Sorry I have been MIA for so long! Didn't realize its been almost a month now since my last post.
We are finally settled and alas the routine of life has finally crept in and taken over.
Life in London has made me realize (as most new cities do) how sometimes its the simple things that matter. I miss simple gimmes. You know, things us Americans take for granted. Like joining a gym and getting free daycare along with your membership. All the big gyms here have creches (daycare) but they operate separately, charge their own fees, require advance booking, and non-gym members are allowed to use them. So you know what that means? I'll never get in. I'm still waiting to hear back though...it's only been a week.
I've also come to the realization that I am not equipped to entertain Riya for 10 hours a day on a regular basis. She knows it and I know it. So I've been looking into part-time nursery schools nearby in the hopes that 2-3 mornings a week will help us both out. Sadly, London doesn't agree with me. They give priority to full timers (7:30am-5pm or later) and don't even advertise the possibility of part-time. After some digging, I was able to find a place that would be willing to do part-time in the sense of 2 full days (not just mornings) but they quickly told me, I would be at the end of a very long wait list since part-timers are not given any priority. Even IF I considered full-time, it costs as much as rent, so that's not an option. Sigh...
Apart from that, we have dealing with another issue closer to home. I'm not sure I blogged about it before, mainly because I'm in denial, but our Luca baby has had a heart murmur for a year now and recently started showing symptoms. So far he is responding well to medication and apart from a hacking cough, he is still our loving, sleepy, toddler-fearing, floppy eared fellow. I can't bear the thought that London will be his last home.
Alright, enough about that. I promise to be more upbeat in my next entry:)
We are finally settled and alas the routine of life has finally crept in and taken over.
Life in London has made me realize (as most new cities do) how sometimes its the simple things that matter. I miss simple gimmes. You know, things us Americans take for granted. Like joining a gym and getting free daycare along with your membership. All the big gyms here have creches (daycare) but they operate separately, charge their own fees, require advance booking, and non-gym members are allowed to use them. So you know what that means? I'll never get in. I'm still waiting to hear back though...it's only been a week.
I've also come to the realization that I am not equipped to entertain Riya for 10 hours a day on a regular basis. She knows it and I know it. So I've been looking into part-time nursery schools nearby in the hopes that 2-3 mornings a week will help us both out. Sadly, London doesn't agree with me. They give priority to full timers (7:30am-5pm or later) and don't even advertise the possibility of part-time. After some digging, I was able to find a place that would be willing to do part-time in the sense of 2 full days (not just mornings) but they quickly told me, I would be at the end of a very long wait list since part-timers are not given any priority. Even IF I considered full-time, it costs as much as rent, so that's not an option. Sigh...
Apart from that, we have dealing with another issue closer to home. I'm not sure I blogged about it before, mainly because I'm in denial, but our Luca baby has had a heart murmur for a year now and recently started showing symptoms. So far he is responding well to medication and apart from a hacking cough, he is still our loving, sleepy, toddler-fearing, floppy eared fellow. I can't bear the thought that London will be his last home.
Alright, enough about that. I promise to be more upbeat in my next entry:)
I'm so sorry you're running into frustrations! That is really annoying about the gym creches. We are running into the issue of priority given to full time programs vs part time too. I just don't want Forest to go full time at 2, both for personal reasons and tuition reasons. Yikes! I'm confident you'll find a good compromise soon. It just takes forever to figure things out in a new town, especially in a different country/culture. Love you!
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