Tender Tracks Wed. Day 26

April 5, 2017
Waxing Gibbous Moon
Sorich Ranch

Vita was absent.

This day was warm, a bit muggy and no rain drops even came as was thought that they might.   Everyone came in sweet, alive and happy to be with each other.  The growth in them all was so very visible.  The developmental time clock still astounds me and tickles my heart.  At the current moment they are in a very easeful place. There is true play beginning to happen together and the parallel play has gone.

Puma is settled and calm when he comes in. Ruthie popped in this day all by herself and with great ease and confidence.  Susie was comfortable and connecting with others.  Oliver had LOT’s to share, Jasper came in a little hesitant as his dear friend Vita was not there yet he found his way and sat on the other side of the bus with all the boys and Avaline was her usual easy, open hearted and present self.

I played with their observational skills a bit in the bus to get a greater sense of where they were at and, they still are quite within yet, they did notice where the Unicorn moved to, where the Feathers moved to as well as the necklace that was hanging up last week that was new.  They did not notice the pattern of boys on one side and girls on the other.

When we got to our place they remembered it well and came out to go climb up the big Rock. How happy they were to be on top of this big rock and shout “Hello Down there. Do you see me??”  Ruthie was at the bottom and Puma really was encouraging her to come up this rather challenging part.  I invited Ruthie to join me to climb up on the other side. She happily came that way and then Puma came down to help her get up.  She was happy yet again with this.  We had a very lovely circle and ate the seed balls that the Tue/Thurs. class had made and offered to give them their extra amount. The children ate them up happily.

The story was about taking care of a garden with love, care, song and giving to the Fairies.  A fairy came and offered them a wish. The wish was to play Hide and Go Seek!  After this story the children planted their own little garden in a basket we had and next week we will see how the seeds have grown. We then began our journey up, up , up to the swings at the top of the hill.

They have truly gotten so much stronger as in the past this would have REALLY been a hard climb. They only took a few small breaks and then clambered right up!

On the way we found some soap root that was ready to harvest. I believe it was from last year’s abundance. The slides however from the rain kept them preserved it seemed as well as available to dig up so, we did, and, at lunch time we washed our hands with the soap root in the creek.

When we got up there they each went to their favorite spots for awhile:
Ruthie and Susie to the bouncy tree where Linda bounced and bounced them.
Oliver chasing lizards, Jasper following with intrigue and Puma on the swing.
And Avaline went down to the creek to explore. Of course after a time there was much moving about and sharing all these adventures.

One of my favorite moments of the day was when all three of the boys had their noses right in this big old rock on two sides where the entrances were trying, trying, trying to see and to catch a lizard!  The funniest part was when Susie and I were across the way from them. We saw, when the boys were all huddled on one side, the Lizard peeking it’s head out and looking at them from the other side. When they ran over the lizard WHOOPS and QUICK ran away. It was truly fun, and funny!!!

Watching Ruthie, Oliver, and Jasper delight in swinging on the swing was so much fun as well.  Most of us climbed another big hill  above the swings to the magickal Buckeye tree and found a great spider in it’s web. It was very sensitive too because with barely a movement it would run ,run, run away to where we could not even see it. Then, when all would settle down it wouldl come back.  They found lot’s of rollie pollies and had so much fun watching them.

On the walk back there was a great big rock that Puma wanted turned over. I turned it over and we saw a smashed lizard and a great looking Centipede wrigling wriggling and trying to find darkness again.  The big question was, “How did the Lizard get smashed by a rock that was just there, for a long time?”  These are the great mysteries and tracking questions to spend a long time pondering and usually stumbling upon years later through on going observations.  🙂

Back in the bus we had some extra time which meant we could draw our “story of the day” which they love!  And there we saw and shared the many things we did as well as our thank you’s!!!