by Pat Arnow

Olga Bosio with a student

s Love A Lot Director Olga Bosio opens each door of her expanded preschool on the Lower East Side, curious children look up from their snacks and games. The bright rooms are furnished with child-size, sturdy, wooden furniture and plenty of dolls and blocks. Teachers are murmuring gentle encouragement.

The first Love A Lot opened in this neighborhood two years ago, taking up the first floor of an apartment building at 99 Suffolk Street, just north of Delancey. With rooms filled with cribs and play areas, as well as a backyard, it will continue operating, taking care of babies from two months to two years of age. The new preschool, in the first floor of a new apartment building at 21 Clinton, just south of Houston, will admit kids ages two to four and a half.

Bosio, a native of Brazil, who has been taking care of children in New York for some 25 years, offers a tour of the new space which is receiving its finishing touches. She introduces a friendly security guard, and points out a stroller room with cubbies for coats and tiny backpacks. Electricians hustle down the bright yellow and orange hall, finishing a wiring project. The children’s rooms are finished already, each a pleasant and peaceful place.

And then tennis instructor J.L. Calderon enters one room with his racquet. The children flock to him joyfully. They take turns practicing their strokes. On other days, their lessons may include yoga or sign language.

With the new facility’s expanded capacity there is room for more children, says Bosio. It’s an unusual bounty in a city where it’s often hard to find licensed childcare.

Kids come from the neighborhood and from Brooklyn, New Jersey and the Upper West Side, where Bosio used to run a childcare center. The Lower East Side lured her with its new boom of twoworking- parent families moving into the neighborhood.

Bosio is proud that the kids’ backgrounds are as varied as the Lower East Side itself. English is the second language in many homes; first languages include Spanish, French, Hebrew and Chinese.

She’s also proud that her teachers are all certified and experienced and that there are at least two aides in every room. The center’s Education Director, Annette Sanchez, has a master’s degree from NYU.

Love A Lot remains open from 8:00 to 6:00 during the week with extended 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM hours available. lovealotpreschool.com, 212.529.3337 or 212.529.2650.