Tie Your Shoe

by Susan McCloud

Heather wanted to tie her shoe.

But because Heather was only two,

She made a big loop with one white lace

And wound the other around in place.

But she couldn’t pull the end through quite

Because she had wound it out of sight.

When Heather pulled on the big white loop,

The whole thing fell apart—kerploop!

But Heather, being only two,

Began again to tie her shoe.

She criss-crossed once

and criss-crossed again,

Then wound them around while she counted to ten.

Then Heather picked

up one white shoelace

And pushed it into

the first left space

And, surprise, the strings

all stayed in place.

What a funny way to tie a shoelace!

But Heather was smiling—

she’d tied her own shoe!

She’d tied her own shoe,

and she was only two!

(And Heather decided that that would do.)

Illustrated by Virginia Sargent