Encompass

I know that not all of you are of the Faith but to my fellow celebrants I wish you a very very happy March Madness. I have Kansas to win it all this year but along the way I expect Baylor, Kansas State and West Virginia to do good things. And in the suicide pool (you pick one team each day; if the team wins you survive to pick the next day but the twist is that you can only pick a team once during the entire tournament - tricksy) I am going with New Mexico. And because we like to increase our chances by attributing picks to our children I gave Zazka Northern Iowa because that is just the sort of bold first round choice I expect she would make if she was old enough to gamble.

Clearly we did not look too closely into the new school's affiliations when we moved Patrick because it was the least of our worries and we don't really care all that much when it gets down to it (it is public but there are different flavors of public, you know.) We have our beliefs and traditions and we realize that other people have theirs and we know that Patrick will need to realize this too unless we want him to grow up all stunted. Nonetheless, Steve and I did brush away a few happy tears when Patrick brought home his bracket homework this week along with a vaguely protesteth-too-mucheth note from his teacher explaining that the students would be watching the tournament on Thursday and Friday in class. You know, using it to calculate percentages and fractions and whatnot... math, damn it. Basketball math.

When I saw his teacher on Monday I said, "NCAA, I see" and when he plunged into his spiel about learning opportunities I gently stopped him and explained that we, too, follow the Way. So he laughed and said that in the past he would just take these days off but when he started with Patrick's school he realized that he could bring in a TV, give the kids calculators and they'd all be as happy as happy geeky clams. You know, I can see the appeal of parochial schooling. It is nice to have one's family values reinforced in the classroom. We just want to know when they will be starting their casino unit. 

Actually, seriously, Patrick came home the other day and he was beyond impressed because, as he explained it: "We started decimals, you know, today and one of the girls said she could do pi and Mr. * said ok so he got out a book and kept track and she knew pi to fifty digits. Five," Patrick emphasized, "Zero. It was amazing. She got it all right." 

I presume she stopped memorizing at fifty because it was a nice round number but I see no reason why she couldn't remember digits up to fifty-one or even, hey! fifty-two! or fifty-two times six and I could be the blackjack chaperone.

And then there's this other kid... wow. Just... wow. He has a disconcerting habit of leaping onto a chair while he bursts into song, like, in the middle of a grammar lesson and Patrick tells me he spends a lot of time cooling his heels in the hallway and (I just wrote 'but' except it isn't. it is an 'and') and he is crazzzzy good at math. Like holy Archimedes capital G Good at math. I'm not entirely sure what his specific area of expertise would be but he can be in my field trip group too. Hmmm. All I need is a charming but unscrupulous front man in sneakers, a computer expert and someone to handle the communications and I have just written myself into a Disney movie. Provided Disney doesn't balk at the idea of second graders who take on Vegas... maybe Touchstone.

Moving on.

I am telling you this bit just because you are the only people who will appreciate what a secret ass I was.

My friend Noelle's doctor did not have any new patient appointments any time in the near future so I decided to go back to my current doctor since I am still having the weirdness and I do like the guy except for the difficulty in getting an appointment with him. He had one space free yesterday afternoon and although it was cutting it very very fine to see him and still pick up Patrick I took it. When he walked into the exam room I saw that he was obviously very tan and I thought AH-HA! I knew he was off lollygagging on the sand somewhere while I had to deal with a dismissive shrugger in my desperate hour of woogy need and what price the hippopotamus oath, beach boy?

But because I do not really begrudge the hard-working internist a little time away I smiled and said, "You look like you got some sun."

And he said...

Ready?

"Yes. I was in Haiti."

At which point I shrunk down to a mere three inches tall and fell off the table and his nurse had to come in to help him find me.

I could play compare and contrast this week's appointment with last week's appointment all day long but I will just give you one example. I told him about the ongoing nausea and he asked if I was pregnant. I said, "Well... I have the paraguard IUD... ."

When I told this to the woman last week she instantly said, "OK so that's not it" and moved on.

My doctor merely laughed and said, "Well that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Just ask Doctor... " and then he caught himself, "... Doctor Who-I-Am-Talking-About about their surprise. We should rule it out."

In addition to a pregnancy test (I asked if I could just go to CVS and get one of my trusty pink and white First Response boxes for old times' sake. He said "let's just do it since you're going to be here anyway" and I thought that my plan had not including being there and peeing on, well, anything but whatever) he is checking thyroid, infection markers, Vitamin D, glucose, liver function and four other things of which I have never heard. Because I literally had to run out the door and across the parking lot before speeding to get Patrick on time I wasn't able to do any of them, though, and I need to go in tomorrow.

Steve looked at the orders I brought home and choked over the pregnancy test, which made me laugh heartily. Serve him and his vasectomy-fearing self right if we did have another blessing to brighten our lives and delay his retirement indefinitely [note: there is NO WAY I am pregnant. I mean, technically possible but... no.] Then he said that he had told me I wasn't being poisoned, which has been my latest self-diagnosis. We'll see.

I have spent the past two weeks trying to figure out what to do with Caroline and Edward next year. In another part of the country - say DC - I could call any one of the million or so church basement preschools and sign the twinkles up for two mornings a week of wholesome, mommy-free, paint-filled play. For some reason, though, Minnesota does not start nursery schools until three. This wasn't so much of a problem with Patrick because he turned three at the end of June and started preschool in September. Caroline and Edward do not turn three until the end of December which means they are a year and a half away from being able to go anywhere. There are, of course, lots of communist playgroup options but I don't know. Early Childhood Family Education (aka commie playgroup) requires parental involvement: first I am supposed to play with them in the classroom for an hour then I get to leave them with the teachers so I can talk about them for the next hour; and although there is a lot to be said for this... I just don't want to do it. I want to drop Caroline and Edward off with some nice woman and a pack of other children and return three hours later to graciously accept cottonball bunny art that I had nothing to do with either creating or cleaning up after.

Any thoughts? Are you local and know of a preschool that takes two year olds? The closest possibility I found was something through the YMCA called Kid's Day Out. This would actually be perfect but it is one day a week and goes from 9 until 2. In order to get them home in time for lunch and a nap I would want to pick them up at 11:30 (supposing they still nap by then - Caroline doubtful but Eddybear likely) and although this is possible it would mean that we would be spending about three hundred dollars a month for eight total hours of childcare which... not so much.

My oldest friend Carrie was in town last week and we went out to dinner, during the course of which I was lamenting my options. She suggested an in-home daycare provider might be willing to have them for a couple of mornings a week, particularly as many might have older kids that arrive after school lets out and therefore have some morning flexibility. Do you think so? How do you even find someone?

What do you do when they are two? I just want them to be able to have some new experiences, preferably in my absence. Please advise.

PS Oooooooh it's an exciting start to the tournament already. Love it.

PPS Thank you for the book recommendations. I got the pie book (um, "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie"?) and am excited to start it but I decided I should probably re-read The Order of the Phoenix first as Patrick keeps asking questions about it. It's a hard book, actually, and I tried to suggest Patrick might want to start it again later but he is pretty insistent despite not being sophisticated enough to get a lot of it. Like he keeps asking me why Harry is being so difficult and angry and my reply "Because he's 15" doesn't help.

Would you believe I had never heard of Skippyjon? What a treat. Thank you.

Comments

[liza]

Is it weird that I thought of you when I saw the "gut, research, favorite, sleeper" commercial on ESPN?

[Jan]

Below is info I found elsewhere. Schedules/costs may present the same issues, but maybe worth checking out.

Little Gym offers fun fitness/motor skill development classes. Abrakadoodle offers art education classes for children starting at two years of age. Both programs are just wonderful and have locations all around the Minneapolis area.
http://www.abrakadoodle.com/location_mn.htm
http://www.littlegym.com/

[Jan]

Whoops, sorry, I investigated further down a link and Little Gym programs for under-threes is for child *and* parent. But they could do that after next December.

[Jan]

Oh wait -- you *didn't* want to go yourself. Senile over here!

[Annabelle]

Ooooh, the Madness! Love it love it love it even though my brackets are already shot to hell, and I'm watching standing up in the kitchen because the dog wants to be outside in the sun. My life...is not so difficult today. Enjoy the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Blows Christmas out of the water, if you ask me.

[allison]

for in-home care, check sittercity.com

[SecondaryMom]

Sorry no help here, we have a lovely church classroom program called "play and share" lots of cotton ball bunny art, lots of fun social interaction, fabulous teachers, zero parental involvement.

[Patti]

Do you have a local university? At our university (which happens to have a specialty in early childhood eduction), they have a daycare/early school referral system. It's a great weeding out tool, and you can narrow it down to your specifications. You tell them what you are looking for, and they send you a list of licensed providers that currently have openings. Perhaps one of your schools in your area has this same service?

[Sarah]

I'm lucky. I live in CA in a metro area and have so far found 3 options for my son when he turns 2 in July. He is currently cared for at home by my mom (ah, Gramma all day long), but needs something more. Once I settle on a place, the plan is to start in the summer (the places are year round), go three mornings a week, have gramma pick him up and take him home for lunch and nap. And it's only marginally more expensive than paying Gramma to keep him home so he gets to see other kids, make a mess somewhere other than my house (which gramma doesn't usually clean up), etc. Win-Win.

Oh and he doesn't have to be potty trained first. Triple Win!

I looked at independent places (not church affiliated, though I was willing to do Jewish preschool for some reason), and Montessori.

[Jeannine]

You can search for available childcare (both home and centers) at mnchildcare.org. It allows you to search using various options (e.g., location, age of child, full or part time). You have to register, but there is no fee.

[Angela]

We have a woman in our town who runs a wonderful "educational playgroup" four mornings a week for kids ~1.5-3. We discovered her because she is also a Kindermusik instructor at our local music school. I did one morning a week until my middle one was old enough to go to preschool (3 year age requirement in IA, too). She is entirely word of mouth, and I am sure that there are similar setups in your area, too. Ask around, especially at Patrick's school; I would guess that many of his classmates were ready for "school" long before they reached legal preschool age.

[jemy]

I have found it to be cheaper to hire a college student at $12 an hour for Tuesdays and Thursdays and instruct them to take the two kids out somewhere to do something. This also means I don't spend time driving.

But I'm in an area where you can walk to Gymboree.

And this is cost effective because it's two kids I would have to pay for in daycare. So one-on-one care ended up being cheaper.

[Minneapolismama]

I second the mnchildcare.org idea. There are quite a few preschool-oriented daycares that actually do preschool like stuff with kids who are two. Our son did stuff along the likes of that, and seemed to really like it.

[Melissa]

"...I just don't want to do it. I want to drop Caroline and Edward off with some nice woman and a pack of other children and return three hours later to graciously accept cottonball bunny art that I had nothing to do with either creating or cleaning up after."

Yes! Is it bad that I feel this way and my son is in 1st grade? (Granted, they're doing a little more than bunny art, but still...) I know, I know...horrible mother right here.

[Carla Hinkle]

No preschool until age three? What do they think, we want to raise our own children???

Where I am in Southern CA we have a lovely, lovely French-language immersion school that starts at 2 and goes until 8th grade. My just-turned-3 year old goes 5 days a week. She started out just mornings and now, 6 months in, stays until her big sister (kindergarten) gets out (2:45) 3 or 4 days per week.

I realize this is nothing that would help you but it just makes me giddy every time I think about how great this arrangement is so I had to write it down. :-)

[S]

As a former in home licensed child care provider I suggest you look at http://www.mnchildcare.org/ The Mn child care resource and referral is a great place to start. Licensed home child care providers register with them.
I think that in home childcare is your best bet. Most providers I know do a smaller version of "preschool" in their homes.
I have a feeling it would be much cheaper and more flexible.

[-R-]

I am of the Faith as well. I didn't fill out a bracket this year though because I'm tired of losing. I love the idea of the suicide bracket.

The daycare center my son goes to in the suburbs of the Twin Cities has an hourly rate, in addition to weekly rates. So if you wanted to drop your twins off for a few hours a couple of times a week, a center might be an option.

[Fakey]

I have followed your blog for a while, and thus am aware of the improbability of pregnancy, but when I read your headache posts, that was my first thought. I started having migraines when I got pregnant with my daughter. In fact, that was how I found out. I couldn't take any drugs, then, so I went to the chiropractor and that helped. I hope your aches are as easily cured.

Also, I am shocked that preschool doesn't start 'til 3. Are the stay home parents out there all masochists? Even my die-hard-homeschooling-all-5-kids friend sent her little ones to part-time preschool from ages 2-3.

[Carrie (in MN)]

The St. Paul JCC has child care/pre-school options starting at baby age (hence my characterizing them as child care/pre-school). My twinkies went there several half-days a week when they were four (we were in Austin Tx in a church basement when they were two), and at that age it was quite pre-schoolish, not daycare-ish. It's not cheap, though (have to join the JCC, for one). But we liked it - had good teachers and felt like the kids got what they needed.

At times (like now with after-school care) I've found hiring a nanny the cheaper option than paying school prices x 2 (or x 3 when their older brother needed it too). I've turned to university jobs boards for that time and time again. Won't get them (and their cotton ball art mess) out of your house, though.

[Shawna]

Ah yes, Skippyjon Jones is one naughty kittyboy, isn't he? I've wondered though, what does a cat need with bags of frozen peas?

(Hm. Out of context that looks weird, but I swear they're innocent references from his counting book.)

(Now weird looks weird. Wierd?)

[Cheryl]

I LOVE the attitude of Patrick's teacher. How lucky you guys are to have him. (A sense of humor, not intimidated by the intelligence and quirks of his students, happens to have a book readily available where he can look up 50 places of pi, and isn't afraid to deviate from a state regulated curriculum here and there to take a few moments to indulge a student's area of interest or work his own interests into the class.) Pretty cool. And rare. Trust me - I'm a teacher too - and I read your blog with great admiration and a twinge of envy. And a few months ago when you were evaluating the decision whether or not to move Patrick, these were the things you'd never have even known about. So icing on the cake. Can you even begin to imagine what sad tales of the daily grind and ongoing neglected drudgery you'd have to listen to if you hadn't moved Patrick? Certainly no basketball and naked ladies!

Our county has a Child Services office that maintains a list of every childcare provider in the area, along with contact info, basic statistics, health reports, etc. It shows not only the actual schools in the area, but also the at-home providers who may only have 3-4 kids at a time because if they're getting paid they are required to be registered with the state and subjected to the occasional inspection. Don't expect a trip to a pretty office with samples of kids' work hanging cheerfully on the wall, though. It's like the Health Department equivalent for childcare and far more functional than idealistic. But you can get a free list of EVERY registered option available that you can take home and look through. At least to increase your options.

And does Carrie know that you refer to her as your oldest friend? Perhaps she would prefer to be your most experienced friend. Or your wisest friend.

[Rupiedupie]

I second the college age/sometimes nanny idea.
They are usually so perky and pleased to be energetic with little ones.

Weariness to be with my little ones was the early on indicator that I was nearing the finish line on "How many kids would complete my family?". I just didn't realize that until the last toddlers were age 3, fully.
Well, I didn't realize that until they reached age 5 (yes, started kindergarten).

Lucky you, to have 3 hour preschool offerings. Here, preschool was (and kinder still is) barely 2 hours total. Such a tease.
Like other mom's (who can admit it, or not) I GLADLY await full day 1st grade for the youngest. 12 years of parenting so far. It really is a marathon.

[smumzie]

Oh, honey. Is it March Madness already? I do so love to read you ... such an inspiration. But I wonder - have you given any more thought to moving somewhere else? I'm just saying...maybe if you weren't so remote the whole sports thing might ... go away.

No?

Ok. Well March on then, I suppose. But log my protest under the column of "Don't we get enough sports talk from every freakin other place on earth already?" :o)

That is all. No more complaints from me. Though I really do want to know what ever came of your search for a potential new place to live...

Carry on.

[Cheryl]

And because my first post wasn't long enough...

I read some of the other posts and thought of another source for childcare options. A couple of our local high schools have childcare classes - in at least one school, it's an actual major like what you would expect from a college, where students can become certified and start gaining experience before they graduate. I learned about it because one of my favorite teachers at my daughter's daycare was a recent graduate of the program. And she had all of the love and enthusiasm and brilliant ideas of someone fresh out of a happy program and ready to change the world (versus someone more experienced who may be cynical, slightly burned out, and a little over changing diapers). I'll bet if you started looking now, as the end of the year is approaching, you could probably line up someone for the summer before all the local daycares scoop up the good ones.

[Melissa H]

Wasn't there some movie where a college prof flies his math whiz kids (from MIT) to Vegas on weekends to count cards? I feel like I've seen this movie in the last 5 years. Anyway, keep track of Patrick's classmates and you might have some real early retirement potential on your hands (kid #4 or not ;)

Feel better! And no preschool ideas. My kid has been in full time care since she was an infant and our local school district does have early childhood preschool starting at 2 years 9 months but it's full time. Oh, and maybe you can start preschool mid year? In January? When they are three?

[LMM]

Can I just say that I had Old Dominion over Notre Dame and I have to celebrate that because it will likely be my best moment in this whole bracket thing?
Thank you for letting me share.

[Kate]

I don't know about your options, but I live in MN and the preschool room in my daycare starts at 33.333 months or something like that, which *might* rule your kids in (my daughter will turn 3 in January, and I was just thinking last week about how sad it will be for her to have to say goodbye to her teacher in the fall when she graduates out of the toddler room. I assume you have already checked such things, especially since this isn't your first, but I thought I would share that since I happen to know it. for all I know it is different with preschools that are not also intended to be FT-ish daycare.

[Karishma]

ooh! a question i can answer! i do a ton of babysitting, so i kind of do know of which i speak.

answer: find a nanny share. find a nanny that has an afterschool job sitting for school age children and is looking for more hours during the day. if you have a college or other sorts of students around you, you're golden. it sounds totally creepy and skeevy, but craigslist is actually an excellent way of finding people who can do nanny shares. i've gotten some awesome PT jobs that way, and absolutely no bad experiences. and i work 100% with moms who want a few hours out of the house sans kids and moms with home businesses who need someone a couple times a week just to give them a block of good productive hours, and that's pretty much what you're looking for. also, assistant teachers who work in elementary schools and such often have days off that they'd love to fill in with work, so you could try that also. good luck! it takes a little extra time to find PT arrangements, but it's worth it.

[Melani]

I LOVE March Madness!! College Basketball is my thing. I was feeling quite cocky that I picked Old Dominion and then Murray State went and won at the buzzer and annihilated my bracket. My husband is at work and we've been texting back and forth about the games. Next year he's going to have to take his vacation in March--it's so much more fun to have someone yelling at the tv with you. :)

[Christiana]

Does MN have a dept of Coordinated Child care? That's the best place to start looking for in-home day care providers if you don't know any personally.

[Jan]

In my area, Volunteers of America keeps a home-daycare-in-good-standing list and are with a phone call you can get a referral based on your needs (age of kids, etc).

[Molly]

Maybe one of those franchise/corporate daycares, like KinderCare or TotWarehouse? I always thought they'd be okay for a few hours, just not for the all-day experience they're set up to do. Plus they get lots of kids coming in after half-day kindergarten so maybe they have space in the mornings.

[Another Anna]

Our local JCC has daycare/preschool with lots of schedule options, from two mornings a week up to five full days. My (almost-2) daughter and I both love her two mornings there (and the JCC had no problem with our wasp/atheist household).

And I've gotten lots of kid-project ideas from the "art" she brings home...

[Another Anna]

And (unfortunately for you) when I say "local" I mean "Rhode Island." Sorry.

[Cori]

I live in CA and my first born is only starting preschool in the Fall so this might not be so helpful... Does your YMCA have child watch hours? Ours does and it's a lot cheaper than a babysitter. You could drop them off for an hour or so a couple of times a week and take a yoga class or do some other workout. That might tide you over until they are three and can go to a preschool program. Just an idea...

[Becky]

Here, they call preschool for the 2 set Mother's Morning Out or Parent's Morning Out. Not all of the churches that have pre-school do it but a hunk of them do so it's a possibility that you are using the wrong terminology- one would think this wouldn't be such a big deal but in my experience, it makes all the difference. The gnashing of teeth I endured... Anyway, we also had a whole hunk of children enter Charlie's preschool class mid-year because it's apparently getting harder and harder to fill 2 day a week classes. Parents apparently tend to want 3 day a week and up. So, it's possible that you may be able to talk you way onto a wait list to get the twinkles in mid-year when they are 3. Frankly, in our area, it's all about the potty training so if you can promise that, you could very well have the keys to the kingdom. Good luck!

[Christina]

My kids have gone to a "church basement" type nursery school, and though it's a 3 year old program, they have been known to take 2 year olds (who are potty trained, and fairly social/ready) turning three in the fall, especially if there were openings. You may want to call around and investigate if there are any options who are flexible on the ages.

[Maria]

I have a friend in St. Paul whose kids did a Mother's Morning Out program. They're school-age now, but I would imagine such programs still exist. It sounds like precisely what you're looking for except that it's one morning/week rather than two. E-mail me if you'd like and I can hook you up with my MN friend's contact info.

[Ginger]

I hope you aren't pregnant. A copper IUD was at the top of my list.

[Naomi]

Noelle's old friend Nichole does in-home day care and does some very flexible scheduling. She's a bit out of your way, though.

My kids' old preschool takes kids at two years 9 months but it is also not in your neighborhood.

If you call around your local preschools in December looking for January openings you will probably find them. Preschools of the "we set the schedule; you put up with it" variety chronically lose kids unexpectedly (because someone got laid off and they can't afford it anymore; because mom went back to work and found a full-time day care; etc.) and thus even if they insist on three-year-olds, they'll probably take a newly minted one. Whether you will find one preschool with TWO openings is a little harder to predict, but you could get lucky.

[Jen]

hey did you ever tell us about the parent teacher conference...I heart P/T Conference stories! :)

[Shannon]

You just made my crappy day so much brighter! I was the one who recommended Skippyjon and I am thrilled you loved it (and mentioned it!). Now I want to read it again, even though there's not a kid in sight!

[Pam L]

I am not local, but when my kids were in that age group there was no drop off pre-school unless they were potty trained completely, just parent -tot things. That's why both my boys did not start pre-school until they were 3 &1/2 and then I signed them up like the day after they gave up diapers for good. Only day care Moms will deal with diapers, but I wouldn't use one instead of pre-school. Day-care is day care, and no matter what they tell you about how they do arts and crafts and read and play etc., it's still day care. If pre-school is what you want, there is no substitute. Learning to listen to a teacher instead of a parent and to get along with the other students is a big part of it and I think it has to be at least a quasi classroom set up to do this. My boys both went to the same Pre-school, 7 years apart. It was run by a special recreation district and had pre-school and pre-kinder and it was great for them. It made the first day of kindergarten at the public school SO much better. I didn't get that look or the crying and clinging that you would see from kids who didn't go to pre-school first. I hope you find one. Maybe someone at Patrick's school could recommend one?

[Pam L]

"Wasn't there some movie where a college prof flies his math whiz kids (from MIT) to Vegas on weekends to count cards?"
Melissa, that was "21", good movie!

[Laura]

It might be worth looking into local gymnastics gyms - not The Little Gym, but serious gyms. They need something to do with the space during the hours that most of their students are in school, so many have toddler and preschooler programs. For 2 they may require parents to stay; I'm not local but my youngest sister started going at age 2 (with mom) and then started the preschool at 3. It was also nice because they have open gym days, where you pay a small fee to go play on the equipment, and it was a good way to arrange playdates. She's 10 now and still best friends with someone she met there in the 2-year-old class.

[Alexicographer]

Oh good heavens. Yes, my RE, who though a delightfully wonderful person in many ways was also at times irritatingly patronizing, did and does relief work in, you guessed it, Haiti. I mean, he has been working there for years. So, um, yeah. When he tells me (as he has) that I should be grateful for the child I've got it's kind of hard to hate his saying that, though I sometimes manage to.

Pregnant? Hmmm.

This: "I just want them to be able to have some new experiences, preferably in my absence." cracked me up. A good friend once commented about her daughter that, "Sometimes the easiest thing I do all day is drop her off at daycare." Naturally I tongue-kissed her (my friend, not her daughter, though each is delightful in her own way) on the spot. My state has a county-by-county referral system that allows one to specify what one is looking for (type of daycare, size of daycare, rating of daycare) and it then sends back information about what has vacancies (all free! well, not the daycares, but the referrals). I found our daycare this way and it's an in-home place that offers part-week care. And is run by a woman with a master's in early childhood education. Who focuses on play and being outdoors and who takes only 5 kids and all are between 0 and 3. LOVE it (we are there 2 days/week; those are full days, so she gets the naps -- but also the wake-ups). Surely if we can manage this in the South, you must have something similar in MN (though I do think what we've found is unusually special and excellent).

Oh -- on the poisoning hypothesis, you live in a rural area, right? Here we've been told that much of the well water in our state has unacceptably high levels of arsenic, which leaches naturally out of the ground (slate). So perhaps Steve should stop laughing? Just asking.

[Ruth]

My two year old is getting all the extra-curriculars she can handle through Early Intervention (in addition to in-home therapy three days per week and a playgroup once weekly, she just started hippotherapy, which she finds terribly exciting. It is only my friends who are disappointed that she doesn't get to ride a hippo). I like the nanny share idea, though ... it was very common in my part of Chicago back when my oldest son was a baby, back in the day when we didn't need a babysitter because we had grandparents living in the same zip code.

My family is whipped into a froth about the Madness, too. Rabid Duke fans, each and every one of us. My mother once had to take my niece out of the room because my father was shouting at the tv so loudly he was scaring the poor girl.

The more I hear about Patrick's school, the more I like it.

[Amy F]

I'm on the opposite side of the Cities, so it's only minimally helpful, but my friends have raved about a woman in Plymouth who runs a preschool out of her basement. She's a former early childhood teacher who wanted more time to be with her kids and now has kids from 9-1ish, 4 mornings a week, and includes lunch for $17/day on the school district's schedule. Kids usually attend 2 days, but it's flexible. I liked the idea of having mixed ages together -- she accepts kids starting at 2.5 and doesn't require potty-training.

I'd like to think that if she exists in Plymouth, there really ought to be similar things in the East Metro. Also, have you heard of the Farm School in Stillwater? Or Dodge Nature Center's preschool? I have lots of friends in S. Mpls who drove to Dodge because they thought it was so fabulous. I suspect those are both 3+ schools, but I was really disappointed that nothing like that seems to exist in the West Metro.

[jaybee]

I just came back from buying the Jayhawk blue hairdye for my family. That's what happens when you marry a Kansan.

But it can't compete with my happiness as my alma mater actually made it to the Madness. Go Cornell! Ok, so they'll probably lose in the first round, but a girl can dream, right?

Re babysitters: do any of the colleges near you offer an early childhood education major? If so, those kids make the best babysitters. They're always eager to be around twinkles to see if what they're learning is accurate.

[Channa]

My son was in full-time daycare to accommodate my work schedule when he was two, so I have no help for you. But I just wanted to say that I hope you complained to your dr about the dismissive PA.