Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes Musical Toy, Ages 3 months +

From: Baby Einstein

Pete's Expert Summary

So, the human has presented me with an artifact from the "Baby Einstein" collection, a brand name that drips with misplaced parental ambition. It’s a garish plastic rectangle, clearly designed to placate a miniature, less-furry version of my staff. The primary function appears to be emitting tinny, shortened renditions of classical music while flashing lights like a seaside arcade. I suppose the choice of Mozart over, say, a repetitive squeak, is a marginal improvement and shows a sliver of good taste. The baubles on the handle might provide a moment's batting practice before I grow bored, but let's be clear: this is not a toy for a creature of my refined intellect. It is a pacifier for the unsophisticated, and I suspect its presence here is a harbinger of some dreadful, noisy change to my domestic tranquility.

Key Features

  • Bullet Point 5

A Tale from Pete the Cat

The object was placed on the rug before me with an air of ceremony I found utterly baseless. It was a crude thing, a cacophony of primary colors and cheap plastic. My human, with a hopeful glint in their eye, pressed the oversized button. A tinny, yet unmistakable, string of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” chirped out, accompanied by a frantic blinking of red and yellow lights. I was prepared to deliver a sigh of profound disappointment, but something strange happened. As the music played, the familiar world began to warp. The plush fibers of the rug under my paws seemed to cool and harden into the polished marble of a Venetian ballroom. The drone of the dishwasher faded, replaced by the susurrus of silk gowns and the clinking of crystal glasses. The flashing lights were no longer cheap LEDs, but the dazzling reflections of a thousand candles in a grand chandelier, glittering off the jewels of powdered aristocrats who fanned themselves in the summer heat. I was no longer simply Pete; I was Pietro, the treasured Angora of a wealthy Doge, observing the festivities from a velvet cushion. My human, oblivious, pressed the button again. The scene dissolved. A somber piece by Bach began, and suddenly I was in a cavernous German cathedral, the scent of cold stone and old incense in the air. The lights, now a steady, rhythmic pulse, mimicked the patterns of sunlight filtering through stained glass. I felt an uncharacteristic wave of solemn contemplation. Another press, and a sprightly Mozart tune transported me to a sun-drenched Austrian garden party, where I dodged the clumsy feet of waltzing couples. The rattling beads on the toy's handle, which I’d initially dismissed, became the sound of carriage wheels on a distant cobblestone street, a constant, rustic counterpoint to the symphony of my imagination. When the final note faded and the lights went dark, I was back in the living room. The silence was jarring. The plastic device sat there, inert and unimpressive. It was a cheap ticket to a grand tour, a flawed but functional vessel for the mind. It was not, in itself, worthy of my attention. But the journeys it offered? Those were a different matter entirely. I gave a slow, deliberate blink toward my human. The portal could stay. For now.