Featured toy of the week

Aunt Patti found this vintage Fisher Price music box at a yard sale for me. It dates from 1981 and is in great shape. Mommy never would have picked it as a "best of" baby toy; it's very simple, few moving parts, etc. But I have loved it since I was about 8 weeks old. It accompanies me on stroller walks and car rides because it helps keep me calm. I like the music ("Somewhere Over the Rainbow") better than any of the new-fangled electronic tunes that toys have. Although I can't turn the dial myself, I know that its turning makes the music go and I like to play with the dial while I watch the picture go around and around as the music plays. When I was about three months old, I started to be able to slide the pink "channel changer" that clicks when you move it. Of course, I'll never make a connection between this thing and a radio, since they don't look like this anymore (kind of like my "phone" rattle that bears no resemblance to today's phones)! You can pick up one of these on Ebay and they're well worth it - highly recommended for infants a few weeks old and up (I still love it at five months). But you do have to learn to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow (and sing it gradually slower and slower as the music box slows down)!