After I picked up My Kid at school and she had played in the playground with her friends for a while, I had to take her into Manhattan because the timing of the childcare pass between me and The Husband did not allow for either taking her all the way home, and waiting for him to get there before I could leave for my commute or getting her all the way uptown to my husbands office in Midtown and back down to the studio in the East Village before the start of rehearsal at 6:30. Fortunately The Husband was able to leave the office a few minutes early and we were able to do the switch in front of the building so she didn’t have to come up to the studio (especially since I had forgotten to bring her Ninetendo DS as promised.) I wasn’t the only one. One of the clowns was manouvering her stroller into the tiny retro-fitted elevator as I got on. Already there another of the women clowns was settling her preschooler on a yoga mat with snacks and picture books and her ipod. The babysitter had cancelled. The other clown’s husband showed up in short order to collect his own toddler in a stroller before we had even started our warmups. I think the other two mommy clowns were paying babysitters by the hour for the time they were at rehearsal in addition to the time it took to get to rehearsal.