Blowing & Drifting

Monday night, the girls decided we were going to play freeze tag. So we did, and it was both lung-burning and hilarious. They understand the basic idea, of course, but their physical limitations and personal idiosyncrasies make for a zany sort of activity – not quite a game, but not quite not a game, either. Four observations on this:

In the first place, three people really isn’t enough for a really good game of freeze tag. Subtract the person who’s It, and it’s pretty much one person frozen, one person unfreezing all the time. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Second, Vivi loves to be It, and will be It for as long as you’ll let her – which isn’t as long as you’d expect to let her, because she likes tagging people by either slapping them on the arm as she tears past, or, later, simply crashing into them. “I not playing fweeze tag, I playing FOOTBAW!” she yelled after creaming Julia one time. To her credit, Julia thinks this is hilarious – even when she’s lying on her back with her little sister sprawled over her.

Third, the girls are rather different in their literal and figurative approaches to the game. When It, Vivi runs in looping patterns that intersect with (what she hopes will be) another person’s path. She’s right about half the time. some success. On the other hand, Julia tends to run straight at whomever is It, which often results in some quick tags by It. Or tackles, as the case might be.

Fourth, the two girls have almost exactly the same footspeed. If anything, Vivi’s a little faster over shorter distances (and when you’re playing tag in the backyard with a 6 year old and a 4 year old, it’s mostly short distances), though Julia can outlast her sister by jogging and jogging and jogging. And but so, this means that the game is pretty much them freeze-tagging each other and me unfreezing whomever is frozen. Which is, honestly, pretty fun. And very sweaty.