the family that wendt: staying put

For the last several weeks, I have been tossing around the concept of moving Squirt to another daycare center when she turns one. I am not, nor ever have been, completely excited about her current center. They don't allow cloth diapers, they don't allow outside food, and babies over twelve months have to wear "real" shoes. I really lost it when foods like Cheerios and saltine crackers started repeatedly popping up on Squirt's food log (she has a doctor's note on file forbidding gluten). And so began my search for the "ideal" daycare center. This was a very emotional search for me. It reminded me how little time I get to spend with Squirt during the day and I loathe the fact that I can't be with her more. Frustrated, sad, I interviewed several centers and home providers, asked billions of questions, but none of them seemed good enough. This place allows cloth diapers, but not outside food. That place helps with potty training and allows outside food, but is over $200 a week. That other place allows breastmilk and soft-soled shoes/bare feet after twelve months, but is on the opposite side of town... It was very tiring. After some serious heartache and alot of hard thought, I finally decided to keep Squirt in her current daycare center. The biggest reason being proximity - she is currently mere minutes away from me. I can easily visit her every single day during my lunch break and still have time to eat. If she's having a particularly rough day, I can just pop in for a few minutes. If she has an accident, I can be there almost immediately.

The day that I made this decision something happened to validate that it was the best one. That afternoon, when I walked out of the center with her to go home all of the streets were a parking lot. The base gates were locked down and traffic was at a standstill. It was backed up so much that I couldn't even back my car out of our parking spot! So I dropped her belongings off in my car, walked through the cars full of exasperated workers, and went straight to the park across the street. We played there for the half hour that everyone else was stuck in traffic waiting to start moving. It was wonderful. Had I decided to transfer her to another center, I wouldn't have been able to get to her! I would have been stressed and she would have been lonely. This event just reminded me that spending time with her is more important than almost anything right now.

So today, a beautiful, warm Friday afternoon, I decided to take her out on a long-overdue lunch date. I packed up some food, whisked her out of daycare, and took her across the street to the park. We ate and played and had a wonderful time. It was a wonderful escape, and one we couldn't have had if she had transferred to a different center. I think, for now, we're staying put.