Daycare Woes Again Among Other Things

So between dealing with nits, yuk!, and a dead car battery this week, I now find I have to decide what to do with daycare again. My daycare provider got a day job. She can still do before school care, but we were doing after school. Since she starts Monday (some notice, huh), I'm assuming she won't get the 2 weeks off around Christmas time. Jessica is adamant that she does not want to go back to daycare. I guess she figures she's too old for that now. I looked at the school's program again, but its so darn expensive even for one child (school release days are $40 per day per child. After school for Anna would be $17/day - too much for a pretty low maintenance kid and for only 1.5 hours of care needed).

And when I also have to look at higher camp costs for the summer now, I need to balance the whole year and not just days when school is in session. I'm actually toying with not using daycare at all. Luckily, I only work about 10 minutes from home, so I could pick up Anna from the bus and take her back to work with me to finish out the day. The odd school day off here and there, I can probably make up or just take off. But vacation days are limited. And looking at the program at school, they also closed on days like Martin Luther King Day and President's Day. I don't have those days off. I only get 8 holidays - so Christmas Day and New Year's Day, but not the Eve's of either, which the school's program is closed on. I don't have anywhere near enough to cover all the school release days, let alone the summer. I don't look forward to cutting the cord with my daycare provider who I've had for 8 years, but I think it might be time. It'll just be really, really hard! I decided to not make any definite decision for another week so I can really think everything through, but that's what I'm thinking now.

And the radio station I normally listen to is playing all Christmas music starting today. I don't think I can handle it. It's too early for this.