I'm facing the same problem right now. We're going to give a larger daycare a try simply because he's 3 and I would like for him to start having some stuctured teaching. We found a place that mornings are for learning and arts & crafts, with afternoons for prodominently playtime.
When I was looking for a place for my daughter (she started kindergarten this year), I just went online looking and found an organization for my area comprise of private licensed in home daycare. I forget what it is called. And the organization gave me names of it's members within about 10 miles of my home. It just so happened that one of the daycare owners who had been highly recommended didn't have any openings for a 18 month old but she had a friend that actually lived closer. Best thing that ever could have happened for us. She is the Lake Dallas area which is I know too far for you. But try to find out if there is a local organization of in-home licensed daycare owners and just start there. If the larger daycare setting isn't appropriate for my son, before we leave the area, I'm going to get the name of the organization again because we're only moving about 10 miles south of where we are now but taking him to Debbie is just completely out of the way.