Child Care Dilemma (I Hate Money)

We have a sitter because she is way cheaper than preschool, even with my discount. And she can watch them until we get home, which many days is close to 7. Most daycares/preschools close at 6:30 and I WORK until 6:30. Also, most available child care facilities around here are preschools. Not daycares. I would kill for a good ol' daycare with late hours. They are cheaper. But we live in a wealthy area and the wealthy want schools and education for their little ones. Apparently. Sigh.

So the dilemma is that our sitter sometimes can't watch the boys and I have a hell of a time getting ahold of our back up sitter. This week they went to work with me 3 times. The problem with that is that right now we have low enrollment and it can be an option, but soon it won't be. I can't remotely afford to put Finn in, at least until he walks. The infant price is not discounted and is super expensive. P isn't potty trained, and socially is behind his counterparts. Well, more to do with daily structure, really, so he's in with the 2's. That's a little more than the 3's. I want to enroll P full time, but I have to see if our budget can handle it! And just have Finn with the sitter. I think she'd be cool with taking him with her to appointments if she needed to, as he's small and not so wild.

Basically, it comes down to money. I'm realizing that if I worked in another industry I couldn't afford child care AT ALL. If I get the one job I'm hoping to, I'd have to stick with the sitter. For both of them. But it'd be part time. Ugh. I hate money. I just want what's best for my kids. P needs the socialization. And I guess I'm okay with him being in the 2yo classroom. He needs the potty training (although he KNOWS how and when to go, he just refuses) but cognitively he's at Kindergarten level. He reads beyond what any of the other kids, even in Pre-K, do. He doesn't write his own name yet, but that's something I could probably teach him in a weekend. Anyway, point being, there's not as much of the educational stuff in the 2yo classroom. But he likes playing anyway. He carries around a certain puzzle all day, lol. I just don't want him to be bored. But I also feel like they get to be kids without schooling for only so long. Which is why a standard daycare with more playing would be my preference.

Did I say UGH yet? Ugh.

I don't even know what to do or how to make all this work. Adulting sucks sometimes.