Tag Archive for: Marin Wednesday 2015-2016

Marin Tender Tracks Wed. June 1, 2016 Day 33

Waning Moon
Car wash & Lake Lagunitas

What a wonderful, beautiful, graceful and delightful last day with just the children, Linda and I.  We went first off to wash half of Ganesha to get him ready to paint next week on the last day of school.  The children had so much FUN squealing with delight as the water splashed on them. Ruby loved the soap that came pouring out of the brush, Kuba was not so sure about getting this wet and messy but after a time got quite into the flow of it.   Kai was a bit tired today from being sick over the weekend but was quite present and delighting in washing the bus with his small rag. Isabella was just tickled by it all as well as Eli who was so very happy to be doing this!

We cleaned it, dried it and inspected our work. We all agreed that a fine job was done and then, off to….? Well, due to weather, driving time and what wanted to happen we ended up going to the Lakes.  And this was a very fine decision.   When we got there we by passed circle and snack though, Ruby in particular, found this a bit disconcerting.  However, it was 10:30 give or take and I wanted to take them back to the most beautiful place that they had found a couple of weeks ago and have more time to fully immerse in this wonder of a place. So, off we immediately went. When we got their it was in between our typical lunch and snack time so eating was just right.  THEN, they longed to play.  However stories were told at lunch time and that satisfied the expressed desire for that part of our usual circle.  More lunch was eaten as well.

From here on out it just got better and better. By days end Kuba had been playing with Eli and Kai and even had hugs.  And then ALLLL of the children were in Isabella and Ruby’s home.  Kai was a Tyranosaurus Rex a lot and got face painted to match this being, per his request.  Kuba had face paint again and LOVED this. They both spent a lot of time exploring for just the right rocks with the right shade of color testing the rocks out to see if the color was just right.  I found a dragonfly nymph and Eli really liked this. He took it and ran to show it to Isabella and Ruby.
Image result for picture of a dragonfly nymph

Kuba wanted to find something like this too so we began to look under more logs and stones in the creek. Kai followed along as well.   I suppose a favorite part of the day for me was when, at the very end of the day, Linda was playing with Kai and being a bit bigger of a Dinosaur then he. I told Isabella that Kai was a bit scared and could he come in. She came to get him and said he could come in as long as he wasn’t scary in their home. He came in so now all four of them were there. But then Kuba was outside and seemed like he was feeling a bit left out.  I asked if he would like to go into their home as well and let’s go together.  So, Kuba, me and then Linda all went and knocked on the door. Then ALL the children were playing in the house.

This years progression of their young three year old nature of parallel play, social discoveries, speaking what they really want and so much more came to this beautiful culmination.  When we were back at the bus, Isabella, Kuba and Eli were sitting all together and Kuba’s arms were around both of them.  Kai and Eli were seen giving each other the biggest of hugs one to the other and Kuba was hugging Kai too earlier in the day.  There was so much pure love.

They really wanted to draw our usual picture but as often happens we ran out of time. So they said, “Draw our hearts!”  So I drew seven hearts and then we shared the many things we saw, heard, smelled, tasted, touched during our day: Birds singing, Dragonfly nymphs, fresh air on our cheeks, “tickly plants”, making land mark markers to find our way back, howling like Coyotes so our friends would know where we were, playing hide and go seek from either Linda or Me, taking time to eat with our eyes, ears, nose, touch and mouth.  We named many, many plants, beings and fun that we had during our day and then made our way back to the park.

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Marin Tender Tracks Wed. May 25, 2016 Day 32

Waning Moon
Bon Tempe

What a very sweet day.  Looking back they have grown so very much. The unity that keeps on going is grand as well as the four year old behavior of choosing to play with just one person or having a friend you don’t want to share with while you play with another is growing. Right now that is happening in particular with Isabella. She and Ruby are just IMMERSED in their game of family: I’m( Isabella) the Mommy and she( Ruby) is the baby.  They were glued together today with deep love and joy with being with one another.  As a result the boys spent time on their own yet a lot of time together.  Eli became Daddy at times, Kai continues to be immersed into being “Bad Guys” and Kuba continues to like to create, create and sing.

There was a great deal of asking for what they want when something happened that they didn’t want. You have raised such fine children because typically when asked “What do you want?”when they are discontent with another child,  most often children will only respond with what they do not desire.  Your children when they faced others doing things they didn’t like were very easily able to say what they would rather have such as: I would like to play with you with sticks.   At the end of the day Kai was getting a bit rambunctious. All but Kuba was able to share with Kai the things they like doing with him. Kuba was very focused on something he wanted to share and just an answer in the midst of his desire to share a thought.

However, in the midst of all this our snack time was wrapped around celebrating Isabella.  The children all gave her a wish and Kai went and picked some Poppies to give to her.  She didn’t really want them so Kai just placed them near her in case she changed her mind.

She enjoyed the cupcakes that she brought and handed them out to everyone.

She also chose what direction we took on this day and where we ultimately ended up for the rest of the day.
Eli, Kuba and Kai when going up a big hil,l were airplanes and they wound up falling on the ground often and needing more fuel.  I called upon the Eagle, Turkey vultures, Peragrin Falcons and Hummingbirds for their great Bird energy to fuel them up.  The boys opened their mouths, I poured the fuel in, and then OFF they went up, up, up the hill!!!!!

We wound up going back to the place where we first saw those 15 turtles. This has been our third time here and they still are not back like the very first time.  “Where are they?”  we asked ourselves.  “Is it the weather?”  “Was the sky covered in clouds that first day or was it warmer???”  and many other queries.   The children ALL hopped on the big log boat and created many games from that.  Isabella and Ruby came off because it was “time for baby to take a nap.”  Isabella was very clear on that and Ruby was very obliging.
It was finally lunch though their tummies were less hungry due to the great snack. So they ate some yet were very eager to get back on the boat!!

I picked some wild edibles for Isabella to give to Ruby for their play, Linda helped the boat sail away with great rocking, the wild Turkeys were off in the distance, Crows making lot’s of noise and giving us big shows in the sky throughout the day and then, we had to go.

On the walk home Eli, Kai and I hid to see if Ruby, Isabella and Linda would see us. Kuba caught up with us and hid to. Indeed the three others walked right past us and then, SURPRISE!! with great giggles. Then I went to the port a potty on the way home. When I came out Linda was just standing there.  Where wer ethe children I wondered. And then, then, there were giggles. And then, then, I looked, I listened and SURPRISE!!! out came five little treasures hiding ever so quietly in the bushes.

When in the bus they really, really wanted a picture drawn so, quickly I drew the many things that they were thankful for and they were content and happy that the other Tender Trackers will ask about their day!

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Marin Tender Tracks Wed. May 18, 2016 Day 31

Waxing Gibbous Moon
Lake Lagunitas

A new friend named Kelly visited us today. She is a teacher with Vilda Nature School. It was a fun treat to have her with us and play with us!

All the children were here too and Great Grandpa Sun was shinning hot, hot. We were going to go to Sorich but I believe it was just too hot to do so. Therefore we went to Lake Lagunitas where we could choose if we wanted lot’s of sun or shade from our Great Tree Friends.

The over all arc of the day was, fun, friendship, play, discovery and joy.

I brought them into circle with a new song as well as standing and they ALL sang like never before!!!  They are no longer the dreamy, shy three year olds that began the year but solid just about four and almost four year olds!!  We walked farther today then ever too.
So, circle was so very fun as they joined in with all of the songs and movements, gobbled up snack of apple sauce, walnuts, dried cranberries and our special lemon water.  Then, we had our story from last week yet with an addition; Rooster that found the Sun hiding in a cave and brought him back out to shine his light upon everyone again, made a trail with Oat groats to find his way back. In doing so all the other animals found where Rooster was and THAT is how they ALL sang the first ever Morning Welcoming Song to the Sun!!

And, that is what we did when we finally got on our way to an adventure; we laid a trail of Oat Groats along the way, made tracks with some sticks,and rock piles with sticks in it too.  They enjoyed this very much AND it WORKED!  They found their trails all the way home when it was time to go.

Before we ever left for our adventure though we played in the woods. Kuba, Eli and Kai became Monsters. Kelly aided them and empowered their Monsterness by way of having them move a VERY big boulder. Which they did!!  Oh how mighty these monsters were.

Isabella and Ruby played house a good lot of the day with Eli coming in to be Protector Dad often.   This was so great for Ruby and she LOVED being baby and taken care of. She was filled with laughs and love throughout the day.  Kai was filled with guns shooting yellow fire and monsterness, Eli was a GREAT protector of his family, Kuba loved making paint when we got to our creek, creating things, being baby kitten and loving to be snuggled. As I just mentioned, we wound up at a creek where there was shade and beautiful redwood homes.  Kuba, Kai and I made face paint with the rocks for awhile, there was water play, house play, painting faces with charcoal from the trees and I was told at the end of the day by Linda and Kelly all the marvelous protection Eli was doing when the monsters, Kuba and Kai came by.  Kelly made them all bracelets of Iris leaves and they all loved that.  I was soaking up the sun and day so much that I got my time all mixed up as to when we had to leave. We were eating lunch, I was reading a story and then I realized, “Oh Dear, We have to go!!!!”  A speedy train was created that then turned into an airplane and off we all went, after packing up and getting shoes and socks back on.

This was another mile stone day with so much growth and development among them all.  A treat, treat, treat to see them grow more and more into their radiant, whole and beautiful selves!!!!!!

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