Childcare in the DC Area

Waitlist and Application Fees at 7 daycare centers: $500

Au Pair Agency Application Fee: $99

Gas to visit 5 daycare centers and multiple home daycare centers: $50

Stress and anxiety of being told there are no spaces available in any daycares, ever: immeasurable

Yearly salary offered for nanny: $37,000

Number of candidates interested: 1 (who had no experience and wanted more money)

Number of potential nanny shares that fell through: 3

Phone calls to friends, neighbors, city councilmen, daycare centers, licensed and unlicensed home daycares searching for an option: at least 25

What happens on the very day that we are approved by the au pair agency and are supposed to start searching for an au pair? (after applying, being interviewed, sending references etc)? We get a call from our first-choice daycare center that has told us for 6 months that we have no shot of getting in. They have an opening for Gus that is reasonably close to the time we need care.

Times I almost peed my pants: 1