For sale: One left arm

This morning I, the nerd, started researching options for child care after I go back to work.

AND... primal scream.

The good news: Washington state is pretty dern organized with the referral services, including county-based offices that are a clearing house for state-licensed providers. They have a staff and an office where I can talk to a human. I've also found tons of tip sheets, checklists and databases full of pertinent information, including child-to-provider ratios and median costs.

The bad news: I'm going to have to sell my child to afford putting the Littlest George in the care of providers who earn just an smidge above the federal poverty line.

Now is a good time to state, for the record, that I have been marginally aware of this issue. I don't mean to sound like I just discovered the sky is blue. My friends who are parents have navigated this recently (not to mention Hunter and Michelle) and I know they all had, and have, deep frustrations and worry about this.

Now that I'm a member of the Child Care Freakout Club, I'll be starting a clearinghouse for parents who are willing to sell a kidney to make sure they're little one is safe and loved while they're working to pay the mortgage.