Moving to SOMA from West Coast - Daycare / pre K ?'s

Thanks in advance to everyone!

Welcome (soon) to SOMA!  My kids are currently home with me, so I don't have a lot of first-hand advice for you on daycare, but if you are on Facebook, you should join the Maplewood Moms FB group. Tons of helpful moms on there with lots of advice.  

https://www.facebook.com/groups/153328014875674/

Are you looking for daycare, or a nursery school? There is both available, but the day cares will typically be for a full day because the parents are working, where nursery schools for your 2.5 year old are typically 2.5 hours a day. I'm a stay-at-home mom so I'm not really familiar with day cares. But, there are tons of nursery schools in the area. We are a happy Open Door Nursery School family (in Millburn, but super close to SOMA), and there are openings in the 2's program starting in September 2016. But there is also Prospect, Morrow, Sharey Tefilo, Weekday, Our Lady of Sorrows and probably many more that have programs for 2.5 year olds, usually 2-3 days a week. You should check the websites for specifics on days and whether your child makes the cut off date. 

I can't speak specifically about allergies, but you should talk to the director of any school you consider to make sure they can accommodate your child. Most of the preschools are nut free, but I've never had a child in either of my child's class with an egg allergy. 

There are many, many classes for toddlers in SOMA. Both Maplewood and South Orange public libraries have story times and other programs for children, plus there are numerous mommy and me type music classes (music for aardvarks), many sports and other creative classes at the South Mountain YMCA and through the Recreation Departments of each town. The options can actually be overwhelming, and I find rather than looking for something to do, it can be difficult deciding which of the many options to take advantage of. It's a good problem to have!

Someone who can help find a good fit is Nicole Van Giesen.  She's a Maplewood mom who knows a lot about the local childcare scene. So much so that she started a consulting business to help people find the right child care situation for their family.

http://nicolechildcare.com/

The SO Orange Library (and I am sure the Maplewood one as well) has story/music time for children from birth to4 or 5. Check out our website www.sopl.org

And welcome!

We moved here in Feb 2015 from Manhattan and we send our almost three-year old to Totri for daycare, he's there from 7:30AM to 6:30PM. He loves it there, we didn't have to deal with any waiting list when we enrolled. There were some other daycares we were interested in, but they had shorter hours and more excluded dates extra holidays and vacations, etc.

We had to research ourselves, as generally the places that were recommended were full. It can help to find places with availability and then work from there.

I know Totri doesn't allow peanut butter, so they have some allergy policies. I haven't heard anything about eggs. They do breakfast while we pack a lunch for him.

As far as activities and meeting people, you shouldn't have a problem. The towns are literally packed with families so there are always a lot of family geared options. (If anything you'll find yourself lacking in purely adult things to do!)

All the daycares here are pretty well versed in allergies (all or most have a zero not policy at least), so that should not be a problem. The waitlist will be the problem. Start calling places now. It may be slim pickings in February. We sent both of our kids to St. Stephens in Millburn. It's all day. It was the only one with availability when we moved here, but we've fallen in love with it. It's convenient for us since we're on that end of Maplewood. If you are in SO, it might not be so convenient.

We did a nanny share when we moved here 8 years ago. I had posted on the Maplewood/South Orange Mothers and More chapter message board  (http://www.somamothers.org) and found a situation with a family that lives up the street. Good luck with the move!  You made a great choice for communities. 

We loved South Orange Country Day School.  My daughter still asks to go back to visit and she is now in 2nd grade.  I hear that they fill faster now so you may want to contact soon.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Kelly Heinze runs a fun series of music classes for kids and their parents.  We met some nice people that way:

http://musicandmorewithkelly.com/

As stated above there are activities at both South Orange and Maplewood public libraries.  

Join the pool in either town. Both are very family friendly and good opportunities to meet people with similar age kids.

The Baird in South Orange offers all kinds of kid activities. http://southorange.org/

Lots more as well around both towns. There are also lots of friendly folks in both towns.  It really is like one big community, largely due to the shared school system.