Tamar, Dan, and Damian came to visit for a week, which is among the reasons I haven’t been posting. It’s exhausting having house guests, what with the socializing and walking and going places like the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It’s exhausting being a house guest.
Basically, vacation is just exhausting and you should think twice before setting foot outside your house.
Actually, it was great having them here. I really enjoyed having adult conversations with close friends, and we felt comfortable enough with each other so that we could do stuff together, or not, as the circumstances warranted. One of the best things about having them visit (beyond simply seeing friends from Los Angeles) was that Damian and Sophia get on so well. They immediately started having fun together, as though the last time they’d seen one another was last week instead of six months ago. The kids (with Simon in tow) were tearing through the house from morning til night, which was one big reason we didn’t get any sleep.
Anyhow, one game that Sophia and Damian came up with during one of our walks—was it in Monterey, walking back from the restaurant? Or before that?—was a variant on “Red light, green light.” You know this game: you yell, “Green light!” and everybody runs; then you yell, “Red light!” and everyone has to stop.
Well, evidently two lights were not enough for them. They added:
- yellow light: spin in place.
- orange light: take big steps
- blue light: travel by hopping.
- purple light: walk. (Sophia called out “Purple light!” a lot when she got tired.)
(I think there was another one too, but I don’t have Sophia with me right now to find out.)
What was amazing was that they played this game several days running, and they did the same motions depending on the color of the light.
I’m kind of a purple light girl myself.
I have heard this before, but YELLOW light means slow down/walk. I think readers digest humor even carried a story involving a weary mom and three or four children. They were shopping and whenever the kids moved to far away the mom called out “red light,” than “yellow” to keep them close.
In my humble opinion, yellow light means “prepare for go”
The kids made up the meanings for the various colors. They weren’t playing a game someone else had set out for them–they chose what every callout meant (save red and green, of course).
Just browsing the web for names for children’s ministry. Came across your site. My daughter’s name is Tamar and this caught my eye. Not too many out there. She hates the name but I have had so many people comment on it. She is now 30 years old and hopefully she will someday grow to like it. Any suggestions for a children’s (3rd grade class)?
Thanks
in my opinion when I was little I was riding in the car with my grandpa. I kept saying “red light yellow light green light”. And then he said “purple light”. And I said “what” and he said “you know what the purlpe light means don’t you”? And I said “no what does it mean”? And he says ” it means you get out of your car and dance. And from that day on I’ve been waiting for the purple light. And thats my opinoin on what the “purple light” means.