I can almost hear all moms (those who bought them, anyway) reply in a resounding chorus, “I know what you mean!” their eyes widen with certainty. They say it as if I just brilliantly articulated what exactly they have in mind.

If you’re a mom who thoughtfully or impulsively bought these DVD sets, you can totally relate: Brainy Baby [and Baby Einstein] videos are absolutely the best when it comes to soothing tantrums and keeping toddlers entertained. These miracle disks that often go in colorful cases are little savers for me. I mean, seriously, what will I do if the geniuses behind these amazing videos hadn’t thought of them in the first place? But, isn’t why I called them geniuses in the first place, because they actually thought of them?

I don’t know. I haven’t figured what I’ll do, really. I’ll probably spend the entire day playing Itsy Bitsy Spider with Daniel or singing Old McDonald Had a Farm, Ee I Ee I Ooo, while trying to think of what to feed him or trying to cook up a trip somewhere that will allow him to explore and appreciate his surroundings, or thinking which playgroup I should join next week. I would have been too enervated and tired to think of going to Betty’s nail salon for a quick pedi with salt scrub. Oh no, I’m going to miss Betty and her girly salon with pastel and glittery O.P.I. nail polish collection—one of the best nail salons in the Bay Area, I must say. If I can’t go to Betty’s, I’m going to have ingrown in all of my toenails they’d hurt so bad I won’t be able to walk! Then if I see her again, she’d be horrified and say, “Oohhh I teenk you need to go to the hospitaaal. You need an operayshun. Dis is really baaad” Then she’ll have this ‘I’m Scared For You’ look on her face that will eventually melt into ‘Gosh, What a Poor Girl’ look. And then, of course, the procedure will cause and arm and a leg (literally) because the insurance policy doesn’t cover it. Then I’ll spend days and nights at the hospital because it was that bad and I won’t be able to work. Then we’ll lose all our clients because they will become impatient and antsy. Then we won’t have any money to buy anything, we’ll be so poor we’ll collect leftover food and dollar change along downtown San Francisco, or maybe pretend to strum a guitar or play an accordion and wait for people to give us coins while battling the cold. But then I won’t be able to travel that far to San Francisco. My feet hurt, remember?

But that’s clearly not the case here. Daniel totally loves his Brainy Baby DVDs since he was 8 months old. He can hardly contain his zeal and excitement as soon as I turn on the player and press the play button. Once the intro pops onscreen, he ignores everything and everyone else. He cannot get enough of the ABC and the 1-2-3 episodes, both of which he watched a gazillion times already and probably memorized every bit of it. (I have to admit that I can also memorize every bit of it: I know exactly when to pause, when to giggle, when to cover my face, and when to start singing the alphabet!) Daniel is totally smitten by the song-and-dance parts and he delights in the overall production: the animation, the kids who appear so gigantic on the TV screen (we have a 55-inch TV), that female voiceover that seems to hypnotize you to repeat after her every time, and those familiar nursery rhymes that play forever. He can watch them for hours, and only takes breaks when needed, like when he needs something to eat or when he needs to change his nappy.

I can always buy myself time when he’s busy dancing and reciting the alphabet and counting 1-2-3. This is when I work on my laptop or do something else equally important like going to Tracy’s coffee shop and order Vietnamese noodles or paying a visit to the library to check-out books that I fancy only to end up not reading them anyway.

But I cannot really accomplish everything that I have to do without the generous help of Daniel’s grandma and grandpa. (Yes, they’re like the modern everyday heroes—what will parents do without them? Grandparents are like angels sent from heaven.) They’ve been overly generous in helping us take care of Daniel. They enjoy watching and playing with him. I hope they enjoy Brainy Baby, too.

So I’m utterly grateful for Brainy Baby and for my in-laws. They just make our lives more manageable. I also have to mention that one month after my purchase, Daniel can already recite and read ABC and count 1-2-3. He can also correctly identify colors and some animals and fruits. I’m glad I decided to buy him the set. Definitely worth every penny spent. Definitely worth all the hoopla and all those glittering 5-star reviews on Amazon.