Palo Alto Tender Tracks Wed. April 10, 2013

New Moon
Day 28
Duck Pond

What a glorious day that turned out to be quite hot.  Due to some unforseen Ganesha struggles we wound up having circle time at the park. ( nothing to worry about though!)  The children were in alive and vibrant energy ready to eat, sing, hear a story and play.  Their four year old selves are waking up in such a beautiful and predictable way.  I wish to give you here a list of social/emotional descriptors of four year olds from the 5th edition of ‘Beginnings and Beyond‘ a child development text book:

Mood changes rapidly

Tries out feelings of power

Dominates: is bossy, boastful, beligerent

Shows off; is cocky, noisy

Can fight own battles

Hits, grabs, insists on desires

Explosive, destructive

Easily overstimulates;excitable

Impatient in large groups

Cooperates in groups of two or three

Develops “special” friends but shifts loyalities often

In-group develops;exludes others

Resistant ;tests limits

Exaggerates, tells tall tales

Alibis frequently, Tease, outwits;has terrific humor

May have scary dreams

Tattles frequently

Has food jags, food strikes

Therefore, do not be alarmed when your child shows such signs or read about them here and in the coming blogs.

Julian and Juliette were filled today with games of good guys bad guys.  Harper has been increasingly growing alive with, hmm, how do I describe it with above words, maybe, “Tries out feelings of Power.”

Zara was actually quite peaceful today. Duncan was wild with swirly, twirly energy. Misha was having a GRAND time with the ducks, playing in the bush/tree house and then resting a bit.  Serena was alive and wanting closeness. Davey was adventuresome and continues to explore the places of pouting when he wants the grown up to do something for him, like carry his shirt, when he doesn’t want to and Jasper was vibrant, awake, engaged and playing with the other children.

Their dreamy, quiet, still selves are turning into the four year old descriptive term “Wild and Wonderful.”  And that was how the day was.
To hear Juliette and Julian be filled with good guys/bad guys, killing and shooting with guns is not only so familiar after years and years of seeing this but it is also has a quality for me of startlment.  They truly come from these sweet and gentle beings into these, truly, wild and wonderful beings.  It seems to me that the Human Being is a magnificent and complex character requiring much time to learn, grow and master so many social/emotional skills.  And of course there are then so many,many other areas that require skill building!

So, here they are living, learning and growing.  And at the Duck pond, there was much there to take in.  The weather in and of itself gave the childrenn a run for their money.  Most expressed words of discomfort with the hot moments that were experienced.  They did what all young beings do, they wanted to go back to what is most comfortable, Mom/home. But alas, we had the opportunity to find other ways to soothe these  discomforts and find inner resources and resiliancy in the midst of it all.

There was one spot where we were walking and it was hot but wait, what was up ahead?  “Go to the place where you see green and feel what the air is like there” I suggested.  With the hope of cooler air they found the energy to run where once it was not there and they made it to waters edge.  We played with feeling the difference of temperature by standing in a hotter place and then getting closer to the water. WOW, it was so much cooler.  The  cool wind would came now and again and the heat on our bodies was relieved.  In these times the possiblities of gaining strength, resiliancy was provided.

We tracked rabbits by following their poop and circling them with sticks, we were looking for Bad guys and seeing if we could find their tracks.  Serena was very scared about true bad guys so I let her know that actually, we were just pretending!  She appeared to feel better with that.

We found great Duck pond slippey mud and Duncan was in hog heaven over this!  The others found dock polls to play in and around. We found Fennel and Pickleweed to eat and Misha GOBBLED up the Fennel.  The Night Herons were nesting above us in several places and it was fun to watch them high up in the trees.

So many ducks were observed in the duck pond and great curiosity about their different shaped tails and colors were played with.

I found today to be a pivotal day. A transitional day from the very young to the budding developmental growth from 3 1/2 to four.  Some are not quite there yet and others are in the throws of it. But each one is pulling the other along and it is, and always has been for me, a remarkable occurence and a stunning show of our innate programing.  There is always so much to learn and be fascinated by.