NYC childcare nightmare update

Many of my friends have heard my anxiety-ridden rants about finding childcare in NYC. Technically I started the process before even getting pregnant by researching different options in our area. One would think that a city of over 8 million would be inundated with a wealth of childcare options with different philosophies at various price points...and one would be wrong. Finding conveniently located childcare wasn't too difficult, however finding conveniently located childcare in a reasonable price range became virtually impossible. Eventually we realized that since we a)couldn't take the baby to work with either of us, b)are not financially viable enough for one of us to stay at home full time and c)didn't think it appropriate to leave a 3 month old at home with a bowl of water and some food lying about, we were going to have to suck it up and realize that we can once again begin enjoying "pasta night" more than once a week like we did right out of college in order to afford basic childcare.

We toured three different facilities back in October. Two places are exactly in the middle of Ross's walk to work and near the PATH train and within a "manageable" price range. The other is right next door to Ross's office and is way more expensive but has completely open availability. After touring all three, I definitively have a first choice. However I soon learned that my first choice (option A) is apparently the same as most other downtown working parents and we are on an extremely long waiting list. We kept our name at the other similarly priced but not my favorite place option B and always knew that if worse came to worse, we could collect every penny we have and go with expensive option C.

However, today I started calling the two waiting lists to see what the deal was and found out that there was an opening at option B and I could register right away. I immediately called option A and was told to call back in February. And now I have a dilemma:

Do I let my NYC-induced wait list paranoia take over and register at option B just in case we can't get into option A? I mean, I am the same person that selected and called my obstetrician a good 6 months before even trying to get pregnant to make sure there were spots available at her practice (and I thank her to this day for not laughing at me). There is no guarantee that my call in February will get us a spot and it's not like option B is a bad option - I just have a bit of a problem with the fact that they do not take infants outside in the fresh air. Ever. And also the lighting in the place is incredibly fluorescent. It's off putting. But would my baby care? Probably not unless he starts to turn sallow from vitamin D deficiency. And there are some very nice things about option B that I remember at the time I oohed and aahed over. They do baby yoga for god's sake. That's just adorable (and could help to overcome that whole vitamin D thing). Also, they provide diapers which further appeals to my cheapness.

Ross is fully in favor of going with option B if only so that it will prevent us having to go with expensive option C which he doesn't even want to consider. But this is also the man that refused to buy desperately needed new underwear for a good 6 months because he knew he was getting a gift card for Christmas to the Hanes outlet store. So I generally take his appeals for frugality with a grain of salt.

Hopefully by mid-February I'll be able to report that Baby Hoss will be registered in daycare and will not be fending for himself on the streets.