6 months gone

It's been awhile, no?

The quest for good child care is seriously unfun. 6 months ago, we began our search in earnest. Up until then we had put together a patchwork of care that included me, Jeff, a very part-time babysitter, and part-time preschool. Then Jeff was forced to sit home for two weeks straight because of various babysitter issues. We thought that we wanted either a homecare sitauation or a good, reliable (non-texting) babysitter.

Our look into home daycare situations left me chilled--rusted trampolines without safety nets, yards without fences on major country roads, cigarettes, etc. etc. etc. Every single house we went into had a big screen TV which was turned on and never turned off, even while we sat and chatted about our kids. Isn't that messed up? I think it is.

We also knew that a babysitter was problematic. We'd been using one who, while fairly reliable, still got sick and had life issues that meant that we had to scramble for alternate care far too frequently. We also worried that a babysitter would not be as focused on engaging our kids in activities.

So we started the kids in full-time daycare at a Spanish Immersion school back in October. We were so relieved when we visited--the rooms were bright and sunny, the kids actively engaged in doing things, the toys were clean and safe. We were all, where do we sign up? FYI: the cost is unreal. We could buy two new cars a year with what we pay for daycare. Cheap, eastern european new cars, but still. To me, this is nuts. But I digress.

As a result, Jeff has finally able to get his business off the ground, and I am about a 100,000 times less stressed because I have actual time to do my actual paid job instead of rushing home between classes to relieve the babysitter. Both things of the good.

However (didn't you know there would be one of those?). We had our very first parent-teacher conference yesterday. We knew there would be issues. Ossie can be, how shall I say it?, high energy? high needs? high mantainance? Yes. We had hoped to use the conference to brainstorm some strategies that might work to help him, I don't know, blossom a bit more in this environment. He's not great with rules or tight structures or learning centers. He is great with being a good friend, running around outside, working, engineering new toys and inventions, and making butt crack jokes. Those are his specialties. We went in to the conference with our list of ideas and questions and we never got a chance to really ask them or talk. Instead, we got a bleeping report card that shows Ossie not doing well in just about everything.

I don't want to be a parent who blames the teachers for her kids not being successful. But dudes. He's THREE. They showed how he can do important things like write his letters (three. he's three. he doesn't need to be writing flipping letters) if a teacher is sitting right next to him, but he won't do if she's not. And they also find him to be overly emotional and generally unfocused. He's THREE.

Obviously, we are not on the same page. His teacher is very nice, but very rules and obedience oriented. She also just really doesn't seem to respond that well to Ossie. What are you going to do, though? We need child care, and this is about as good as we can get in our neck of the woods. They learn Spanish and have some lovely cross-cultural activities that I really like. And Matilda IS blossoming and HAS the most lovely awesome teacher.

What we are hoping is that I can quit come May. Cross your fingers and hope Obama's stimulus saves the day so Jeff can keep working.

I'm starting to get excited by this prospect. I'm collected ideas for activities with the kids, as well as phone numbers for potential playmates. We do live in an isolated setting, and I am ridiculously introverted, so that last piece is one that I'll have to really work on.

I'm hoping to restart this blog as place to post ideas for how the kids and I will fill our days, as well as a place to think about the lost arts of homemaking. In a feminist way. We'll see how it all shakes out.