This day care decision has honestly been one of the most stressful decisions of my life. Right up there with job changes, moving, men and even moving men has been less confusing and jaw clenching the making (and sticking) with this decision.
It’s part intuition, part logistics, part gut instinct and part head logic. It involves many parties and several that I am closely related to all with points of view. My gut was knotted in indecision and changing it’s preferences on a daily basis so last week I consciously chose to post-pone the decision for a week.
In that week,
I made pro and con lists, talked to more wise Mama’s, squeezed my budget to see if I could get a little more out of it, drank wine and whined to my best friend, researched part time home care, gained three pounds, researched programs my family could take him to, made a potential family care schedule that made my head spin, interrogated my sister for her final opinion on the matter, consulted my parents, looked into moving us in next door to my parents, danced it out, asked for my dog’s opinion, made a virtual vision board and a decision matrix…. among many many many other things to seek clarity.
By the end of the week, decided on family care. By the end of the weekend, decided maybe we should give day care another shot. Monday morning, Cat, Mom and I headed to the day care for transition again after a week of hiatus.
Mom chatted with the staff, Cat made friends with the tots, Roman played with blocks and I resisted curling up on the kiddie couch in the fetal position. Everything changed when Cat introduced Roman to her new little friend Landon. Turns out they have some common interests and passions..lol
Their conversation went like this
Landon “toot toot”
Roman “toot toot!”
Landon “bike”
Roman “bike!”
Then Landon took Roman outside to ride some motorcycles and trains in the play yard. When play time ended and it was time to leave, they said “bye” to each other and then Roman kissed Landon, right on the lips…. Landon smiled.
While we may need to chat about appropriate play ground behaviour, for me that sign of affection for a new friend was the sign I needed to finally seal my decision on what’s best for Roman.