Tonight we had to put little EC into time out near the end of dinner—the infraction being a certain messy playing with food, and continuance of such playing despite increasingly loud demands that she stop—and Empirical Mom and I finished our meal while she sat in a corner in the next room.

It’s become clear to me that little EC is not at all like I was as a kid as regards punishment. I was always dejected whenever I was punished, and I walked around on eggshells after each time because I took it so hard. (At least, this is what I remember…) She, on the other hand, snaps back immediately after the punishment and sometimes in the middle of it. I think this is a coping mechanism, to some extent. She wants to be right—whenever we tell her she can’t do something, she immediately counters with something that she *can* do—and getting back to her joy is her way of overcoming the adversity of punishment. At any rate, she often starts talking and singing to herself while she sits in time out, even while she doesn’t budge from her place.

Tonight, while we finished dinner, she started singing in her time out, and we caught the words “Be careful, it’s my heart…” We had to think about it for a minute, but then it occurred to us that five or six days ago we had all sat down and watched the first half of Holiday Inn to kick off the season of Christmas movies. Little EC was enthralled by the singing and dancing—who are these people who need Sponge Bob Square Pants for their children?—and apparently she took it right in…because she had chosen to sing one of the songs from that movie while sitting in time out. She has an incredibly memory, even—or especially—when we don’t think she’s paying all that much attention.