I'm glad they are starting in January because that's what I do, start them 1 day/week, then 2 days the second week then 3 days/week until the Mom returns to work. It works pretty well usually. So for Oct, Nov & Dec I would charge $200/month as my holding fee, plus the deposit and make an addendum to the contract stating that none of those payments are refundable for any reason. I did that a few years ago in fact.