E.N.
I live in Oceanside with my husband and sons (ages 3 and 2). My husband is a Marine so every place we live is only temporary, but I grew up in Oceanside and all of my family is here so I know the area pretty well. We love our pediatrician. We go to Dr. Veronica Naudin with the Pediatric Medical Assoc. ###-###-####, 2067 Vista Way (near Tri-City Hospital). They have 3 other doctors there. Dr. Ng (said "ing") is also wonderful, we have seen her on several occassions. There are also two male doctors, Dr. Castro and Dr. Ambo, that we have only seen once or twice. We have chosen not to vaccinate, or at least wait (and we're still waiting). Dr. Naudin has discussed it with us and brings it up at the well-child visits, but she does not overtly pressure us, and she still provides us with wonderful, loving care even though she may not agree with that decision. We are also very hesitant about using antibiotics, or any medication, unless absolutely necessary, and she and Dr. Ng are very helpful in that respect. We had a wonderful Homeopathic Doctor when we lived in Monterey, I wish I knew of someone down here, but I am very happy with the doctor we do have.
For our dentist, we see Dr. Penman ###-###-####, 570 Laguna Dr., Carlsbad. We have only had 2 office visits, but we like him and he was great with my boys. (one warning - he did not ask me or even tell me he was putting flouride on their teeth, and I was not prepared for that. I had not even thought about flouride so I wasn't expecting it and hadn't done research on it to know if I wanted it - so that is my homework for the next visit).
I wish I knew of a good small daycare, but I have no experience with that. My sister took her daughter (now 18) to someone who had a home daycare many years ago, and she loved her. If I can get any information about her, I will send it on to you. And the only preschool experience I have is with Christian preschools. When your son is of school age, there is a charter school here, Coastal Academy, that is for homeschoolers. It is non-religious and the kids are at home for school 3 days a week, then at the school 2 days a week. My oldest sister has her daughters there and they really like it. And a friend of mine just completed her daughter's kindergarten year with that school. She felt it was a pretty rigorous program for kindergarten, but the school has a good reputation as far as we know.
Other than that, our interests are not very similar, but I would love to be of help to you in any way that I can, and it doesn't mean that I couldn't be a friend! :) I take my boys to the park in the mornings occassionally (our favorite is Luiseno on the corner of Douglas and Vandegrift) and I would be happy to meet up with you if you like. I'm also thinking I would like to introduce you to my sister-in-law, your interests are very similar and she is a wonderful lady. I don't get to see her very often, but we are planning to try to meet up at the beach for a walk every now and then, now that she just got a good double stroller. Let me know if you are interested and I will contact you about our next stroller meeting.
Welcome to Oceanside! And really, I would love to help in any way that I can!
