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WYMT
 Baby Signs Complete Starter Kit: Everything You Need to Get Started Signing With Your Baby $39.95 I'm actually having a difficult time knowing how to rate this. This product's success rate is really dependent upon your purposes. If your purpose is just to be able to communicate with your baby, it is a great product. I registered for this as a baby shower gift. We started signing with our daughter when she was 8 months old (she is now 13 months). She started picking up the signs very quickly. At her 1 year check-up, we were able to tell the doctor that she was signing about 2 dozen signs. She absolutely loves the 4 tiny board books that come with this starter kit. The starter kit comes with two DVDs: 1 is for parents and the other is for the baby; 4 board books; a flip magnet that contains all of the signs so you can easily reference it from your refrigerator; and a paperback book that explains the research and purpose behind teaching your baby to sign. The DVD for baby is called "Favorites." Everytime we put the baby DVD in, she was completely enthralled and watched it all the way through. The animation is great and it was fun for her to watch. The disappointing thing for me is that there are only 6 or 7 signs on the video. I got on their website to see if they sold any other DVDs and it seems that all of their DVDs are formatted in this way - about 6-7 signs. The one thing that Baby Signs says is that most of the signs they teach are based on ASL, but some of them have been adapted to make it easier for the baby to sign. Some of the signs taught in Baby Signs ARE ASL. However, there are a lot that aren't, nor do they remotely resemble the ASL sign: bug, frog, and others. So, if your goal is teach your baby ASL, I would recommend the Signing Time DVD series. We ordered this instead of ordering another Baby Signs DVD. There are several series: Baby Signing Time, Series 1 Signing Time and Series 2. We ordered the 1st DVD in Series 1. The Signing Time DVDs have a lot more signs on one DVD. Series 1 and 2 are set up for 1-8 year olds, but I really think that they are for a child older than 1. I've not seen the Baby Signing Time, but we may be ordering that product next. She has learned a lot from the Series 1 and 2 DVDs that we have, but they are about 25-30 minutes in length and she gets tired of watching them after about 17-18 minutes. I hope this helps in determining which series to go with in order to be able to better communicate with your baby.  Vanguard Torino 84 Notebook Case $219.99 If you're in the market for an attache case or a laptop case that's not the typical, then I'd recommend the Vanguard series. I bought the 84 style rather than the other sizes for a simple reason - flexibility. Remember that aluminum cases don't expand, so you need to balance size versus heft. It's size is nice; not too big and not too small like the 62 (which looks nice at first, but then you realize how little you can actually get into it). The case fits virtually everywhere; its locks and clasps are really, really nice - simple, elegant, with a nice "chunk" sound when you open or close them; and the inside...wow, this is definitely the softest, securest bag (comparing to Targus, etc.) I've seen in 15 years. I'd wager your good china in this bag would cross the country safely. The handle has a nice feel - not too cramped for your hand, smooth top, rubberized bottom grip with little bumps (you can feel but not really see except holding the handle up close) for extra grip. The interior is a gray suede-type fabric (I'm not sure it's actual suede) that just feels smooth and soft to the touch. I'm just seriously impressed with this case, especially for the price (the most comparable units cost approximately double of this). |
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