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At their house he gets the tablet. I see it every time I pick him up, both of them on the couch, glued to that thing like little zombies, and nobody talking. He is two. He should not know what an iPad is.

At my house there is no tablet, and that is the deal. But a two-year-old with no tablet and no toy that lasts past five minutes is a long day, and by ten in the morning it is me, the blocks and Miss Rachel, who I can no longer tolerate.

This one, he pushed a card in, the reader said "cat", and he shouted it right back at it. Then the next card. Then the next. An hour later he was still on my rug. No screen, no app, no Wi-Fi. For once I was not the one who had to say no.

Last Christmas I bought him one of those cheap talking card toys. The picture was an apple and the thing said candy. He walked around my house saying candy at an apple for a week, and his mother gave me the look.

I read the reviews on this one before I ordered, because once is enough. Every card is played and listened to before a set ships. The English set is one clear American voice. If a word is ever wrong, they replace it. Somebody was finally responsible for the words.

Apple says apple. He hears it right the first time, and I do not have to sit next to a toy correcting it.

There is nothing for me to run. No menus, no settings, nothing to read out loud. Card in, word out, and one button if he wants to hear it again. He had it figured out before I found my glasses.

He picks the next card himself. Now he goes and gets it the minute his mom drops him off, before the toy box, before the snack. I get to sit in my chair and watch him, and take the picture I send her every day.

When she comes to get him at five, he has a new word to show her.

It holds up through my whole day with him. The kitchen floor while I make his lunch. The rug by my chair. The car seat on the way to the store. The hour after lunch when everything else has given up and I used to give in.

The cards are thick and coated, and he has dropped them on my tile more times than I can count. The reader is about the size of a phone turned sideways, the right size for his two hands and for my handbag. Two volume settings, and the low one is actually low.

More of him busy on his own. Less of the TV. And none of the fights about it.

I was nervous ordering a toy off Facebook. So here is what I found out.

It ships the day you order, with tracking, and mine took about ten days to arrive. The 60 days do not start until it is in your hands. If he does not go to it, you send it back for a full refund, free US returns, no questions asked. When I emailed with a question, a real person wrote back, and their name is on the box.

I bought one for my house. Then I went back for the two-set, $114.98 with the free drawing tablet, so one stays at Grandma's and one went home with him. His mother asked me where I got it. That has never happened before.