Finding a preschool

Q. What do you do when you're moving to the Bay Area and need to find a preschool, but you're starting the process in February? 

A.  Bang your head against the wall, repeatedly.

Part of the problem is that we’re not sure which city we’ll be living in, since we plan to rent at first.  We can probably narrow the field down to three towns, but with the way traffic is (bad), I’d like to find a school relatively close to home.  Also, most preschools require a tour before getting onto their waiting lists, which is a challenge when you live in another state.  To make matters worse, most of the preschools I’ve talked to so far have either stopped accepting applications for the upcoming school year, or have waiting lists so long that Kiku will be in Kindergarten by the time a space opens up for her.

I'm trying not to stress.  I mean, it's only preschool, right?  I don't need her to be in the most popular, elite preschool in town.  I just want her to be in a loving, nurturing environment that's a good fit, where she's having fun and learning social and cognitive skills.  I'm sure there are several prechools in the areas we're looking in that fit this description - but the challenge is to find them, fly down to take tours, get onto waiting lists, and cross our fingers. 

Ugh.