Bright Horizons

Plato once said necessity is the mother of invention. In our case, necessity finally caused this mother and father to take heed to the note, "back-up daycare," scribbled on the refrigerator white board "to do" list for over a year. The Andersons requested the weekly kid swap cease and desist for two weeks so Henry and James could attend swimming lessons, which left us scrambling for daycare.

Sometime after Aaron was born, Adam learned at an HR fair that he had free access to limited back-up daycare at Bright Horizons Minnetonka as a benefit of his employment at Ingenix. Like all benefits, it's value has diminished in this current recession, but it remains an affordable, viable back-up daycare option for our family at $25/day for a maximum 10 days/year. However, because our overall daycare situation is in flux, the manager at Bright Horizons petitioned on our behalf for 20 days/2010, so we have some flexibility as we continue to finalize the details of our fall schedule.

I was extremely impressed with the care the boys received last week and today. Last week, by 9:15 am, Jessica had sent an e-mail to Adam and I with pictures, reassuring us the boys were doing great. We had some initial concerns about Nolan because we were told the boys would be separated according to their ages. Thankfully, they made an exception and allowed Aaron and Nolan to spend majority of the day together.

Collin's experience sheet said his favorite part of the day was quiet time and that he enjoyed making a flower out of fuse beads.

Collin at the air hockey table

Aaron's experience sheet said, "Aaron was a great helper at clean-up time! He met some new friends and took turns going down the slide."
Construction worker

Nolan's experience sheet said, "Nolan was a very busy boy today! He listened to several books including one that he picked out himself. Nolan also played with the toy tools alongside Aaron. Nolan would use a hammer to bang pretend nails into holes. In between playing with the tools and the kitchen set, he worked on his gross motor skills by climbing up the stairs on the climber. He then would slide down and laugh!"
Buddies

We had no trouble convincing the boys to return to Bright Horizons this morning, especially since we received e-mail notification yesterday of a bike safety rally with a real live police officer. The boys packed their bikes and helmets and learned not only the proper way to wear their helmets, but also appropriate hand signals and the rules of the road.
All smiles...Collin participates in the bike safety rally Franklin's Bicycle Helmet style
Left!
Zoom, zoom...

While the older boys were biking, Nolan, "listened well and participated in the action songs during circle time. He also seemed to enjoy exploring all the different toys in the room and sitting by his brother often. :) Later, we took a stroll outside to watch the older kids ride bicycles and get some fresh air."

It's such a relief to know this option is available to us when our regular daycare falls through, and unfortunate we didn't get around to arranging this benefit sooner, as it would have taken so much pressure off our daycare kid swap arrangement with the Andersons these past 3 1/2 years.