The Throw Up Game. (Yes. Really.)
by Ashley Weeks Cart
The girls have a habit of reenacting whatever experiences have been most recent and pertinent in their lives in their daily play.
For instance, after a trip, they play “Airport,” packing backpacks filled with stuffed animals and crayons and books, and turning our couch into an airplane as they fly from Vermont to Florida or South Carolina or wherever our most recent destination. They play “School” and “Ballet Class,” “Puppy” and “Bedtime.” (Alas, “Bedtime” is just an elaborate midday routine of closing every shade and turning off every light in the house, lying down for no more than 30 seconds, and then turning back on every light and opening every shade. Rinse, wash, repeat. No actual sleep involved.)
But recently, ever since Cart Stomach Bugapalooza 2015, the girls’ absolute favorite “make-believe” has been “The Throw Up Game.”
And thank the sweet baby Cheezits it does not actually involve any bodily fluids.
As you can see from the grainy snap above, they meticulously line the floor of our house in their baby blankets, mimicking the spread of dog towels James and I use to create throw up paths to the toilet when one of us is actually suffering from gastrointestinal troubles. Trash bins turn into porcelain thrones, and stuffed animals, or, as seen above, wooden dolls, fall to the maladies of vomit and diarrhea.
OH NO! MY BABY IS VOMITING. IT’S ALL OVER THE CARPET. AND MY HAIR! QUICK! I HAVE TO DO LAUNDRY AND TAKE A SHOWER!
These loud, aggressive declarations from my three-year old, I fear, accurately capture my own lived distress when anyone in the Cart Family falls ill.
I do not manage puke gracefully.
And so my children’s reenactments of what occurs at Barfwheel Farm are filled with frantic shouts and dramatic proclamations, an all-too-accurate imitation of the real thing.
UNICORN IS PEEING OUT OF HER BUTT! IT IS SO SMELLY! SHE IS GOING TO GET A RASH!
MILKSHAKE JUST THREW UP HER MACARONI AND CHEESE ON MINNIE MOUSE. WHERE ARE THE DOG TOWELS?
I NEED THE PUKE BUCKET! NOW!
Anyone up for a rousing game of “Itchy Vagina” or “Poopy Bum,” you could play today, because here in the Cart Family, our play knows no bounds. Apparently.