Vn008.02

The Lemon Twist

5/12/77


I had purchased the hula hoop in the morning and was setting up the music room for our later use when one of the boys in an on-going class from CAPS (the Cambridge Alternative School Program) asked if he could use the hula hoop. After doing a hula, he let the hoop fall to the floor, slipped a foot under the hoop, and rotated it about one leg, raising the other foot so that the rotating hoop would not strike him in the ankle. I was impressed; I had never seen anyone do that with a hula hoop. But I had seen Miriam do a similar thing with one of her toys, the Lemon Twist.

The Lemon Twist has been one of Miriam’s favorite active toys for some time. Having seen it advertised on a TV commercial, she bought one with her own money. (This was the first such purchase she ever made). The toy has a hard plastic lemon at one end, connected to a small loop at the other by a piece of tubing about 18″ long. A child slips one foot through the loop, then kicks in such a way as to cause the attached lemon to swing around that leg. I remember the day last spring when Miriam bought the toy, her first trials, her showing it to older friends, her watching them, and her slowly developing skill.

This afternoon Miriam was delighted to find her new hula hoop.
It was perfect, even having the marble inside as did Jenner’s. I mentioned to her the boy from CAPS, how he made it go around on his leg. Miriam put her foot under the hoop and kicked it a few times. “Like that?” Obviously not. “I don’t know how he did it, Miriam, but he made it work just like your lemon twist.” With two or three tries, Miriam was able to make the hoop circle her leg several times at each execution

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