December 05, 2007

As an addendum to the whole baby thing from yesterday, I have to make a shameful note that I am utterly entranced with one of baby Annabelle's crib toys, a Fisher-Price 'Rainforest' collection Waterfall Soother. So much so, I considered making an offer on it -- though, it's just as well I held my tongue, as that gives me more time to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why I would have an item displayed prominently upon my desk with the words "Fisher-Price" stamped on it.

It's about the same size and shape as a really thick clock, made to be mounted on the inside wall of a baby's crib. It's basically a little, animated diarama of a very pre-schooly representation of a rainforest, with a little monkey and tree frog that bob in and out of the scenery, a little fish at the bottom -- suspended in actual water -- that tilts when a little blower beneath it releases a small stream of bubbles, and a constantly-glowing, blue waterfall in the background that utilizes a not-overly-high-tech special effect to make the water appear to fall. In other words, as I have just realized, there is no possible way that I can describe this to you without making it sound like a baby's toy, which is what it is. Dang.

With that said, the lighting on this thing works wonderfully, as little flame-orange illumination fades in and out on the various individual critters in the scene, and a soothing loop of rainforest noises and water sounds play continuously at a variety of volume settings. Basically, if Fisher-Price could slap this thing inside a shiny, black 'executive' case, it'd be on desks all across corporate America.