Christmas has come and gone and all-in-all I think it was pretty successful. My dinner (grilled turkey) came out really good and, as expected, Madame got lots of loot. There are a few things she got that I’m particularly interested in (some of which I’ll probably blog about later), but one of the more interesting things is The Babbler.
The Babbler is this plush toy that speaks Spanish, French and Japanese to the baby when it’s shook or moved. Not a particularly revolutionary idea, but instead of just saying phrases or words The Babbler concentrates on vocal sounds not found in English. It repeats the sound three times, and then says the word. For instance, when it’s in French mode, it will say “ru, ru, ru, rouge.” The idea is that if a child is exposed to these different vocal sounds early on in life, then it will be that much easier for them to learn the language when they get older. Kind of a cool idea and it’s not too annoying to listen to (yet). It has two volume levels and it seems pretty solid, though it is kind of heavy (for a child’s toy).
It’s out of stock at Amazon.com, but my sister got it at geniusbabies.com (geniusbabies has a much more in-depth explanation of it as well).