I’ve got news. My son is attending a new day care. While we have really loved a lot about the old place, I ended up checking out a new place about five months ago. I liked it, but I wasn’t ready to uproot my son. This summer I wasn’t super thrilled with his day care. I’m not going to go into details, but basically I got the feeling that my son was a number to them, not a person. It was a tipping point. I re-toured the new day care and was reminded of its strengths. So we got him in and he has been there part-time for two weeks. Of course he’ll start back up full-time very soon (back to school for everyone!).

The transition has been harder than we expected. He’s been going to childcare since infancy so we didn’t expect trouble. Really, it is the morning drop-off that has been tough. That’s my husband’s shift so he has had to bear the brunt. When I arrive to pick my son up, he’s super chipper. Wow, am I lucky.

I told another mom at the old day care about why we were leaving. She decided to check out my son’s new day care. After touring the new place on one of my son’s first days, she told me he was “very happy.” That was reassuring.  And now she has decided to make the switch as well. So I’m not the only one who wasn’t feeling satisfied with the old day care (Sorry if this is hard to follow).

Of course the new school’s menu is very different…or oddly similar, depending. Also snacks are not formalized on the menu. Read on…

Bacon, corn cake (from CSA); yogurt; sliced apples; package of crackers; rice bar; cucumber shapes (from CSA) and carrot slices

One of the great things about the new place is that they send back the unfinished food. It sounds gross, but it’s so helpful for me. I wasn’t sure if the amount of food in this lunch would be enough for him, but he ended up not eating the yogurt or the bar. They manage snacks differently at the new school so my son is very hungry at pickup. Day care menu: Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, diced carrots, orange with wheat bread.

 Salmon, rice; sliced peaches (farmer’s market); bar (repeat from previous day); potatoes (farmer’s market) and carrots (CSA); strawberry muffin (berry picking)

He ate a little of everything, but all of the peaches, muffin, and the bar. Day care menu: BBQ chicken, rice, “Italian blend” (?), pear with dinner roll.

Hard-boiled eggs; peaches (farmer’s market); broccoli (from CSA); mac and “cheese”; cucumber muffin (from CSA)

My son barely touched the broccoli and the pasta. I made cucumber muffins because I had soooo many cucumbers from the CSA. I wasn’t feeling ready to can (even with all your positive encouragement), but I’m always up for baking. They turned out great. I’d like to start a new recipe blog and share recipes in a more formal way. Also it will help me keep track of things that work for us. Day care menu: Chicken tenders, cheesy mashed potatoes, broccoli, cinnamon applesauce with rye bread.

Oh yeah, I forgot to pick up a hard copy of the menu so nothing matches like I usually try to do. It’s a learning curve for all of us!