It could only be so long after getting the TV set up before we exposed the toddler to that classic of great musical film--The Sound of Music. I vividly remember lying underneath the record player in the living room when I was about six years old, singing along with Julie Andrews at the top of my lungs. (The only other record I recall my parents owning is the soundtrack to "Goldfinger.") My sisters and I used to perform the songs for my parents in the kitchen, along with moving renditions of "Copacabana."

The obsession with cheesy musicals must be genetic, because the kid is clearly hooked. "Sing the picnic song!" she demanded in the car today, and then started in. "Do, a dee-ya, a female dee-ya--what's a dee-ya? Re, a drop of golden sun! Mi, one name I call myself! Fa, long long long way to run! Sol, a needle pulling thread, HA! Zuh (the) note to follow so...what does 'follow so' mean? Ti, a drink of jammon bread! What's next? What's next, Mama? SING IT! TOGETHER!" and so on. Her favorite song to watch was the goatherder puppet show for a while, but then she got scared of the part where the little girl blows fake beer foam in Julie Andrews's face, and now the entire scene is taboo.