u/Alive-Initiative5487

My MIL gifted us a HPSC gift card for Christmas (not something we asked for) and we have spent every month since then waiting for 6pm on the 3rd Sunday to try to get a reservation and dealing with the alerts for wait list spots that are immediately taken. I hate that this gift is costing me so much time and causing disappointment. Is there any trick to getting a spot?

We also don’t even live in Philly and only visit a couple times per year so it’s not like we can go last minute on Wednesday

We have a 2-year-old and live in an area without any family nearby. We also have no neighbors. We do have some friends with kids but only see them once every 1-2 months. At this age I don’t worrry much about socialization but what can I do to help build a community as he’s getting closer to school age? My spouse and I both work full time and it feels hard to find time to do any activities right now. We do have a nanny who takes him to weekly library events for toddlers.

We absolutely love our house but I’ve wondered if we should eventually move to a big neighborhood that has other kids so he doesn’t have to spend so much time alone.

Does anyone who has been in this situation have advice?