The girls and I were playing charades yesterday afternoon, waiting out the tornado watch which then became a warning which then became a light show prompting questions about how we would pay for a new roof if ours blew away and would that have any impact on our decision to get a pool.
It was Ellie’s turn to come up with a t.v. show, movie, song, book, clothing item or bird species to act out and have us guess.
She turned her back to us facing the corner as she counted on her fingers the number of words in her title and flashed us the peace sign before churning the old video camera in a circular motion around her ear suggesting she was preparing herself to act out a movie circa the 1940’s.
The first tip for playing charades with Ellie is to totally ignore the number of words she tells you are in her category. The two could represent anywhere from one to ten words or she’s basing the number on syllables or number of letter “E’s” so scratch the two, we’re trying to guess a movie with no numerical significance.
My second tip for playing charades with Ellie is she will never act out words found in the title of the t.v. show, movie, song or book but rather a particular scene in one of the above so you must pay particular attention when watching a movie with her because a simple action like brushing ones teeth might one day be re-enacted to represent Furry Vengeance. “You know, the time they brushed their teeth?”
At least once per game, she stands leaning toward her audience with one hand on her hip, the other shaking a pointed finger angrily in our direction.
“Mr. Moseby getting mad at Zack & Cody from Suite Life On Deck?”
“Yes.”
“Suite Life On Deck?”
“Yes.”
Yesterday she had a brand new act and I was happy she was building on her already solid charade base.
She began giggling before she could bring herself to act out her movie. Her face was red, she dove head first into the couch screaming, “I can’t! I can’t!” while laughing hysterically.
We were now all laughing, encouraging her to stand up and act out her potentially two word movie.
Still laughing, she began to pull imaginary strings from her bum until she would splat her hand flat on the floor and giggle some more.
This was her one and only action and she looked at us confused. Why aren’t they guessing? Why haven’t they guessed, this is so obvious?
At this point I was shouting any movie title I could think of, some with two words, some with as many as seven assuming everyone poops at some point in a kid’s movie and if they don’t, writers should take note, there are some good laughs to be had for those five and under.
She finally screamed it while she choked back a laugh that nearly crippled her.
“Diarrhea of a Wimpy Kid!”
Five words.
