My wife and I entrusted our one-year old son with this caregiver and her family when we first moved to Fairfax from San Francisco. She cared for him like her own son. She fed him delicious home-cooked food, nurtured his social skills with the other children in her daycare, and paid close attention to his emotional needs and development. She read him stories, played games, and sang songs. Our families became very close. In fact, he and one other young girl in her daycare were the flower bearers in her oldest daughter's amazing wedding. She traveled to India with her daughter to find just the right wedding dress, and returned also with a customized outfit (including shoes and hat) for our son. It was so special. And it reflects just how much she cares for the children she helps us raise. We quickly came to trust her completely. One summer, when there was a tornado in Fairfax, she called me at work to reassure me that she and the children were safely hunkered down. When I was permitted to leave work where we had been sheltered in place, I drove straight to the daycare. The kids were safe, and by then laughing, playing, eating samosas, and excited to recount the details of the adventure they had had with her. (Masterful leadership! She was able to turn a potentially hazardous and frightening situation into a safe experience with a sense of adventure.)
Today our son is a thriving college student at New York University. Before matriculating, he spent six months backpacking alone through India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The confidence, intelligence, as well as emotional and social maturity that he possesses today is in no small part due to the love and care that she gave our son in his early years of development. Thank you!