Howdy! My husband and I are expecting our first little one in September, and we want to get on some day care waiting lists ASAP. We live off 281 and Bitters/Blanco. Any suggestions for good day cares in the area? Thanks!

Congratulations! Were expecting twins in June. Will be monitoring this thread for suggestions!

My wife and I live in that area and have been happy with Little Vineyard off of Blanco. Our boy is 10 months old and has gone there since he was three months old. They are inexpensive compared to the corporate ones in that area but that is not a reflection of the care they provide. I think it is cheaper because it is Christian based and non-profit.

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I stay off of DeZavala and Lockhill and we looked at a handful of daycares before making our choice. Lots of good ones but remember that daycare is a business. Some type of issue will happen; a bite, scratch, etc. just find one your are both comfortable with and one that also meets your budget. Pineapple School on Huebner was amazing but cost a college tuition per year, crazy wait time too. La Petite academy daycares were a little too packed for our liking. If the daycare has a recordable incident ask the director about it. Congrats on each of your little ones and good luck!

This isn't in the area requested, but for others who may open this looking in a different part of NW San Antonio; we had my son at Little Red Caboose on Babcock, just south of Prue until he started school. We loved them, and for the longest time, my son kept asking when was he going to go back.

We've been at Primrose at Sonoma Ranch for almost 6 years now. 2 kids. They are great, we've never had problems with sick kids or anything else. However, it's about $1k per month per kid.

Pinche (and others who might be interested in this take

You may be at the point that a nanny might be more cost effective. I'll tell my experience with one, but I also do realize not everyone can afford a nanny, and also that some have found amazing daycares for their kids. I was unlucky and didn't have great experiences with daycare.

My daughter, because of a demand in the decree by my ex, stays with my neighbor full time. It's twice the cost of a daycare for me (which is where you might benefit - kids at home, a nanny is about twice as expensive for me for one,) but other than when she was around daycare kids, she hasn't been sick a day since. I had issues with previous daycares. The ratios of kids: supervisor is nuts. If there were a fire, no idea how they'd get them all out. Propping bottles, diaper rashes, and letting in sick kids were big issues in both daycares she was attending. The caregivers just not having enough time in the day to pay attention to all the kids sucks. The good ones try, but the fact is: they can't. I was signing multiple injury reports/day for my daughter at one. She was learning to pull up etc, but when I have three in one day, it leads me to believe she wasn't being supervised close enough. She also would never sleep well there.

My kid would cry when I left her at daycare. I'd leave work early to rush home to get her. Now, every morning, my kid starts asking for "Mimi" and when we go over there, immediately wants down and runs to her. When we leave for the day, she will oftentimes run back over to her house. She has taught my kiddo a ton of stuff already, and if I am running late, tells me not to worry and makes her lunch out of her own food in the house. She buys clothes for her, shoes, etc. My neighbor takes her to the park so that she gets interaction with other kids. I bought a playset for them to use when I'm at work, so they'll run over to the house to go swing. She'll let the dogs out for me when she's there, or when I'm going to be late getting home.

Yesterday, I had to run a quick errand. I went over to see if she had the thing I needed, and she said no, but to leave my daughter there and she'd watch her. I came back, she was feeding her a snack and had the TV on the baby channel while playing with her on the floor. I don't have any help in the area, so she's a HUGE help. I couldn't do it without her.

I'm going to keep my daughter with this lady for a long while. She and I have made plans for when my daughter starts going to school as well.

I'm not familiar with day care places but my Allergy doctor is happy with Country Home on NW Military north of Wurzbach.

Do you want your kid to learn street skills? Maybe look into a Pre K for SA facility inside the loop.

Complaint investigator,

Where did you find your nanny? Any recommendations? We need daycare or nanny ASAP for our 18 month old.

Howdy everyone. Thank you for all the suggestions. Since I started the thread, we have toured 5 day cares in our area, and I thought I would give you all an update in case others are looking for suggestions:
1. Block and Dreeben School for Young Children (at the Jewish Community Center)
2. Little Vineyard
3. Primrose on Huebner
4. La Petite on Bitters
5. Kids R Kids on Bitters

The JCC school was the first one we toured. We're not Jewish, but you do not have to be Jewish to attend the school (although they do start introducing Hebrew and Jewish traditions to the kids). You could tell the director was very passionate about the kids and really took pride in what they did. It really was an impressive school. However, they run on a June to June school year, and they couldn't guarantee us a January spot unless we started paying in June...no thanks.

Little Vineyard was next. It was definitely not the fanciest school, but we both left having enjoyed our visit. I did note that they change the crib sheets weekly instead of daily (like the rest of the day cares we saw). Not sure if that matters (we don't really know anything about this sort of thing yet since we will be new parents). Any thoughts? Their baby-to-care giver ratio was 5:1, which is the state legal limit. It was the least expensive school we saw. We liked that it was a Christian day care and definitely in our budget - so it's probably at the top of our list. We could not put down a deposit to guarantee a January spot, though. We will have to call in December to see if there is room. Jasnmc, do you have any other insight you can share?

We loved Primrose - it was the cleanest and the nicest day care we saw by far. It's a very beautiful school, and we liked learning about the curriculum, the different programs they offer, etc. They also have a 4:1 ratio, which is lower than the state legal limit. Primrose was also the most expensive school we saw. While I know we could handle the cost for this baby, it might be hard to do it for two in the future. Maybe we shouldn't focus on that since baby #2 is far off, but we're both accountants so, hey, it's what we do.

We liked La Petite more than we thought we would. It's in the middle of the pack, price-range wise. They had a 5:1 ratio like Little Vineyard. Most of their teachers have been there for 10-20 years, which we liked. It is also the closest day care to our house, but that's not really that important since all the others are very close by.

Lastly, we saw Kids R Kids. It was a nice school. They have security cameras that you can access on your phone, which we liked. However, it was only $5 a week cheaper than Primrose, and we liked Primrose better.

So that's my summary for any expectant parents out there. Hopefully it helps someone! We're not really sure what we're doing to do yet. I think we'll get on the waiting lists for Primrose and maybe La Petite just guarantee a spot for January. Then I'll probably call Little Vineyard in December to see if there is any availability. Wish us luck!

Each kid has their own crib so they are not sharing the crib with others. I never really cared about the changing daily versus weekly because we dont change the crib sheet at home daily. Once you think of it that way it makes you realize the changing may not be a big deal.

My son seems to have really enjoyed his time there and will likely move out of the nursery to the next level up in a month or two. He has grown pretty attached to one of the caregivers but seems to like everyone a lot there. They do work with him on sign language and help with feedings. They certainly have activities, story time, and some crafts but I am not sure how much curriculum there really is with a nursery. They certainly have structure though. From our discussions there is more learning at the next levels as he gets older. Even though it was the least expensive I dont feel like we are going to a discount place. I think its mainly cheaper due to being a non-profit unlike the other three (not sure about JCC).

One thing that does interfere with our schedule to an extent is their closing time of 6. I know others in the area close at 6:30 and that would have worked out better for the weeks that I have to pick him up.

Got a little Daddy story for ya...

Before we had the kid, we looked at places and tried to consider all the factors. We concluded we had several options.

After the kid was born, things changed. Now, mommy basically indicted money was not an obstacle and that the most important thing was that she trusted the place.

So 3 kids later, we're Primrose parents.

Just saying, perspective changes once the unnamed mass becomes your special snowflake.

If you are looking for someplace to put your kinder/prekinder Kid's near Vance Jackson/Callaghan, you can't beat Chums (colonial hills United Methodist). It's super nurturing with long standing teachers/staff. Its not super fancy and It's about $1500/yr for preK and kinder but worth every single penny.

Highly highly recommended.