Put Your Potatoes In

My mother and your mother 
were hanging out clothes.
My mother punched your mother 
right in the nose.
What color blood came out?

We were talking this morning of the choosing rhymes we used to use when we were kids to pick the person who had to be IT in our games of tag and hide and seek. In addition to eeny meeny miney moe, the one above was a good one, as was Bubble gum bubble gum in a dish, how many pieces do you wish? and Engine engine number nine going down Chicago line. And who can forget the classic one potato, two potato? I still think of my fists as potatoes sometimes, and there was a practical elegance to bopping your chin with your fist when you were the counter.

Most rhymes ended with my mother told me to pick the very best one, and you are NOT it. Hmmm. I'm not the very best one, but I'm not IT either-- oh the inner conflict such a procedure created. To be honest, I always liked it best when we agreed to end the choosing quickly-- rather than eliminating the safe players one agonizing kid at a time, we chose who was IT in the first round, and then we just played the game.