Tonight I had one of those watershed events with Samantha. I came home from work and picked her up, then heard a strange "click ... click ... click" noise coming from the living room. Eventually I recognized it as the electronic metronome, which she must have been playing with. So we went into the living room, and I put Samantha down and picked the metronome up off the floor. Unsure how to turn it off, I started fiddling with the controls. I managed to make it intolerably loud, and to change the frequency from 10 to 100 beats per minute, but not to turn the silly thing off. (I'm going to plead sleep deprivation here, since Samantha's fever has kept us all awake all night for two nights running.)

Eventually I asked myself out loud "Where is the control that turns it off?", at which point Samantha reached up, took the metronome out of my hands, turned it on its side, and pointed to a switch. Then she said "This control turns it off, Daddy" and, as if to prove her point, turned it off.

Two and a half years old and she already knows more than me about something. Why do I get the feeling this is just one of many such incidents to come?