For me, family day care is very much dependant on the carer, and I would see how many kids she had at one time when she has your DS. Some family day carers have more kids per adult than the ratio at daycare.

I never felt comfortable with Family daycare, I guess I didn't find someone like Christy has. I couldn't just pop in unannounced and surprise her to see what she was doing liek you can at daycare there was no one else she was accountable to, sure the council popped in a few times and that helps but it's just her and the kids all day usually.

To pick a good daycare, look at the ages of the staff, if they are all young 18 yr olds, RUN! no, it's just a guideline that lots of young staff means the care centre appears to be more concerned re. cost than care of children. Plus older staff are more likely to speak up if the regulations are not being adhered to.

The cheaper council run centres seem to be better for the same reason, they aren't about making money. Nice uniforms and new centres make parents feel good but don't always translate into care for your kid.

I put Ruby in daycare 1 day a week at I think it was 3-4 months. There was a gated off area within the toddler room for babies who couldn't crawl adn this was where she ws. Once they started crawling they moved the babies to the other side of the gate so I knew no-one was going to sneak up on defenceless little Ruby!

The babies also had a seperate play area from the older toddlers so don't have to be treated roughly by the bigger toddlers.
They had lots of staff around so I knew that there would be accountability if someone was doing the wrong thing. It sounds weird but sit outside and watch during the day how they deal with the crying toddlers - I think this is one of the best indications of the quality of staff at a centre. also before you start pop in with DS several times at different times of the days, especially cactus hour (about 11am and 4pm) and see how they deal with a number of crying children because you don't want your little bubby to get ignored because he is the smallest.

Also ask the staff individually how long they have been at the centre (just casually) and if they have all been there less than 2 months say, it might mean the center has a high turnover of staff which isn't a good sign either.

the other thing is, do they make BOTH of you feel welcome, when you arrive do they talk to your DS, and want to hold him, do they talk to you, do they know your name and his name. If the centre is big, what is the security like?

You are VERY lucky it is only for 2 mornings, he will probably adore the attention and different environment and will be absolutely wasted on those afternoons. GOOD LUCK!