Mommy's Hurt Back

Remember how I mentioned that we stayed in a hotel in South Dakota? Well, we did. This hotel has a fun little pool area where I took the boys swimming. Part of this fun little pool area has a big rope net that goes over the top of the pool with big lily pads that are chained to the pool floor beneath it. The idea is that you can hop from lily pad to lily pad while holding on to the ropes overhead so you don't fall. Of course, this devolved into games where people were trying to knock each other off of the lily pads. During one such game, I was standing on a lily pad when it was kicked hard out from under me causing my feet to go sideways and my back to torque. I was in pretty serious pain the rest of the trip and for days afterward at home. I even went to see a chiropractor which I had never done before. It hurt to do anything- I felt "old". Anyway, the boys clearly knew I was injured because I winced a lot and needed help from Marc to get up from the floor whenever I sat down to tie someone's shoes or repack a suitcase. However, I thought I was pretty stoic about the whole thing considering how uncomfortable I was. Apparently, Tobias had a very different view.

All of the boys had gotten fuzzy snake slap bracelets as souvenirs during the trip. Tobias was playing with his in the van on the way home. He named it "Mommy". This was very confusing. I would hear "Mommy?" and I would respond only to be told, "No! Not you! The snake!" Tobias then proceeded to enact a storyline in which the snake, Mommy, had a hurt back. The dialogue went something like this:
Mommy: (in a high-pitched tone) "My name is Mommy and my back hurts! Ow! Ow! Someone help me!"
Alligator hand puppet: (in a low gruff tone) "I will not help you."
Mommy: "What?!? You will not help me?!? Now I'm angry! I'm going to kill you!"
Tobias snaps the Mommy-the-snake slap-bracelet back into a straight line.
Mommy: "Now my back doesn't hurt! Hi-ya!"
Mommy thoroughly beats the alligator hand puppet with sweet karate moves.

Yes, it was all very flattering and not at all upsetting to me. At this point, Marc is shaking with silent laughter and mouthing the words "I'm sorry" to me over and over. My back is screaming in pain and I want to cry from discomfort, hilarity and some hurt feelings that my children perceived me as being so whiny. I took a deep breath and asked Tobias if he could name his snake something else because it was very confusing for me. He said no. I then asked if the snake could have a nick name that we could call her.

Tobias: "Sure. Hmm, Mommy's nick name is... car."

Perfect.