Tag Archive for: Palo Alto Journal

Palo Alto Tender Tracks Thursday Jan. 23, 2014 Day 36

Waning Gibbous Moon
Martins Creek

This was a wonderful day yet filled with falls, poop accidents, and lot’s of peeing by many.  For Finn, his first full day without Mom. He was just so filled with excitment, enthusiasm and wow, he is very adventerous and beautifully fearless. He had a couple of falls but was non plussed by any of them.  Or shall I say, he cried and was able to let his tears flow and then dry up when he was done and get right back up and into climbing and the like.   Cole was fine yet wound up having some loose poop that was a bit startling I think for him. He however had no trouble asking for help. Thank you Cole’s Mom for keeping that great bag of extra clothes.  It is evident that you are a teacher because you also put a spare plastic bag on the bottom for the dirty clothes!
I enjoyed watching Ridham and Zac as they played together a lot today.  Ridham was quite involved with his usual full games and Zac was engrossed with following him and understanding what he was sharing.  They played for a long time together in the afternoon.  Julian, Juliette and Finn spent a lot of time together today. I enjoyed looking at them all at one point when they were lying on a rock together looking like they were looking over the edge into the empty pond near by.  Later Finn and Julian spent  a good amount of time exploring a quiet part of the creek. This was one of the places that Finn fell, cried and I came to see how he was doing.   Zara and Eden and sometimes Serena, were all very busy with their house games as well as exploring with everyone else further up the creek.
Our day was an easy and long flow before we ever really got to our destination.  When we got to Martins creek they clearly needed to stretch their legs so they immediately went down and explored the big, dark culvert. Serena and Ridham didn’t want to go in so I stayed with them and the rest just had a GRAND time exploring this.  Finn had NO problem going into the dark and was delighted with it all.  We then came back to have our circle and snack which they were very ready for.
The story was inspired by some of the more unpleasant language that was being used one to the other last week.  You can find this story in Brothers Grimm. It is called in some of the versions Mother Holle.  It is about, as usual, a kind and generous young girl who is left to live with a very unkind step mother and step sister.  Long story short, one was given a gift for her industrious self of gold and jewels coming out of her mouth every time she spoke and the other, who tried to get the gift while still maintaining unkind ways. She wound up having frogs, and snakes coming out of her mouth when she would speak.   The emphasis came after the story when each time the children used kind and courteous words one to the other it was noted that it was like gold and jewels coming out of their mouths!  How could this be?! Cole and Zac, in particular, latter in the day, said please tell it again tell it again!  All the children showed signs of liking it when we noted gold and jewels coming out of their mouths. They just would laugh, giggle and think this was fun and funny.

Our focus today was to make rain rattles so when we got to our spot Serena, Zara, Eden and Ridham really wanted to get started!  They were the ones with me. The others wanted to take the much more involved way to our place, climbing through the creek bed, so they came a little later.  This was just fine because that enabled me to cut off the bottom of the gourds for just four children at one sitting instead of 9. The children then had to find sticks that fit into the gourds open end.
Finishing these rattles will take a couple of weeks as next we need to find just the right pebbles, beans or such to put in to make the right sound, the right stick and then the making of natures glue to glue the handle in.  Then, if they wish there will be painting them with rock paint and cover them with raw egg white to”varnish” the paint.  So, much to do. This day was just a beginning.  They all had fun with it in the middle of all their other adventures and explorations.
It was a delightfully explorative and full day.

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Palo Alto Tender Tracks Wed. Day 6, Oct. 2, 2013

Waning Crescent Moon
Hidden Villa

Weather Report of the Children:
Jasper: perky, playful, engaged and really wanting to see the PIGS!!!!
Eric: said his cough was coming back though we never heard it.  He was happy, excited to see the pigs, asked to see
the pigs and when we got there, AHHHHH, he was AFRAID of the pigs.  He and I held hands and went half way
through the pig house and then had to leave.  Otherwise he was very happy and happy to try to catch a chicken
and  then pet it when I was holding it.
Hailey:  she was her quiet yet happy self, smiling, engaged yet a little pulled back today.  She liked singing the new
songs yet just listened as three year olds often do before they actually engage physically.  The chickens came
right up to eat her food. She didn’t like this but she didn’t show strong upset over it.  Natalie made a barrier for
her and  I  gently shushed them away.
Emme:  Happy, Alive, climbing, playing, loving the pigs, the sheep, the garden, songs, story….
Dahlia: she started the day full of life, joy and fun and then slowly, slowed down!  By days end she was clearly very
tired and tears with upset came easily.   Other then that she was her fun, creative self.  Socks made into mittens
and loving all the animals, songs, stories, sheep and garden.  She really liked petting the chickens too.
Anissa: she was not quite herself today.  She seemed tired, maybe a cold coming on?  She enjoyed the day yet her fatigue
seemed more present yet, she still had that glorious smile and warmth through and through.
Nareya:  that old backpack was not what she wanted and she was so hoping that she could either convince Bosch or I
to just carry it for her.  Well, the good news was that she got to take it off every time we stopped. The really
disappointing and very unpleasant news was that she did need to carry it yet, the nice news was that there was
always a hand there for her to help her carry the weight and burden of it.   She too liked having sock hands and
she too was a bit tired and by days end easily set to tears.  And the pigs, and chickens were such a joy for her.
She was such a brave person.  She and Natalie fearlessly shooed away those chickens for every one and
laughed and laughed as they did it!
Natalie:  Well, you just heard a bit about Natalie, or shall I say, Natalie the Brave!!!!  All day long she was in high
energy mode. She just was in hog heaven!  Laughing, playing, trying to catch chickens, running and having
fun in the garden, with story and new songs.  She loved the pigs and the sheep and of course, the Chickens!
She said how much she liked being the protector and guardian for everyone and so she offered her services
with delight.
Aurora: She had her Golden Guide Field book of Birds and never let it go.  Some children, in particular Nareya, really
wanted to hold and read it.  Aurora let this happen now and again but she kept an Eagle eye on that book and
then would ask for it back politely. It was clear however that having the book out of her possession was a bit uncomfortable.    She was her usual happy and energetic self. She and Natalie have the highest amount and most sustained energy of them all
so far.  She is like a bright light, observant and happy.

Now as for the days details, you might have put a few things together so far yes!?
When we got to Hidden Villa they got out and played a bit on the natural playground there with a little tunnel. Eric and I went to the bathroom and we helped many “Bay Nut Babies be born,”along the way.
When we got back I set up circle and we sang new songs yet there were some other children that came around to listen and sing with us.  It was very lovely. This often happens there.
The new Oct and Halloween songs were well received, they are on the web, and the story was  a bit of a participatory song About a Grandpa that planted a carrot seed that grew so big he needed lot’s of help to pull it out.  We then, in addition to the rest of our snack, ate a great big carrot!  More play then off to find the garden.
As we walked we smelled many plants and in the garden they all immediately went following the chickens in order to get them.  I finally was able to get one as Bosch went in one way in the gourd tunnel and the children went the other way. As it turns out they went in there to follow the chicken and Bosch went in the other way to be playful, I suppose 🙂

I went to one end and the chicken tried to scrunch through them all and….I got her.  They all petted her and then this happened a couple more times.   Then, many wanted to go see the pigs and off we went. When we finally arrived there, after petting sheep and smelling more lovely plants, and after Eric decided to abandon the whole pig viewing, Eric, Hailey, Anissa and I began our lunch.  One by one the rest of them came over and then the fun began with all the chickens.
At first it was just one who came by, but then after about 15 minutes it was like she called all her friends over.  We tried all sorts of funny things to get them to go away. Dahlia was distressed by them, and one of them got one cucumber of hers. This seemed more startling to her then anything. How could they eat my cucumber!!!? was a thought that seemed to be on her face.
We finally got ready to go but Hailey said that she was still eating. Oh dear, we waited a bit more and then, well,we had to go.  But alas, when I had to take a quick stop at the bathroom, so did about 4 of the childrne so, I tended in proper pace to that while Bosch took the others back to the bus and then finally made the rest of us made our way back to the bus and off we went.

 

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Palo Alto Tender Tracks Thursday March 7, 2013

Waning Crescent   Moon
Days  46
Hidden Villa

Alice and Miu were absent today.
The sky was cloudy and the Weather Reports told us it was going to rain during the day. However, it just never did!  We watched the sky throughout the day and noticed how the color and shape of the clouds changed and the color of the sky changed but no rain ever fell upon our heads.  We put our counting and weather stick up in the air to see what the feather would do and he was being blown rather strongly.    We made guesses as to when we thought it might rain and, by late afternoon there was some rain fall but not while we were all together.  The day was quite beautiful and beautiful enough to play in the water at the creek we visited and ate our lunch at.
We came here because I was told that there were young piggies, a young cow and some other new born.  We found the first two and then discovered the baby sheep as we were walking back at the end of the day.    When we saw the sheep I brought their attention to the coat of the sheep and how that is what we washed and stuffed our pillows with a couple of weeks ago.  Aoife still has what she washed in the front of her pack so I was able to take that out as an example.
There were a lot of people there on this day so we navigated well around them.  We made sounds like the goats and sheep before we got there and then saw the sweet young ones as well as the color of their tongs.  Do you know what color the cows, sheep and goats tongues are?   The baby cow was very sweet as it nuzzled up to it’s Mommy and there were blossoms on trees all around.
The creek was a joy to play in and around and we became all manner of creatures exploring this place.  But then, “When are we going to see the Piggies?” someone cried. “Well, if everyone is finished eating let us go!!!” I said.  And so, we did.  Off to the piggies we went and oh dear, they had the strongest and most unpleasant smell I have ever smelled and the little ones had diarrhea. We weren’t  able to find a farmer to ask about this.  Emme kept saying that she liked the smell.  No matter though, those little piggies were so fun to watch as they ran, jumped, played, nibbled their Mommies mouth, snorted, grunted, flipped around and then, it was time for us to try some of their stunts!  Can you flip in the midst of a run?   Paul was really gung ho with trying this and did pretty well too at it!  There was the now, traditional, game of going inside the pig cage that sits on the outside and side wall of the pig barn and pretend that you are pigs or something.  The children would pretend feed whoever was pretending to be a pig and then change these roles like happy wind blowing.
There was feather gathering and trying to catch chickens.  No one was able to today.  We finally made our way out of there and on our way back to the bus viewing all that we had taken in already and enjoying the pleasures of Early Spring.

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