Dot's Spot

Charlotte bought the Leapfrog Alphabet Pal Caterpillar for Dot’s first birthday, and she still loves playing with it. She actually discovered something new this morning: On the “alphabet sounds” setting, if you press buttons on both sides at the same time, it laughs and says, “That tickles!”

So far, we are all very impressed with the LeapFrog My Pal Violet. Even Grandma, Daddy, and Momma like to cuddle with her! Dot (18 months old) will pick her up and hug her often, which is an extremely rare event otherwise. (Even Momma has only gotten one hug from her ever!)

The first few days, Dot was obsessed with the “off” button/paw, and would get very frustrated. You see, that is the one with the bright red circle on it, and red seems to be most attractive to babies. It was a couple of days before I could convince her that the other paws were much more interesting. It is nice to have a quick silencing mechanism, but perhaps it could be a tug of the ear or tail (she won’t sing if you aren’t nice to her or something lol) instead of the paw button. What would really make this toy the best (and I would pay nearly twice as much for it) is if I could load my own music on the fourth paw, with the two-, five-, and ten minute options.

The lullaby music is a wonderful idea. I found most of the tunes to be a little too upbeat, however. I always look for slow and gentle tunes, and nothing with harsh pitches in it. It would be nice if there was a small white LED in her tag that would give a soft light during the lullaby music to provide additional comfort in a dark room.

The play and music paws are very creative! At first, Dot learned how to cycle through everything a split second at a time until she hit her favorite song (If you’re happy and you know it). Now she at least pauses for the favorites song and the one that spells her name, too. She also likes the animal imitations. She can’t talk yet but about four months ago she could meow, bark, and moo! She is learning signs for all of the animals and likes it when Violet asks her about them. We would have more added, especially a cow goes moo!

Dot also likes to rip open the velcro on Violet’s back. I’m hoping this is a temporary phase, as she likes to rip open other things, too!

She likes that Violet calls her “baby” but we keep telling her she is a little girl and not a baby anymore. We would really love it if “Dot” were added to the names list.

Along with the Alphabet Pal received as a gift, this small LeapFrog collection of two items has me impressed with the company and I will be making more purchases in the future. I am EXTREMELY picky about Dot’s toys, opting for fewer, higher-quality toys that serve some educational purpose. She is a very bright and active 18-month-old who can read nearly 100 words, identify all of her body parts, identify many animals through sounds and ASL signs, differentiate ten different geometric shapes and 9 basic colors, manipulate shapes into a shape-sorter toy, and even find middle C on the piano. She thrives on learning and I am pleased that LeapFrog provides products to help nurture that very important aspect of childhood and help it develop into a life-long love of learning.

Dot really loves her Leapfrog MyPal Violet. She actually picks it up and hugs it. She will click the paw until it plays a song she likes. I only wish they had “Dot” as one of the name options; right now we’re using “baby” which is okay but definitely not the same. I’m hoping the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and I keep posting on the Leapfrog forums to get her name added to the list.