Ideally, Erin would be able to stay home with Dawson full-time. Our world, however, is less-than-ideal, though close-to-ideal, since Erin is able to work only part-time and I'm home with Dawson half the afternoons she's at work. Honestly, I think Erin appreciates the chance to get out of the house and work. And, God has been faithful to provide for our family, as you can read here if you'd like.
So when neither of us are with Dawson, he goes to a home daycare run by a lady in our church, Sarah Armstrong. Sarah is a great person, good friend and leader in our church. On top of all that, she's not charging us a lot for the afternoons Dawson is over there.
I've come to the conclusion, though that even if we didn't need to take Dawson to Sarah's, we still would do so. For no other reason than so Dawsie could hang out with Gake.
Jake, as us adults call him, is Sarah's 2 1/2 year old son. Dawson loves Jake. Often when we're getting into the car, Dawson will ask "Gake?" Sarah's best friend, Katy who is also a part of our church, has a 1 1/2 year old son named Seth. Seth also comes to Sarah's sometimes, reuniting the "three amigo's" of the Trinity Family nursery.
There are some other kids at Sarah's daycare, including her 1 year old daughter, Callie. Dawson loves to hug Callie and Sarah wants Dawson to (eventually) date Callie. Dawson likes hugging all of the kids at Sarah's, as I witnessed the last time I picked him up.
For a kid, who for now anyway, is an only child, his friendship with "Gake" and his time at Sarah's are positive elements in his social development.
