The girls and I unwound this afternoon by playing a game of kids’ charades. Julia is actually quite good at it, even if a good half of her physical hints involve the same up-and-down motion with her two hands. (This stood in for “hanging up a coat,” “cooking,” “digging,” and a bunch of other items.) The game had two especially good moments.
The first one came when I drew the card for “hairdryer.” I had to think about this for a minute, and then when I stood up to assume the tipped-head stance of a person using a blowdryer, Julia yelled “hairdryer!” I said, “Honey! That’s amazing! How did you know that?” She smiled shyly and said, “I looked at the card while you were thinking.”
The second good moment came a few minutes later. Vivi drew a card and showed it to Julia, who was helping her interpret the cards. Julia leaned over to Vivi and loudly whispered, “It says, ‘cow.'” Vivi nodded sagely and went, “MOOOOOOO!” Pretending I hadn’t heard Julia’s help, I said, “Uhhh… Horse?” Vivi scowled at me and yelled, “Cow, Daddy!” So much for patience.
Reminds me of the time I played Pictionary with some of my schizophrenic clients.