Family Friday: Take Along Tunes Musical Toy
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This bright and cheery music player is one of the most popular baby toys on Amazon — if you subscribe to reviews, it has thousands of five-star ratings.
We received an older version as a baby gift for our daughter. For reasons my adult brain cannot comprehend, it was her favorite toy through early toddlerhood. She delighted in the ability to scroll through her favorite tunes while I delighted in the volume control and on/off button.
It fit easily into our diaper bag and guaranteed many tear-free car rides. I can also attest to its durability — it survived one baby and now captivates my second.
Baby Einstein’s Take Along Tunes is available at Amazon for $8.88. You can also find it at Target for $8.99.
Sales of note for 9.10.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Extra 40% off sale styles
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- Target – Car-seat trade-in event through 9/28 — bring in an old car seat to get a 20% discount on other baby/toddler stuff.
- Zappos – 26,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Extra 30% off sale styles
- Old Navy – 40% off everything
- Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs
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And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- The concept of “backup care” is so stupid…
- I need tips on managing employees in BigLaw who have to leave for daycare pickup…
- I’m thinking of leaning out to spend more time with my family – how can I find the perfect job for that?
- I’m now a SAHM and my husband needs to step up…
- How can I change my thinking to better recognize some of my husband’s contributions as important, like organizing the shed?
- What are your tips to having a good weekend with kids, especially with little kids? Do you have a set routine or plan?
This thing was for some reason my oldest’s favorite toy as well (till he discovered trains). Our sleep-deprived, addled brains could name it only ‘Music Thing’. Long stroller run? Better stick Music Thing in the stroller. Inconsolable midnight wakeup? Put on Music Thing! Road trip? Don’t forget Music Thing or there’ll be hell to pay! Best of all, the music is not annoying, it is (slightly tinny versions of) Vivaldi and Mozart and the William Tell Overture. We probably got thousands of dollars of value out of that $8.99.
Any app recommendations for preschoolers? My 4 year old gets some iPad time while we read the paper in bed at the weekend. Something with vague educational value? He plays Khan academy kids
So there’s a country club about a mile from my house (maybe a 3 minute drive?). We don’t golf and I was raised by broke hippies… so I would never have expected to consider this, but I’m considering joining with a pool membership.
What’s honestly holding me back though is just the weird class connotations of having an association with a country club, especially when we’ve always gone to the (super diverse in all the ways) public pools in the area. Those are more like a 20 minute drive each way though, so a big part of the appeal here is just the convenience factor.
Anyone have thoughts on this?
What’s everyone doing this weekend? I think we’ll go visit my parents on Memorial Day, but trying to figure out what to do the rest of the weekend. The weather is supposed to be chilly (blech, that makes lake time less appealing), so maybe we’ll visit the zoo or something.
An update on me telling my mom that I wasn’t comfortable with the kids and I visiting her last weekend because she had been sick: I told her that I wasn’t comfortable on Wednesday, and she responded, “its JUST a virus!” On Saturday morning, she called, left a vm, and happily announced what she was making for dinner that night and asked whether I could stop and pick something from the store. I listened with my mouth agape. I quickly texted to say that we weren’t coming out for dinner (trying to catch her at the store). She responded: “well, then don’t come over at all.” I reiterated that I agreed we shouldn’t come out, and that we would be out for the weekend soon. On Sunday morning, she texted to ask if I could come over to help with putting the boat in the water, she had been fine since Friday, and that I didn’t need to stay long. (Putting the boat in would involve a kid riding on my mom’s lap on the boat.) I responded that the kids and I could come out today after school to help with the boat. A few hours later, she called to say that she needed to have a difficult conversation: She was seriously disappointed in me, she needed my help and didn’t have anyone to help her, I didn’t trust her opinion even though she is a nurse, and that she had no choice but to ask my ex for help. I again explained that if the kids get sick at all, they have to be symptom free and have a negative covid test before returning to school, and getting sick wasn’t something I wanted to risk. She said that my kids are exposed to all kinds of viruses and that I don’t trust her. I never spend time with her. She was going to ask my ex. I said that if she asked my ex out to our family home, it would violate a clear boundary I have set. I said that I could be out on Friday to help. She said fine and hung up.
I texted on Wednesday to ask if we were still on for this afternoon. She said, “I have no idea. If you have other things to do, please do them.” I responded that it seemed like she was still upset, and to let me know when she was ready to reengage. She then wrote a diatribe to rival Sunday’s call: “What a cold, cryptic and pointed note. Not sure whether I want to talk to you. I am more shocked and disappointed by the way this has happened. I ask for nothing from you. I always go out of my way to support you. The note on Sunday disappointed me more than you can imagine and put me in my place.” I said that I heard she was very upset, but we are going to need to agree to disagree. She responded that she asked for a neighbor for help with the boat. I said ok. She then said that “not surprisingly, you have chosen to miss the point.”
I feel punched in the gut for having any kind of boundaries with my mom, and this is why I came to you all to seek validation of reasonableness before saying no to the weekend. I am so exhausted from this. I fully expect more vitriol to come my way this weekend. I have an appointment with my therapist next week. I am terrified of passing on this narcistic legacy to my children.
Runners, help. How do you avoid shin splints? Are some people just more susceptible to them? Why does this keep happening to me/ derailing my best laid plans to get in shape?
I have nice running shoes (brooks), and do non-intense, very short runs (2 mi, every other day) on asphalt, and I stretch after every time, without fail. A few weeks in and I have shin splints. Again. Just like the last time I tried this. Whyyyyy.
Has anyone used Happy Masks for themselves or kids? I’m considering getting them for upcoming plane travel with an unvaxxed preschooler. They say they block 99.9% of particles which sounds amazing (Isn’t an N95 only 95%?) but I thought masks couldn’t legally make those kinds of claims, so I’m kind of suspicious.
We got a note from school yesterday that LO (almost 4) lost stickers on his chart for hitting other kids with toys and throwing sand in their faces. This is the first time we’ve gotten the feedback from school but I’m not surprised as he has hit or kicked us at home when he is angry (honestly haven’t seen him with other kids in over a year because…pandemic, but in the past he has hit on playdates but really infrequently). Usually it happens when he’s super tired and cranky and we won’t let him do something he wants to do (watch more ipad), or when we make him do something he doesn’t want to do (like take a bath, put on pjs). He doesn’t hit his little brother, if his brother takes a toy he just grabs it back from him (which is not great either, but also not violent).
Should I call the school? I guess I want to know if it’s isolated, or he’s been doing it a lot? Also what can I do beyond what we already do – time-outs, saying things like “its ok to be mad, it’s not ok to hit”. He knew it was wrong and got really ashamed when I asked him why he hit his friends, so I’m at a bit of a loss.
Also completely selfishly I cannot handle him getting kicked out of preschool right now with the way my workload is. So I want to make sure we get him under control asap, plus obviously he can’t be hitting other kids!
I feel awful, like I’ve failed as a parent, even though I know that’s not true.
Any suggestions for protein-rich foods for pregnancy? (So avoiding deli meat, etc.) I want to make sure I’m getting plenty of protein but meat just isn’t very appealing so I’m having a tough time…
Was anyone else as offended as I was that in Dix Pour Cent, pregnant Andrea is shown eating whatever she wants without throwing up, even in the first trimester? OMG the bloody mary with extra tabasco. And the pastries. What I would have given to be able to eat a pastry without immediately vomiting.