daycare madness

We decided that it would be good for the kiddos to be in a daycare in the fall.  We've heard great things about some programs but also nutty (to me) stories about parents getting up at the crack of dawn to wait in line, nonrefundable registration fees of hundreds of dollars that you lose whether you get in or not, preferences for members of churches and families with kids that somehow already made the list, signing kids up the day they're BORN, letters of recommendation from board members, priority for wealthy families who will become big donors, and on and on.  If you don't know me well, that is not for me. 

So, we heard about a sweet, small program at a sister church of our home church, but near our house.  Our church is far away, which is okay for Sunday morning, not okay for nanny driving the kids around multiple times a week.We heard that it's not a competitive program, more laid back, but still a great place for our kids to be.  I visited and took a tour and I left thinking that it would be SO MUCH FUN for the twoddlers.  So, we did go first thing the morning we could turn in our applications and sort of went on faith that the rumors we heard were true and they'd get in no problem.

And then we got the letter yesterday.  They are numbers 9 and 10 on the wait list.  That's number 9 and number 10 for a class of 12 for their age group.  Apparently they had a much higher rate of applications from families who are members of the church or who already have siblings there.  I'm guessing that they are not likely to be the families that applied to 4 programs and this is their "safety" school.  So, alas, we are now entering the game late to all the other programs in the area.  I suppose this is one downside to living in an area with many incredibly accomplished families.  Just getting our kids IN to a nearby program might be competitive, thwarting all my efforts to be laid back about the twoddlers.

On the up side, there is a program across the street that I heard was quite competitive and so I didn't want to spend the hundreds of dollars on an application fee as a backup when I felt confident our kids would get into the sweet program.  When I called the program across the street, they said that there is a waiting list, but it's short, so it would be worth applying.  And they waived the major application fees since there is a waiting list so that it was only $35 each.  So, off went application #2. 

I should probably look for a third option, but somehow lack the desire. Perhaps the naively optimistic part of me thinks that one of these two will work out...  I suppose at some point I'll get desperate and give up on these two and just put them in a place with space.

More to come, I'm sure!