. I could hear his screams even after I had shut the door and walked down the long hallway to start my climb up the stairs to exit out the door to my car. Bless that child and bless those lovely ladies who look after this tear filled child. I keep thinking each week that it will be different. But it isn't. The lovely ladies are now use to comforting this hysterical child and the emotional mom is now use to hearing the cries of her child as she walks away. If I'm honest, it's only the drop off that's hard. I'm okay the rest of the day as I know he is too! And nothing beats those joyful pickups! The little man is so excited to see me - he squeals and he shakes and he clings to me all over again.

And it's a beautiful reunion. But it doesn't mean I don't dread Monday mornings any less. But it does mean that it's just another opportunity for me to continually give this child of God back to Him and to loosen that grip I have on him. And to trust the hands he is in!

Here's to another Monday morning next week!