Happy labor day, peeps!

Fun fact (in case you didn’t know): Americans celebrate it in September even though it was inspired by the same early May labor protest/bombing (Chicago, 1886) that resulted in the worldwide International Workers Day. But we wanted to be different 1) because we didn’t want to be associated with The Socialists of the World and 2) there was too long of a stretch between Fourth of July and Thanksgiving (duh obviously).

So, subversive chick that I am — I gotta take this opportunity to point out that socialism has its up sides.

Namely, in my case, Irjalan Päiväkoti, the Nugget’s daycare.

This place is one of like 80 municipal daycares, and it is not a big town. So the kid to teacher ratio, it is good. It is right on our bus route and was assigned to us as soon as we visited the main office downtown (they are required to give you a spot within 2 weeks, permanent resident or not).

When we arrived for her first day, it took our breath away….this may sound lame if you don’t have kids, but damn. I mean, adorable lockers when you first walk in, then several different playrooms and a cafeteria. The “napping room” has child-sized murphy bunk beds and also strange enormous kid-proof floor cushion-bean bag hybrids. The folks who work there don’t speak tons of English, so while I try to translate the daily routine and menu word-by-word, I get some strange explanations of the list of items she needs. The list includes both trousers and rain trousers, as well as 18 subtly different other kinds of outerwear. Luckily, Luke scored an amazing hot pink …weatherproof playsuit?… for Nugget’s use romping around in sandboxes during cool but not-yet-cold weather that seems to be covering most needs so far.

She gets tons of outdoor play, and nutritious meals with fruits and vegetables and rye porridge, and it costs the same for the whole month as our US daycare costs per WEEK. And that is the maximum price. If your income is less, it costs less.

Plus these brilliant humans have somehow gotten her to consent to wearing a hat.

I am sure I will have more to say about the various aspects of my adopted “welfare state” as the year unfolds, but for now I am raising a glass (of hard cider) to our socialist daycare. Thank you, Finland. Also, cute pics below. 🙂