The hunt for a great daycare

Wesley and I went on the hunt today for the perfect daycare. It was a long day, but thankfully Wesley was a trooper. Despite being toted around all day, he never whined or cried once.

Center #1
The first center that we visited was awful. The owner had the WORST grammar e.v.e.r. and the teacher in Wesley's age group class was not at all interested in interacting with him. In fact, she didn't seem that interested in interacting with any of the kids that were in her class.

After observing the class for awhile (with Wesley clinging to my leg the whole time), I told the Director that I was concerned about Wesley being in that class b/c he was much larger in size than the other kids and seemed more developmentally on-track with the older group. Her response was "yeah, all parents think that their kids are really smart."
Why would she even say that??

I could already tell that this was not the place for us. I was not getting a good vibe from the place, and knew that Wesley wasn't either considering his unusual behavior (not at all like him, even in a crowd of people). I was so upset, and could feel myself tearing up. I wanted to find the perfect place SO badly!

Center #2
I got myself together for Place #2. The first thing I noticed was the trash PILED on the front porch. I walked in to the most filthy daycare I had ever witnessed. The floors were disgusting and the lighting was awful. I didn't even put Wesley down, we just left.

So I marked #2 off of the list. That left us with two more places. I was getting so discouraged. I thought about what everyone had told me about KNOWING when we found the right place, and started to wonder if I would really know. At that point all I knew what that the two places we had visited were DEFINITE no-goes.

Center #3 - We have a winner!
We pulled up at the Place #3 and I liked it immediately, and once we went in I knew it was the right place! It was immaculately clean - no trash in site, super clean floors, very organized - and the play area outside had all new toys, a HUGE grass yard and big cedar-chip play area. I met with the teachers in Wesley's age group - who were both wonderful! As soon as we walked into the room, Wesley held his arms out for the one teacher - it was so cute!

When she put Wesley down, all of the little kids ran over to him (I was afraid he would be scared) - but he started giggling and waving! Then he followed them to the toys and forgot I was even there! I almost burst into tears b/c I knew that we had found the right place.

I talked with the teacher for awhile and she told me all about the room. Wesley's class ranges from 13-20 months and there are a maximum of 8 kids in there each day. She told me about their schedules for, eating, naptime, playtime, etc. They even have a neat 4-seater stroller for walks.

I talked to the manager, who said she would call the owner and then call me back - and within 20 minutes I got a call from her saying that they are getting ready to move 4 kids to the next age group, have 3 on the waiting list, which leaves one spot for Wesley!! Yay!

Even though the youngest kids they usually accept are 13 months, Wesley is tall and big for his age, and has met all of the 12 month developmental milestones, so they are ok with him starting now.

Steve is leaving work at noon today so that we can go up and enroll him. We're going to stay there with him for awhile to see how he interacts with the other kids.

I'm so nervous about it, but the strange thing is that I'm kind of excited for him b/c I know he will love getting to play with the other kids and with all of the toys. Wish us luck!