Fear!

This week we began looking in earnest for child care (well, OK, we REALLY were looking in LA). The UCLA child care coordinator (UCLACCC) had assured us that pretty much any kind of child care costs about the same, so we decided to try the nanny route for the first year- lots of attention for Petra, without the confusion of too many other kids. The UCLACCC recommended a referral service, so we called and were immediately matched with a lovely woman from Belize. But slipped somewhere into that call was the small bomb of $10-$12/hr for 45 hours per week. I'll give you a few seconds to do the math. Time's up, pencils down: $23,400-$28,080 (not including Social Security and Medicare taxes). Ooops, had to call and cancel that appointment. HOPEFULLY, the UCLACCC was on crack and child care can be had for less. Of course, she said she didn't know of any family care providers west of Century City or so, so we were on our own.

Next up Family day care (in someone's home). The UCLACCC had one name to recommend for us, and we visited there. Nice enough person I suppose, but there was nothing that struck me as "this is the place," and there were a few things that bothered me. The good (?!) news was family care here would ONLY be $210 a week. I also had a word of mouth reccomendation for another home, so we made an appointment (and what a deal, only $200 a week). But neither place was what you might remotely consider convenient (we'd have to buy a second car to manage it), so the next step was taking the LA County list of state licensed family day care providers and trying to find out where they are (they provide only zip code and phone number, not a whole lot to go on). Googling like mad I was able to identify 6 providers either in our neighborhood or 1/2 way between home and work. 2 were actually very nearby- just around the corner in one case. I called them all and left messages, and got 2 calls back: One saying I had the wrong number, the other from the center around the corner. She had one space open, and would take a 6 month old (which some will not). I made an appointment for the next day.

And thank goodness! Not only is it just around the corner, but the woman is very nice, and had a good rapport with the kids she had (and played well with Petra). She had even had the child care in mind when putting an addition on the house years ago, so the setup is great for kids. This place really felt good to me, and only charged $125 a week! I ran home and told mommy she had to come and see. The only hitch is the hours are 8-6, and we work 8-5, so there will have to be a little shifting of schedules, not much though. So, long story only pretty long, Petra has a place in a good home child care center starting April 18th (her 6 month birthday), and we won't lose the house trying to pay for it. Despite all the anxiety about child care, we were incredibly lucky, finding someone great so quickly!