Tough Decisions - "The House", "The Maid" & "The Preschool"

For the past good 2 months, the discussions between Win and I are always about "house", "maid" and "pre-school".

About the house:
We've made a life changing decision. On Nov 14, 2010, we sold our 2nd hand HDB flat , which we've been staying in for the past 7 years, and bought a new condo unit on Nov 16, 2010. So after many rounds of appointments with housing agent, HDB officer, lawyers, bankers and finally we got everything settled on Jan 25, 2011, and officially, we are "homeless" for the next 3 - 4 years as our new house TOP date is in 2014!! We moved into my in-laws' flat on Jan 15 and we are grateful to have such caring parents and family members who are really supportive when we need their help. Renzo was sick badly for nearly a week after the house move, 2 days of fever followed by 3 days of serious vomiting (just like a merlion) every night around 11pm, on and off coughing and running nose. But overall he's doing pretty well in the new environment, randomly he goes like "Pasir ris, 0x192 (our old address), no more", which makes me thinking about our old flat and missing it quite a bit.

The maid:
Here comes the problem of the maid. Our friends all know that we have a pretty good maid, AyeAye, who's been looking after Renzo since he was 2 months+ old. Many people met her before might think that she's having a too good life as a maid, but with our house moving, her "good life" gets affected in quite a bad way. She lost her own bedroom, her own queen size bed, her own bathroom and most importantly, her own way of doing household chores and caring Renzo (well let's just say that old folks have their own style, it is never easy for us to accept, so does the maid, LOL). It took her at least 1 month to get adapted to her new life, but that didn't make any change in her decision of leaving us in this September.

The preschool:
This has to be the biggest headache for us now. To cut the story short, I've been looking around for a good preschool for Renzo in the past half a year, at least. And finally I shortlisted 3:

1. A montessori school provides 3.5 hours playgroup session daily
Pros -->
- curriculum is extremely good which even includes zoo phonics
- kids there are very well behaved
- Montessorri method and tools used in class
- Amazing schoolworks done by the kids
Cons -->
- 500+ a month but that's only 3.5 hours a day, which is pretty steep
- needs school bus service
- hard to cultivate good routine as it's too short session
- not much emphasis on Chinese
- can only start from Jan 2012
- school ends at 1130am, fil is out to get food, mil is on the way home, tough to arrange for Renzo's lunch and afternoon care

2. A full day childcare in fully air-conditioned environment
Pros -->
- average out 600+ a month including some enrichment sessions for a full day service
- nice indoor playground with slide and stuff, super spacious
- great opportunity to cultivate proper routine as Renzo will be eating, showering and sleeping with many other kids, following standard childcare schedule
Cons -->
- needs school bus service
- kids prone to fall sick easily
- not very strong academic progress compared to that Montessori playgroup
- can only start from Dec 2011 as there's no vacancy till then

3. The same full day childcare at a different branch
In addition to above pros and cons for option 2
Pros -->
- can start from end Sept when AyeAye is back to her hometown
- not much to compare with Renzo's cousin Cherry, as option 2 is the exact same school Cherry has been attending since she was 2
Cons -->
- facilities not as nice as the 2nd option, no indoor playground
- teachers are not as passionate (based on school concert performance)

I was so eager to put Renzo at that montessori playgroup, hence I've even talked to Ayeaye and requested her help to stay with us till next Jan. But my mil asked me not to force Ayeaye since she misses her home so much. I know in fact my mil does not feel comfortable with a stranger in her house, and she does not want another maid after Ayeaye leaves. So I have to respect her and the fact that she is still working half day and my fil is not able to handle Renzo, make me feel that I have to just strike off that montessori playgroup from my list no matter how much i like it.

Now I only have 2 options left:
1. Respect my mil's decision and let Renzo go to a "not-fully-up-to-expectation" but "not-too-bad" full day childcare
2. Keep Ayeaye for 2 more months but put Renzo at the most suitable full day childcare i could find, with the assumption that i could convince my mil without making her unhappy

No matter what the final decision is, like what I told myself and Win at the time we hired Ayeaye, we are not going to get help from any other people but to settle things all on our own. It's funny that we always try our best to explore all kinds of possibilities to settle Renzo's daily care but end up, we really have no one, but we ourselves to rely on.

So any political parties (including PAP), if you care to win my vote in the upcoming election, please, come out with a solid plan for working parents with kids!!!

P/S: my dear Renzo boy, mummy is feeling extremely sorry to you that if not because of the housing issue, you could have stayed in our old flat comfortably, with the care of your beloved Aunt Ayeaye, or another maid of ours, and attended to the desired school mummy picked for you. Our intention was to provide you with a better environment, but end up, it is causing even more problems, we just hope that things will get better and better in the near future!