Hi all. Week two was even better than week one...The magic crockpot figured out the exact measurements for the ingredients and likes to start its work promptly at 6 am. This past week the group was small with only R and Curtis...3 year old girl and 5 year old boy respectively. Curt continues to learn to adapt his play to suit R. This week they practiced a made up language together. This is a fun thing for Curt..last Autumn an Israeli family started at his school and Curt got to hear a fair bit of Hebrew being spoken by the parents to their children. He started to mimic the sounds and pretend to speak. I was concerned that some adults would think he was making fun at the little boy..but I knew he was just trying out "speaking another language.". Curt also proudly says he CAN speak Hebrew or Swedish or even Arabic as these are languages he has been exposed to.
Anyway, R and Curt talked a blue streak of their own made up language complete with inflection and exclamation. Later in the week Curt started to play dress up with R much to her delight..He would don a princess dress and crown and be a princess kitty while R with her tiara is the kitty owner who feeds and helps the kitty who often seems in distress. Funny how princess kitty is often mewing for something or other...and R in such a sweet soft voice pats the kitty's back and says, "yes,yes kitty...it's alright. What would you like?". When children play with others and use this kind of vocab...i know they have brought some of this with their very nature to ths world..but I also like to think they pick up a bit in their strong urge to imitate ... their parents. So kudos to r's parents, i am sure these soft spoken words of comfort were spoken to her at some point.
Of course, curt still likes to worry R with loud play at times..but I have been giving her tools to deal..like come to me and stand behind me..i will sort out curt. She seems to like this and has been trusting me to make things ok again.
Curt gets frustrated when he tries to teach her something in his almost six year old way...for example...this is the way the puzzle works or something.....and R who knows her own mind does not care for such instruction. He has much more patience than he did at four years that's for sure...he doesn't strike out...but has on occasion removed the prized tiara and hidden it under the bed. rascal! But we work to sort it out and move on.
Enough psychology....the woods...the blessed woods. The big eyed frog family likes to make an appearance every day. They have taken up residence slightly north of the bridge and are resisting curt's valiant efforts to place them in his net. It is beautiful to see them hop and swim and it makes R laugh to see them. R is so much more confident of her footing in the stream and on the land near the bridge. She strips off her shoes straight away. She likes getting in the stream and is mastering the art of descending the bank to reach the water. She has learned to use a log as a hand rail and she can climb up on this low log and sit upon it. She asks me to sit beside her and tell her the story of the velveteen rabbit. Curt likes to stay nearby and try for the frogs while listening..but R is content to sit and listen.
R also has learned to walk along one of the other logs. And find a spot nearer the ground for her so that she can straddle the log and "ride a horse.". It is fulfilling to see her confidence in doing this and sometimes she has a little running dialogue going with herself.."i'm looking for the lower spot..here it is...leg over...ride the horse."
R is trying her hand at the nets also..she tries to catch those spindly legged walk-on-water bugs with them...and also pick up a bit of sand.
Now that R has grown confident with the woodsy location, i can follow Curt up into the blown down tree slightly east of the bridge and climb along like a bear. Curt can do most of it standing up like a tightrope walker. He likes to pretend he has a machete and is hacking away at thick grasses in the jungle...as there is still quite a bit of vegetation on and around the blown down trees. I can see R clearly from the log...she sometimes walks on the cleared path to the log..but prefers to hang near the bridge at this time. She knows where I am and I call to her occasionally and wave...she has just enough distance from me so that she does not feel the urge to include me in her play...which R often likes to do with me when I am in proximity.
One of her favorite games is to walk in the water next to the bridge and select rocks from the stream bed. She takes them in her small hands and lifts them almost over her head to place them on the bridge. When she has amassed enough of them..she makes her way on top of the bridge to throw them into the stream below. She delights in the large Kerplunk they make when they hit only water. She also engages in her personal dialogue here as well...more of a singing to herself as she goes about her important work. I just delight in watching this full immersion of the young child in play.
We start the day with our beloved puppets as you know, and this is the last week for ladybugs. Curt and R are great helper puppeteers. R likes the bird who gives ladybug a ride on her back and sings, "Tra lee la lu, Tra lee la lu, this is what little birds do.". Curt has a hard time not getting silly and loud during puppet play..which can "spoil the mood a bit." but bless R she just stays engaged..she can even sleep through Curt's sometime outburts during rest time. Wow.
Anyway, back to puppets. R sems to have the story living in her and often will often reenact the play right afterwawrds as I leave the puppets out for the children to play with. Curt, even with his outbursts, has started singing Tra lee la lu out of the blue during the day. Aaah it reached him too. Funny thing...I never quite got the cricket's fiddle song right...hey diddle hey diddle hey diddle dee...Hey diddle hey diddle hey diddle dee hey diddle hey diddle hey diddle dee...Hey diddle hey diddle hey diddle dee, hey diddle hey diddle hey diddle, Ho hey! Hey diddle hey diddle hey diddle dee...Hey diddle hey diddle hey diddle dee hey diddle hey diddle hey diddle...ho hey! he always says..."that's not right". Seems he knows it doesn't sit with me either. And that's the part when he will start to jump about and bust the mood. Amazing testament to how in bringing the play or the song or the circle...there must be the assuredness of the teacher deep within. Much for me to work on here.
Poison ivy alert...young curt has contracted a seemingly mild case on his ankles...i am treating with jewelweed soap. I will start putting the ivy block on him before entering the woods. I still put the Buzz Away on the children as well unless they already reek of citronella.
This upcoming week is Fireflies..I am going to use their other name, lightening bugs. Our story will deal with Sister Lightening and her good work in giving the bug its light on its "tushi.". I think they will delight in this one...here's a shout out to Phillip Rhoades for this tale..you can check it out on YouTube. I know..i'm lame...i just couldn't come up with one myself and was researching...but I really like his...we'll see how it's received. And on cue, this past friday as we were felting our balls again in the courtyard, we saw our first lightening bug of the season..of course his light was out in the sunlight...but still.
Felt balls were beautiful this week..they have spirals in them...Summer Solstice happens on tuesday and spirals and sunshine are the theme for this festival. i hope to have the nature table arrayed properly by then. "A" will be joining us on Thursday and Friday this week coming. She is a four year old girl. The art project on Friday will be dyeing silks the color of the sun..and lightening bug tushis.
Blessings to you, Ms.Rocksand
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