Vacation time is over! I was kind of dreading getting back to work this week, mostly because the ridiculous 3 to 10:30 am sleep schedule I’ve been on for the last couple weeks really doesn’t mesh well with my 7:45 to 5:15 work day. I had to get up extra early this morning to tidy up. For some reason last night I started building my new bookcase and rearranging some furniture, and I left a huge mess in my wake. Yesterday I decided to turn the nap room (a small-ish third bedroom used only for the daycare kids to nap in) into a mancave-slash-study for Taylor, so in the middle of sawing and drilling bits of wood I dragged the grey couch in there from the library. It was totally stupid too, since the couch is too big to fit on the south wall where I want it, but at least it gives me more room in the library to practice my woodworking and cabinetry skills!
It’s actually been an alright day so far, mostly because I only have two kids to look after right now. This is nice because less kids obviously equals less work, and also the opportunity to do lots of things around the house I would never get around to otherwise. For example, this morning I repacked some books into smaller boxes while the 2 1/2-year-old played Legos and the 16-month-old supervised me and critiqued my work. Right now they’re both snoozing away- having a workday with a scheduled nap is great, even if I’m not the one napping! It gives me time to catch up on housework, have my own relaxed lunch and sometimes, just sit on the couch and read. And write blog posts, of course.
Of course, having less kids in the daycare has its drawbacks, or rather one huge drawback: I am totally broke! For some reason I just started hemorrhaging clients last fall, not because of me, just different things for each family. One little boy left in September to attend the same suburban child care as his older sister, another little boy left in November because his mom had a new baby and it was more practical for them to have a nanny, a girl left in December because her mom had a baby as well (seriously, if you’d like to get pregnant with your second child, send your first to my daycare. One of my current clients is pregnant right now as well!), and due to complicated financial issues another little boy is gone. At the same time, there seems to have been a real lack of people looking for child care, so out of the four that left I only filled one spot. My neighbor who also does childcare had the same problem, she was down to I think one part-time client. I’ve been walking around like Abby Elliot’s Angelina Jolie asking everybody if they have any babies, because I could always use more babies. Did someone say baby? I thought I heard a baby in here.
However, this morning started out with my first prospective client call of the year, and we have a meeting set up for tomorrow. I always like people to come by and meet me and see the space as a soon as possible, even if they don’t need child care for months and months or even years (I already have someone on my waiting list for spring 2011), but this woman is looking for child care for late February, which would be great. Everyone keep your fingers crossed that this one works out- I had a few meetings in November and December but nothing came of them- because really, I could always use more babies!