Daycare woes

We're back on the hunt for daycare. Keith needs to go back to work full-time, and I need a little more time in my weeks to finish up school successfully, and to give myself just a few hours a week to exercise and stay healthy. Our favorite daycare is a 5 minute walk from our offices, and I get a discount as a student. But they don't have space now, and the waiting list is open-ended. Their best guess is there will be space by July, possibly sooner. The other daycare that gives me a student discount says they DEFINITELY won't have space until July. Greeeeeat. I didn't like them anyway. Luckily, the favorite daycare has two other sites in town, and one of them has space for Ava right now. Granted, it is only 3 afternoons a week, but it is a foot in the door. Once in the center, we get first priority to change schedules to something we like, and we get first priority to get Alder in as well. Too bad they are on the complete opposite end of town. But we like them, and our town is small, so we're gonna do it. So right after Thanksgiving, Ava will start 3 afternoons a week at daycare. It won't give me any additional time at school because I'll still have Alder at home, but it will be nice for her to interact with the kids and it will be a break for me and entertaining the increasingly-non-napping toddler. They said we should be able to switch to more convenient days within a month. And Alder should have a spot by mid-January. And thankfully, starting in January, I actually get paid again (a very, very small amount) to help pay for this daycare time.