Most parents laugh and turn the other cheek when their adorable toddler utters observations about their weight, personal hygiene and sense of fashion (or lack thereof).
Johanna Stein managed to turn those awkwardly honest moments into a sitcom pilot.
The former Winnipegger’s book, “How Not To Calm a Child on a Plane,” is being optioned by “Arrested Development” actor Will Arnett’s production company. CBS has also signed on to develop the pilot.
The book is a humorous take on parenthood. One chapter was inspired by the inadvertently insulting remarks Stein’s then-toddler age daughter would direct at mom.
“I can remember the moment my daughter looked up at me in my closet, and she said, ‘Your tummy looks like a bagel.’
“I think she just thought she was having a brilliant observation,” Stein said on CTV’s Canada AM on Thursday.
Some other gems, re-enacted by her now seven-year-old daughter for her promotional video “Momhead”:
- “Your breath smells like a fart.”
- “Your tummy looks like a bagel.”
- “Can I have your iPad when you die?”
- “Which one’s the oldest – grandma, grandpa or you?”
- “Mommy, sometimes when you wave your arms really fast, it sounds like you’re clapping.”
Also documented in the book is the rather unfortunate plane incident that inspired the title.
Stein said she was travelling with her then-18-month-old daughter when she starting having a meltdown.
Stein stuck her hand in an air sickness bag, intent on using it as a makeshift puppet to distract her crying daughter. It worked, but when she decided to turn the second bag into another puppet, Stein quickly came to the grim realization that the bag had been previously used.
“It was such a bizarre moment, and I couldn’t wrap my head around the mathematical improbability of it,” said Stein, who is now living in California.
After all the gross and funny moments, Stein now says she’s excited by the prospect of her book becoming a TV series.
“Can you believe it? A hand covered in barf has come to this,” she said.
