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"I'm nervous about the Popsicle. If it melts, your dad is going to get mad at me. Go upstairs with me."
"No."
"I'm going to run and put that Popsicle away. Stay right here."
"No."
"O.K., wait right here, O.K.? Don't move, O.K.? Count to 20, O.K.? I'll be right back. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
When we returned from brunch, Jonah and Laszlo were sitting on our front steps, looking happy. I paid Jonah with an egg-white-and-veggie omelette from the restaurant, and Jonah talked to Laszlo and me about starring in The Sitter and the upcoming 21 Jump Street (which he executive-produced and co-wrote), a movie reboot of the Johnny Depp TV series about undercover cops at a high school. While he's excited about his more serious work in Moneyball and the indie drama Cyrus, he understands the comic role he's found in popular culture, and he's willing to fill it. "I think, If you're an existing fan of mine, what do you want to see me do? Babysitting kids and going back to high school is what you want to see me do," he says.
After finishing the omelette, Jonah said goodbye to Laszlo. "I'm proud of my work today," he said. He should be. The only bad thing that happened: Laszlo now says, "That's cool!" all the time. But that's far better than the words I expected him to pick up.