A Blessing

One week after our fall childcare arrangement fell through, we received a call that the seminary's daycare center will have an opening for Edith once she turns six months in November. The infant class apparently has just one child in it right now, as they await the six-month birthdays of five children on the waiting list. And Edith is one of the lucky five. Hurrah!

So having celebrated, we walked down the block to actually visit the daycare center for the first time. We liked it pretty well. (We certainly like that it's two minutes down the block.) They didn't do the same elaborate song and dance about hygiene or developmentally appropriate curriculum that we grew accustomed to hearing at daycare centers we toured last spring. Even though I originally thought the spiel was a bit over the top at some of those places, I confess that having been taught to expect it, I missed it now. But I couldn't quite bring myself to ask, "So do you soak all the plastic toys in the infant room in a three-step sterilizing formula after each use?" or "How will you be stimulating her pre-speech verbalization?" So I think we have to take it on faith that the friendly teachers we met know how to care for infants and will do a good job.

Speaking of faith, the head teacher in the infant class is Asian and evidently speaks English as a second language. This, coupled with the fact that it is a seminary-run daycare center, caused us both momentary uncertainty when she was describing a typical day for the children. As we walked out we asked each other, "Do you think that they follow each meal with praying or playing?"

We'll let you know.