Christmas didn't come soon enough for our daughter. While we're committed to the idea that she's a genius, we're still impressed by the fervor our 20 week old brought to making the Leap Frog Discovery Ball sing her the alphabet, or play her music.

This elegantly simple toy features a rubber-covered electronic ball mounted on a plastic axel. Kate's little hands can easily get the ball to spin on its axel. With each partial spin the ball sings her part of the ABC's, or plays a snippet of music. Once her finger pushes get stronger, the spine of the ball is covered with individual letters which (naturally) sing about themselves or play other snippets of music, depending on the setting. When she can safely toddle, the ball comes off its axel and can be rolled around the room to the same effect.

This is a sweet, simple toy that makes nice music and has the power to captivate a little mind for at least 10 minutes at a time, and for that we recommend it.