Smoky the bear

Rus and I had a tour at Lakeshore Children's Center on Lakeshore Ave last Friday.  We had always planned to try them, but a co-worker also mentioned her children went there.  At $947/month for full time care, they are a bargain.  But clearly, you pay for what you get.  I would call it glorified day care really and not much different from where he is now.  Two things really got to me.  First, one of the teachers in the older kids room (over four years) smelt like a pack of cigarettes and sounded like she was a lifetime smoker.  I mean, she reeked.  The other thing about them I wasn't that fond of is they have a large hall they sometimes use to let the kids run around so there are kids from 2 years 9 months to 5 years running around like nuts.  There were some tables setup with activities, which was less chaotic, but I want Wyatt out of the chaos.  There were quite a lot of kids in there.  I think it's their rainy day back up plan, but that can be a lot of days.  I am more offended by Smoky the Bear right now.  I hate smoking.  They also only want children that are close to being potty trained.  They have no where to take care of any diapering.  We are considering them a distant back up plan.  We are still planning on seeing Daisy Development Center (recommended by Ramon), Claremont Day Nursery (recommended by Mischelle at work) and Bamboo Montesorri (it's close to where we live now).