Defining and measuring quality in group care settings has become a central issue in the field of early care and education in the United States, particularly as states develop systems to improve child care quality. Most research and policy definitions of quality rely on a top-down perspective focusing on structural and environmental features of the child care context. This pilot study, based on Lilian Katz's multidimensional framework of child care quality (Phi Delta Kappan, 76(3), 200-206, 1994), documents the social ecology of individual toddlers' experiences in one classroom, in relation to a global quality measure of the same classroom. Research questions were (1) What is the frequency of teacher-child interaction in the target child care classroom for each of the four focus children? (2) Does teacher-child interaction vary by classroom context? (3) How does focal child interaction data compare with a global measure of classroom quality? Findings included low levels of interaction between the individual toddlers and the caregivers throughout the classroom day. This multi-method approach illuminates the complexity of measuring quality and the potential value of considering children's daily experiences as an important element of quality assessment. (Contains 4 tables and 3 figures.)