Tender Tracks Thursday Day 2

September 14, 2017
Waning Moon
Lake Lagunitas

Our First day of Tender Tracks without parents.
Amos was still acclimating to the bus so he drove coming and going with Mom.  Devin was a snuggle cuddle bug with Mom and not wanting her to leave. However, after loving care she left, he shed a few more tears and then was able to be easefully present for the rest of the day.  Avaline came for the first time since her time with Tender Tracks all last year.  She had many new things to take in: two old friends, three new ones and one new Teacher.  She did quite well yet at about an hour before we made it back I could see that she was ready to go home and be with the familiar. However, her kind and alive heart appeared to be fine and enjoying the gifts of Tender Tracks that she remembered so well for almost the entire day.

We took our time in the bus with all of our adjustments. The children received their stuffed animals as well as some cozy rabbit or llama fur blankets and then off we went.
When we got to Lake Lagunitas they explored and played by and with the creek.
Amos, and Puma darted off and over the creek only to explore a beautiful area with lots of mud for Amos and fun things to find in the water for Puma. Vita and Avaline had a grand time climbing up and over the steep rock shouting out “Look at me! Look at me!” which I did. Austen was crawling and climbing over the rocks as well and Devin was with Ruby. Devin did not want to get his feet wet so, with the graceful support and guidance of Ruby Devin figured out that if he became like a bear he could crawl over the big log and if he became Devin again he could stand up and help himself that way at the very end.  This was one of the most beautiful moments, watching him figure this all out with love and support.  He was SOOO delighted that he giggled and giggled when he got to the other side of the log. And Ruby, she almost cried for and from the joy of it!!!

We came to our circle and there we had the same songs, and stories from our first day and a snack that they were not so sure about: stuffed sweet peppers with honey almond butter and cucumber ears!!!!  Vita ate about 6, Amos ate about 4 and the rest were just not so sure about these things so crackers came in along with their lemon water.

After circle Austen needed to go poop and Ruby took him to the porta pottie. Her tale of what happened there was another magical moment.  Austen went poop straight away yet it appears that he enjoys hanging out on the pottie and had no desire to leave.  He wondered what would happen if he said BOO!  so he and Ruby played BOO back and forth for awhile but then, a Boo came from the porty a potty next to them!!!!!  A woman was in there and she played along with Austen. She even sent out a goat sound and he sent one back too.  She then came out and said, did you hear that sound in the other porta potty?  I think there was a ghost and a goat in there!!  You must ask Ruby to fully recount the tale. It was very fun and funny.

While they were doing the rest of us were playing Hide and Go Seek in the Redwoods. Vita, Avaline, Amos, Devin and Puma. Hiding, counting, finding, hiding, counting, finding.  We laughed and played and laughed and played.  We listened to the sounds of the birds all around, walking slowly and with open ears and tender feet.

When Austen and Ruby got back we all got our packs on to go on a grand adventure. We made it up to the top of the stone stairs to the place where we saw the frogs, turtles, and crawdads in the water below on our first day together.  And what fun we had seeing them all AGAIN!!!  We sat and looked out upon the water while in the Sun. Puma and Amos explored a little further down the grassy path and the others were curious about their adventure so they followed for a bit.

Devin loved climbing up this little hill where Amos wound up. They both sat there together for a sweet while throwing cones and bits of dirt down to see them all roll down.  Then all of the children would go all the way up the hill, down the path at the top and back to where Ruby and I were.  Devin was not so fully confident with getting down but, as we are discovering, his true skills and capabilities are shining forth as he, every time, figured out how to get up and down, up and down.  And then, a grand glow of great pride arose!  As it should!!! 🙂

We stayed there to eat at the picnic table. Today “Grandmother Whisper” came. She brought the children into silent eating and then she whispered a story to them too.  Amos said he didn’t know how to whisper yet, he found his whisper voice half way through lunch though.  He was however still quite curious as to why we would be whispering during lunch.  “Well, all the animals have been listening to us. Now, we get to listen to them? :)”  we shared with him.
And so our Mindful/ quiet lunch time is beginning.

After lunch we made our way to the place Puma really wanted to go on our first day, the place we went on his very first day Last year at Tender Tracks.

We began walking yet Devin really wanted to see if we could find the Moth that he put to the side on Tuesday. So we all went there and looked and looked but no Moth to be found.  We carried on, found our place and settled in.  The lake is right there so there was play by the lake and play with a wonderful “fairy fort” that was there as well.  We made fishing poles out of sticks and Cat tails yet they didn’t work the way the children really wanted them to so we worked with them as best we could.

Amos was into superheroes and he asked me what mine were.  I told him about the Great Swan and the Mighty Caring Jaguar and then about Grandmother Spider. With Grandmother Spider, I told a story about her and how stories came to be.  It was very mellow and fun as he, Avaline,Vita, Austen  and Devin were right there with me.   Puma was talking about knives and weapons so Ruby brought her real knife out and showed him different ways to work with a knife.

Story over, off to play then.  There was beautiful playing together and then alas, it was time to go back home.  Amos went home with mom, the rest of us had our good byes and memories of the day with thanksgivings and then down the road we went.

As we drove back Ruby and I sang a bunch of songs to them such as The Green Grass grows all around and around and the green grass grows all around. Three songs like that and we were back!

A beauty filled first day.