ThinkGeek :: Geek Love Poem T-shirt
This shirt is so darn funny. I was trying to imagine explaining what the references mean to my mom -- which I think I could do. But trying to explain to her why it is funny? I think that is beyond my abilities.
Do I really need to air my thoughts online? Does the world need another blog? Ah, what the hell. I can always abandon it later. I'm a quitter anyway.
Friday, February 11, 2005
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
The Top Ten Words I Want To Avoid In The Name Of My Baby's Daycare
1. Kollege
2. Baptist
3. L'il
4. Clown
5. Holy
6. Crazy / Krazy
7. Uncle
8. o'
9. Bubba
10. Experimental
Today I toured six daycares in the area. It was an enlightening (and exhausting) experience on many levels. In addition to identifying several I would actually entrust with my child, I also learned some things. Here are a few observations:
Babies really are all different. I guess I had this really generic concept of baby. Bald, drooling, and either asleep or crying. I'm not around them that often. But these babies really ran the gamut. I saw a happy black boy in a miniature Panthers jersey sporting a big afro, who had a bout of barfing on himself and then smiled beatifically like everything was cool and he wasn't soaked in vomit. I saw a very large pale fussy baby girl, whom the director described as "spoiled" because she wants everyone who comes in the room to pick her up.
Just because daycares cost the same does NOT make them of the same quality. The places I saw today all ranged from $115-120 a week (which I understand is quite inexpensive compared to the nearby big city) and all have the same stated caregiver ratio (1 to 6). But one I visited had 12 identical baby cribs jammed next to each other in a prison cell-like arrangement and the babies stared at me like tiny zombies in a room I would describe as too hot. Yet another featured space between the cribs, which each had bedding from home, active babies in the room too busy with their pursuits to notice me much, and neatly printed calendars detailing what the babies were up to that week. These places had the same weekly rate, and yet there was just no comparison.
I am better off letting a daycare look after my infant all day rather than me. I know, all the stay-at-home mommies will argue with me about what a GREAT caregiver I would be. But you know what? They don't know me. I am not really very into babies and I don't want to stay home with one all day. That was never the idea. And for the most part, the daycare workers I saw seem to really love working with babies. They exclaim over poopy diapers, jiggle feet, get down on the floor, talk baby talk, and so on. I'm sure I will do some of this but I can't imagine 12 hours of it daily will be better for me than going to a job I love and then coming home to see my happy kid who's had competent childcare all day long.
Babies seem happier in well-managed groups. Like dogs, who can entertain each other for hours, the babies I saw in the better daycares weren't (for the most part) clingy or overly bored. They seemed pretty content to hang out with other babies and a few adults. I heard very few crying babies today, which surprised me.
Anyway, that's the great wisdom I gleaned today. We'll be making a decision in the next couple of weeks. Now if we can only figure out what to call this child, and get a pediatrician, we'll be all set.
1. Kollege
2. Baptist
3. L'il
4. Clown
5. Holy
6. Crazy / Krazy
7. Uncle
8. o'
9. Bubba
10. Experimental
Today I toured six daycares in the area. It was an enlightening (and exhausting) experience on many levels. In addition to identifying several I would actually entrust with my child, I also learned some things. Here are a few observations:
Babies really are all different. I guess I had this really generic concept of baby. Bald, drooling, and either asleep or crying. I'm not around them that often. But these babies really ran the gamut. I saw a happy black boy in a miniature Panthers jersey sporting a big afro, who had a bout of barfing on himself and then smiled beatifically like everything was cool and he wasn't soaked in vomit. I saw a very large pale fussy baby girl, whom the director described as "spoiled" because she wants everyone who comes in the room to pick her up.
Just because daycares cost the same does NOT make them of the same quality. The places I saw today all ranged from $115-120 a week (which I understand is quite inexpensive compared to the nearby big city) and all have the same stated caregiver ratio (1 to 6). But one I visited had 12 identical baby cribs jammed next to each other in a prison cell-like arrangement and the babies stared at me like tiny zombies in a room I would describe as too hot. Yet another featured space between the cribs, which each had bedding from home, active babies in the room too busy with their pursuits to notice me much, and neatly printed calendars detailing what the babies were up to that week. These places had the same weekly rate, and yet there was just no comparison.
I am better off letting a daycare look after my infant all day rather than me. I know, all the stay-at-home mommies will argue with me about what a GREAT caregiver I would be. But you know what? They don't know me. I am not really very into babies and I don't want to stay home with one all day. That was never the idea. And for the most part, the daycare workers I saw seem to really love working with babies. They exclaim over poopy diapers, jiggle feet, get down on the floor, talk baby talk, and so on. I'm sure I will do some of this but I can't imagine 12 hours of it daily will be better for me than going to a job I love and then coming home to see my happy kid who's had competent childcare all day long.
Babies seem happier in well-managed groups. Like dogs, who can entertain each other for hours, the babies I saw in the better daycares weren't (for the most part) clingy or overly bored. They seemed pretty content to hang out with other babies and a few adults. I heard very few crying babies today, which surprised me.
Anyway, that's the great wisdom I gleaned today. We'll be making a decision in the next couple of weeks. Now if we can only figure out what to call this child, and get a pediatrician, we'll be all set.
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