Here is daddy finishing up painting the nursery. He and Nana did a great job and were done in less than 2 hours with almost no touch-ups except for where mommy ripped in a few places when she took the tape off (oops!).The room looks really awesome and the stripes ended up working out so they get to stay. The furniture will be delivered on 1/28!
Today we both had off work for MLK Jr
Day. We went to lunch with our moms and they got to see the finished painted room and we also visited 3 daycare centers. It is amazing how different they all were and the pricing for daycares seems like it is all over the place around here. We have a visit planned to a local Goddard for Thursday (they were closed today), but any of the 3 we visited would be an option which was a relief and nice to know. I think we liked them in this order:- MERRY MOPPET on Hard Road: the place was spotless and very regimented without being no fun. They have 3 teachers in the infant room which can have up to 12 infants in it. They have a great educational focus even for infants and we got to meet all 3 infant teachers and they seemed good, plus they have degrees. On the other hand, so far this is not our cheapest option, it is not on any path to/from work and is a little out of the way and they have a July opening right now but not an August one so if we decide to go for it we may $$ for some time we don't use. Hopefully an August spot will open up. They also have tap and tumble, computer classes for 3.5-5 year olds, Santa comes in every year and they have clowns teach reading--seems pretty crazy:). They are upgrading security so each person has their own access and they will have surveillance cameras so we can watch our child's day--seems extra high tech to me but I am sure something I might appreciate someday.
- KID'S ACADEMY on N High St: the location is pretty good for getting to/from work. They are working on NYACE (or something like that) accreditation which means they would be going beyond the minimum state standards a lot. The infant teachers seemed really nice--one has been there 2 years and has a MA and the other has been there 13 years! They have 2 teachers for 7 infants or 3 teachers for 9 which is a lower ratio. This is not as expensive but we have to provide more stuff (like diapers AND wipes which the other places just required diapers for example). They have an educational focus as well but the facility is: right along High Street in Worthington, 2 stories and a converted small house so it felt a smidge tight. They also have a really crappy parking lot that is on an angle so would have to see what that is like in yucky weather.
- LEARNING CENTER OF WORTHINGTON: on Worth.-Galena Road and I actually attended there in 4th grade I think. This one is open 6-6 so Max could do drop-offs as needed without having to adjust his work schedule much or at all. Their fees include meals (one type of formula) and the center is pretty open and they had the largest infant room area. They are at 1:5 ratio and none of the teachers have a degree although all have been there 5 years except one person who has been there 3 years, which is usually a decent sign. They also don't have an educational focus and I really feel like if I have my child somewhere I would like them to be learning something (good something and not bad behavior of course!)
Anyway, none of them caused us to have a gut reaction of no. In all 3 the teachers were hugging the babies and I liked how they were interacting with them so that was good. I honestly could be comfortable at any of them for a huge variety of reasons and nothing made me really unhappy about anywhere. I was kind of hoping that one place would stick out as the clear 'winner' but since they all have some worth considering pros and cons it isn't easy at all! We still have Goddard to visit so maybe it will knock our pants off:)
I know this was long--sorry! Anyway, we did 5 updates or something crazy like that over the weekend so make sure you scroll down and at least see Max's most recent post!
