Too Soon?

I've always been an advance planner. Nobody who knows me would deny that...and I would even admit that at time, I am an advanced planner to a fault.

With that said, I have begun the process of finding a suitable preschool for Bailey when she turns two. I have no issues with the facility that Bailey is in right now. She loves it and they love her. But, it is not a preschool. It is glorified babysitting. Which is fine right now. She doesn't need structured learning...any schedule at all pretty much counts at this stage. But when she turns two, and is moved into a bigger room with a higher child/teacher ratio, it is much more important that the activities be structured and focused on learning. What we do not want is for her to be one of a pack of kids that are just running crazy without an appropriate learning environment.

This morning, I think I found what I am looking for. It's a child care facility - ages 8 weeks-12 years that has a pre-preschool program in their two-year old rooms. 3-4 year olds have a MD state certified preschool program and the five year olds have a certified kindergarten program. What is most important is that the teachers are actually teachers - they all have certifications in early-childhood education. Of course, not every staff member that interacts with the children are certified, but the classroom teacher is. And she is the one who sets the curriculum.

We have to factor in Bailey's birthday when thinking about this stuff. Bailey will turn five on May 2nd, 2012. This means that she will be pretty young when she starts kindergarten in August of that year. We want for her to be prepared and ready to go into a classroom and we think the best way to do that is by having her in a preschool (rather than childcare) environment.

The facility is only 9 miles from our house, so it won't present a huge logistical nightmare. The "problem" though is going to be having two children in two different centers. We would really like for our new child to be with Ms. Delta and Ms. Susan at our current facility. With that said, I am open to exploring thier infant options, as it would be much, much easier to have them both in one facility.

The biggest seller of this program for me is that in their parent handbook, they showed a picture of a lesbian couple with a child. Perhaps it is just for show, but it's important to me.

We'll tour the facility and if we like it, get on the waiting list. I'm not opposed to transferring Bailey whenever a spot opens. Assuming, of course, that we like the facility and what we see when we take our tour.