Missed Signals

My wife took the three oldest kids to watch the school basketball team play in the semi-finals. Six year old Bobby insisted on sitting courtside with some of the other kids. As expected, Bobby was constantly inching closer and closer to the line. My wife Jain, sitting in the stands nearby, began signaling for him to move back. Time after time she waved him back from the line, only to get no response. Becoming frusterated, Jain began holding up one finger, then two fingers, then three, utilizing the '1-2-3-' system that we often use to give the kids a chance to correct their behavior. No combination of hand waving or finger holding seemed to make any difference to Bobby, and he continued to sit nearly on the court. Finally, Bobby got up and walked over to his mother. "Mom", he said, "what's with all the sign language?"