We actually moved Zoey in September last year (just one month after she moved to the toddler room) - not because we were unhappy at Yorkview, but because a new daycare opened up in the North Thornhill Community Centre, which is walking distance from home. The convenience factor won out for us (parents). I'll re-iterate, the infant room teachers are amazing - Azam, the primary teacher in there, is absolutely fantastic.
Yorkview has a transition plan - they have you bring in your baby the week before you officially start. There's no charge for this week. The first day, you and baby spend an hour or so in the infant room, so you can observe, baby can meet the teachers, other kids and know it's 'safe' because you're there. You can discuss with the teachers about your baby's schedule, likes, dislikes etc - basically you tell the teachers everything about your baby. The second day, you can stay a bit longer and if you're comfortable, leave after a while, perhaps only for an hour. The third and fourth days, you drop off baby for a few hours (we had Zoey stay for lunch but not nap time at 12:30), the fifth day, you drop off for half-day or longer i.e. pick up at around 3pm or so.
Of course, they're really flexible, so you can manage this transition any way you see fit and change it depending on how your baby's transition is going. Yorkview should call you about 2 weeks before you're scheduled to start, to set this up. I guess if you don't hear from them, you should give them a call.
We actually still keep in touch with Yorkview, and are planning to take Zoey back for a visit next week (my husband and I have the day off on Wednesday). We took her on Christmas Eve and her teacher from the infant room was very happy to see her - though Zoey was a bit wary at first, she did seem to remember the daycare.
In terms of the difference between the daycares, here are my observations: Yorkview has a lot of experienced teachers, they are much more flexible and willing to work with any specific requests and with your baby's needs. It's difficult to do a direct comparison, though, since the new daycare does not have an infant room and Zoey didn't spend much time in Yorkview's toddler room.
Hope this helps!
--Debbi
