Daycare hunt

So we found out about a month ago that parents around here are a bit more industrious than both Susan and I. Apparently, a 6 month waiting list is fairly common at most daycare centers, and some are more than 9 months! So we have now joined the frenzy in earnest (even though we don't need anything until October at the earliest).

Karen, iBaby's aunt, had heard good things about Reston Children's Center and suggested we check it out. So, a few weeks back, we went and took a tour. The place was clean and very homey. Children were being held and every infant was being watched. There was a darker sleeping room where every infant had his/her own crib that was connected to the playroom. We both decided that this was the place for us. Sounds easy enough, right? Well apparently signing up in January for a slot in October does not guarantee you anything! In fact, after I learned the difficulty in getting a slot I offered to take the first available even if it opened up before October. Even with this they recommended we apply to at least a couple others.

So, I vistited a second place at lunchtime last week without Susan. What a mess! Children completely unsupervised crawling all over the room. I saw one under a crib...pure chaos. The only upside was the whole tour took 5 minutes as I had zero questions.

Today Susan and I met up at noon and visited another site. Although the children seemed like they were being watched, there was little to no interaction from the caretakers. The place was clean though and chaos was controlled...BUT...they are located next door to a homeless shelter with no controlled access for the doors and noone at the front door. We both agreed to take a pass and went to lunch at La Madeleine.

We'll be checking out a bunch more in the next two weeks...wish us luck!