Palo Alto Tender Tracks Day 27, Jan. 5, 2012

Waxing Gibbeous Moon
Foothill Park-The Big Meadow

Grace was absent today and Anjalie and Kashi was back.  Laurie was here too and the Sun was radiantly shining with much warmth.   Circle was alive with peeling apples with a cranking peeler.  The children just love their jobs and choosing what directions they want/what pouches to have to sing our direction song.  When they get their pouches there are places that they go to to be in that direction.  The most surprising is how much Giulio loves this. Usually in circle time he just sits there and does not sing or participate.  With the directions and jobs, he is RIGHT THERE!  It feels so good to stumble upon something that a child relates to.  The same story from Tuesday was still captivating and playing with the swords continued with teaching Anjalie and Kashi how to use them in a harmonious and respectful manner.     The day was a bit loud in the bus and there was support in finding even tones.  When ever we use the hand on the throat and giving a soft sound soon all the children have their hands on their throats and making soft tones. Quietness is found again and back to foundational volume.

When we got to Foothill park they just ran out, knew where to go and the rest of the day was just one flow into another.   First things first was lunch. Kashi began to gather Cattails and then I directed them to another place to gather that was abundant with ready and waiting Cattail’s.  All but Paul and Bodie ran over and they ALL worked together to gather the cattails and put them in the basket we had.  This was so gorgeous to watch.   Paul and Bodie had so much fun being with Laurie and Audrey.  I was back and forth but mainly helping the Cattail kids harvest the Cattails.   They even all made sure they put the Cattail sticks in one spot so that we could use them later on for cooking skewers over a fire.  Lucy was really the one who made sure they stayed in a pile.   Bodie came by after a while and Paul stayed with Laurie having a very fine time discussing how to get Anjalie’s pistachios out of their shell.  At one point just Anjalie and Paul were in the lunch spot and she was sharing her Pistachios with Paul.  It was a kind and friendly moment as she shared with him and how he graciously took up her generosity.
A favorite moment of mine this day with Paul was when we were talking about his new rain boots.  They are partially made out of rubber.  I said there was such a thing as a rubber tree and he, in his most beautiful way, laughed and said “NO, there is no rubber tree.”  We played with that as I said, “Really, there really is such a thing as a tree that we get rubber from.”  I am laughing so much now because we had so much fun with this.  Wish you had been there!

After a long time of gathering the Cattails  a shift took place.  Aleki, Anjalie and Lucy started, all on their own, to make a Fairy house.  The rest, on their own, created a rolling and running up and down the hill game. Another favorite moment that really made me laugh was watching Kashi’s joy of running, running down the hill and flopping into the willow tree right at the edge of the pond.  Audrey came and joined them and began rolling down the hill. Of course that then became part of the game.      I was gathering and breaking sticks for the Fairy house and Laurie held space for those that came in and out with eating.

There were chase games, running, gathering games and then, Coyote and Rabbit game.  This then led me to find a GREAT mud puddle. It felt so wonderful and squesshy( wow, how do you spell that?)  so as I stomped about in that, after the Coyote Rabbit game, one by one each child went over there and either shoes taken off or shoes left on, went straight into the mud puddle with true child delight.  Made my day to see this!!! They were just covered with mud.  Some had to be stripped down in order to get into the bus and they did not flinch.

OVERVIEW:
Giulio: happy, running,playing with other children, completely involved and loving running up and down the hill
Bodie: happy, running, laughing, crying and communicating when things didn’t go as he would prefer then moving through with such incredible grace.
Aleki:  lot’s of laughing, creativity with making Fairy houses, and loving gathering Cattail down and running with the others.
Lucy: alive, filled with rough housing and awareness of others, creatively utilizing Cattail down for the bottom of the Fairy house and delighted when, she and Anjalie secretly put stuffed animals on the car seats. The children” really liked the animals we put on their seats.”
Anajalie:  sharing, playing, creating, finding resources to settle, laughing and being delighted.
Paul: the guy with the best sense of humor ever!!  Exploring, playing, delighting in life, curious about how things work…
Jasper: loving doing sword play with me, running up and down the hill, playing Coyote and Rabbit, gathering Cattail down and mainly having a fine time.
Kashi: really into being in the Airplane control tower and creating that wherever he is, runningggggg……playing in the mud, gathering Cattail down.

These are just small highlights.  For me when I watch the children it seems like each moment is so very full of great learning, growing, enjoying.  My skill at relating all of this feels so very limited so I always hope you get some small picture of the day but always know that so much, much more goes on that is magnificent to view and be in joy about. As I say this I am remembering how involved we all were with watching the large amount of Coots that were at the pond and how much of their poop was on the ground. We explored this and pondered many aspects of the type of poop and how come they have so much of it all over the place. Also noticed was how  low the water level was in the pond by looking at the water line on the Cattails.