Tag Archives: tag

You’re It

Clara hurt her foot in the car accident last week. X-rays haven’t shown anything to be broken but with all the soft tissue damage, she’s still unwilling to walk on it. She has been getting around with a combination of hopping on one leg (she’s getting excellent balance out of the situation), begrudgingly using a pair of crutches (And by begrudging-I mean they get thrown across the floor and called stupid at least once a day) and her favorite method, scooting.  Clara leads with her bad foot in the air and zooms around on her butt pushing with her good foot and arms.

While all of these are decent options from getting from place to place when you only have one good foot, she hasn’t yet figured out how to carry much with any of these methods. If we were the kind of family who was ready to go places in plenty of time, it would be no big deal that she forgot the absolutely critical item that she must bring with her upstairs when we are headed out, but we aren’t. We are more of the, hurry-up-we-should-have-left-five-minutes-ago family and so Clara has gotten lots of extra help in the last days, even for things that she could technically do for herself.

The extra attention Clara was getting sat well with everyone for the first few days but now, just over a week in, there are a few people (her older sister in particular) who are ready for Clara to be able to carry her own dirty dishes to the dishwasher.

The evenings are particularly difficult. Clara is extra exhausted from a day of hobbling about and Ivy is extra fed up with being the older, helpful sister. Girls that normally get along are feeding off one another’s grumpiness, mountains are being made of mole hills and fights are breaking out.Ivy and Clara

Except for one night.

One night there was no fighting. Just Ivy watching Clara scootch across the floor and then oh so politely asking,

“Hey Clara. Wanna play tag?

Eaten by Lions

As it turns out I’m an old slow zebra, and the rest of my family… lions.

Also, tag is not my strong suit.

My problem with tag is multidimensional. First off, I know I can’t catch John. Unless he were to fall in one of the many pitfall traps, I mean dog holes, which are hiding in the long grass (because, yes, our lawn mower is broken again but that is an entirely different story), it’s pretty much hopeless. Then there is the part where I have to seriously work to outrun Ivy. The girl is fast. Clara, spent most of the time either strategizing about how she was going to “spear” people or getting a ride on John’s back. It’s possible that she is neither lion nor zebra and instead a native hunter. Jane, the only family member of mine I might have a chance of out running was already sleeping for the night. So it was me against the spear wielding, fast running lions.

Which brings me to my second problem, the giggles. I can’t help it. I try to catch John, it’s not happening- I get the giggles. Ivy lets me get close out of pity- giggles. Clara shows me how I should spear people instead- giggles. I attempt to outrun John who is carrying Clara and fail- giggles. I attempt to out run Ivy- giggles. All those giggles lead me to my third problem.

My third problem I’ll spare you the details but it involves too many giggles while running after giving birth three times. Also I would like to say that it’s totally unfair when you get tagged while you are “hiding” behind a bush. Clearly, I was “On T” as, apparently, they say now.

All this ended with me tripping while running through the lawn with a terrible fit of giggles and having my family pile on me as they informed me that I was an old, slow, zebra and they were the lions come to eat me.

Tomorrow we are playing baseball.