We showed up at 12 Noon, but the center had us scheduled for 12:30pm. Go us! Catching them off guard! Well, they didn't seem to have any qualms about an impromptu tour. After a brief explaination of their program, the woman giving us the tour took us the first room, which is for infants who can't crawl. I was pleasantly surprised by what I was hearing and seeing.
Here's some things we liked:
-Secure campus. Fenced all around, pin-pad entry through office door, not on a main road.
-Cleanliness. The rooms we saw smelled and looked clean. I saw cleaning supplies and could smell that they were used. Toys are cleaned after every child's use. Each infant has their own crib.
-Infants are on their own schedule. They gave us a sample schedule, but emphasized that there is really no set schedule, as the babies have different needs at different times.
-Parents are welcomed to visit whenever they want without notice, moms can come in to breastfeed, participate in activities, or just stop by.
-The caretakers have been there for years - one had even been there for 13 years! So employees aren't coming and going.
-Legit. Since this is a widely known day care facility, they are probably more accountable to regulations than home care. {But we all know that doesn't always mean better}.
-Numbers. The teacher/student ratio is 1:4, but currently there are less than 6 kids, and two teachers.
-Cloth diapers. They'll do 'em, so long as you provide all the parts and a "dirty" container.
-Close to where we live
Some things we didn't like:
-Cost. Although less than we originally thought, this place is one of the most expensive options {besides a nanny}. We do get a discount for being referred by a friend, and our friend gets a discount too.
-Numbers, While we liked the numbers we saw, they say they can take up to 16 infants! Yikes!
-Not close enough, I can't jog Rowan to the daycare {at least not until I'm in really good shape}, and it's south of where we are, so it's another 10 mins out of the way.
The pros definitely weighed out the cons. We put down a $50 holding fee, to hold a spot for Rowan until we decide what we want to do. I'm still hoping that our nice neighbor will stop looking for a job and open up a little Cherrystone day care.
;)
