Monday, June 24, 2013

Deposit (Week 7, Day 5)

After a rainy day, and even rainier night, the clouds finally part and I wake up to a beautiful spring morning. Which is great, because the thought of staying indoors two days in a row is not appealing. Maddy and I pack up and head off to the days agenda - the farmers market and securing her spot at our chosen daycare.


The farmers market is teeming with people, and we meet up with Amy for our weekly coffee and late breakfast chat. I love doing our shopping at the market, and my conversations with someone that has become a dear friend. Maddy seems to love the bustle and noise - or at least I think she does because she falls asleep and very rarely wakes up for this outing. This is a Wednesday morning tradition that I’m going to greatly miss when I return to work.


In the afternoon, we head off the daycare that we've selected (and been accepted to) to drop off the deposit - we've been given strict instructions around dropping off the deposit within 5 days of verbal confirmation lest we lose our spot. Such is life in the cut-throat world of Chicago Daycare. As a final check to make sure we’d made the right decision on daycare, I visited another major daycare facility close to our home the previous day. It was nice, clean, secure, and felt like a kindergarten school. But it wasn't quite right. It had gotten less than stellar reviews on some of the sites I had researched, and the children didn't look quite as happy or well looked after as the daycare we were considering. I just got a bad vibe about the place. Plus, it was a bit more expensive, and less convenient for dropping off/picking up. My mind was made up.


When I walked into the daycare center today, I remembered why I liked it so much. The staff is courteous, calm and friendly, and one of the directors came right over to say hello to Madeline when I explained why I was there - paying more attention to her than to me, which is the way I would want it. The place was not cluttered or disorganized, and the children all looked really happy as they stomped out to the playground. The seemed genuinely pleased to have us joining their community in July. It was great confirmation of our decision.


The male receptionist looked up our account to find the deposit amount needed, and commented “Oh, July 1st start date, that’s coming up!”. FYI dear receptionist - I know this. I do not need to be reminded. Whether I like it or not, the days are speeding past me like a race car at the Indy 500. Very soon I’ll be dropping off my flesh and blood at this site, and it will take all my resolve and resilience to drive away and not come back until the afternoon. I know it’s coming up. But he meant well. And clearly doesn't have children.


He also offered (without me asking) for us to come in for another site tour, to help us refresh our memories and drop off clothes, diapers, etc so that the first day we drop Maddy off, we are focused on her and not all her accessories. Okay, he made up for the July 1st comment. While I know I need to set this up soon as June is right around the corner, I think I’ll delay just a little bit and continue to enjoy my maternity leave and time with Maddy - no need to plan ahead too much on this one and remind me of the inevitable.

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