Well, we are looking for new daycare now and hope we find a good place asap. Neither one of us can take time off work since we don't have anymore vacation time left for the year. I feel like I made the wrong choice because we interviewed a few people who all seemed great, and decided to go with her. I don't feel like I can contact the others now after telling them we had decided to go with another daycare after interviewing them. We have pretty much told them they were second choice, haven't we?

So now we are scrambling trying to find a good caregiver and he will be going back to her for the next two weeks until we find someone new. My son didn't go today because he wasn't feeling well all weekend and neither is my husband so they stayed home today. He will be going back tomorrow. I spoke with the caregiver face to face today to let her know he wasn't coming today but will be back tomorrow, which was best as it seems she has also caught whatever they have and wasn't feeling well today either, but didn't want to call in sick on me.
We'll just have to take it all as a learning experience and get on with it. I would rather not shufffle my kid around so much but at the same time while I think it's a crap situation I don't feel at all that he's in any harm in her care.

I'm going to take the deposit thing as her reaction to how the other families that told her they were signing on left her in the lurch and "held up" spots she could have filled with other kids. To be completely honest I don't think she actually found a job though. I think she just doesn't want to be honest and say she doesn't think our son is a good fit. If that is the case and she is planning on continuing daycare with other children then I hope she is more prepared for how some children can react and need a "transition" time which is usually more than a few days. My son wasn't bad. She said he would have times during the day when he was upset and "sad" and she couldn't cheer him up. He didn't want to eat lunch for her (but would eat snacks and juice or milk), and slept a couple hours each day without fuss, just put down in the pack and play and would go to sleep. He would have a cranky morning, but then would be fine and happy in the afternoon or vice versa. When my husband would pick him up at the end of they day he wasn't running for his arms or anything, he seemed happy. She thought it was weird that he didn't like to be hugged by her daughter (would play side by side with her but didn't want her hugging him or touching his head etc...) I don't think she expected any sort of separation anxiety. I hope if she is planning on continuing daycare and finding a better "playmate" for her daughter that things go better (or maybe a little worse? lol!).