Winter Themes

We looked out the window today at the rain and listened to the wind, watching the leaves falling. The trees are almost completely bare. It's time to change our cozy room table from bright, colored leaves to evergreens with lights. We bring greenery and trees and lights into our homes to remind us of freshness and life and to counteract the gloominess of the season.

All the energy of the trees is going deep into the roots. The bears that we have been "hunting" for weeks (with our binoculars and cameras) are snuggling deep in caves for the winter. The frogs and turtles are burrowed in the mud and so much of our world seems to be sleeping. This is the season for staying warm and cozy. We are thankful for food to eat and warm clothes and home.

I love this time of year and the richness of the story of Christ's birth. We celebrate the mystery of ife, the sacredness of birth and the shining blessing that newborns bring. In this season of increased darkness, the light of Truth shines brightest.

It's also a time when we give each other presents! Little elves are busy, busy making things to give away on Christmas morning (it's so much fun to have secret surprises!)

Pink Play Dough

Bunny Rabbits in the Garden

Put salad on the kids' plates and more than likely it will be met with pickiness. But put them near the garden and they can't stop nibbling!!
Today especially they couldn't stop eating the greens.

But then, who could resist?

Happy Fall

What a beautiful day today. I raked a pile of leaves and Nayelli right away jumped in. The others soon followed. Halloween pumpkins served as perfect pails to collect nuts and leaves.

There was an occasional slight breeze that would send leaves floating down; some twirling fast, others lazily flip-flopping their way to the ground.

We sang one of my favorite chants:

When I rise, let me rise like a bird, joyfully.

When I fall, let me fall like a leaf, gracefully.
With no regrets.

I love this photo of Nora, captured just as

she looked up to see a falling leaf.

I love Wyatt's soulful, contemplative look here. I had just asked him, "Where did all these leaves come from, Wyatt?" he didn't answer for a while, then said, "Tree" in a quiet voice. The mood of the season.

I threw leaves in the air and took this shot at the same time. Nayelli was trying to catch the leaves in her

pumpkin.

musings

Just had to write this down - so funny.





Wyatt and Nora are busy playing with the bean tray. I am in the kitchen preparing for the day.


Persi: (in a stern voice to Nora and Wyatt) Go in the kitchen! GO!


Ella: (calling from the kitchen) Persi wants Nora and Wyatt to go in the kitchen. Persi? Will you say that in a friendly way? You can invite your friends to come in the kitchen with you.


Persi: (to Wyatt with sweet voice) Wyatt, you come in kitchen?


Wyatt: no


Persi gets frustrated and tries to pick him up.


Ella: (now in the living room, with quiet sing-song voice) Wyatt can say yes. Wyatt can say no. Wyatt can say maybe so.


Nora: I can say yes or no, too.


Persi: (standing now with arms waving open, her voice dramatic and sweet and strong) Friends! In the kitchen we eat snack!





I couldn't help it - I burst out laughing. I wonder what would have happened without that interference. I asked, "Who wants snack?" and all said, "Me!" And we all clean up the beans (teamwork!) and go in the kitchen for snack.





All this has me thinking about leadership and authority, manipulation, persuasion, and the balance of power. To be invited to do what I want you to do offers you a choice. If I ask and you say no, I do the sometimes difficult work of letting go of the outcome. As an adult, leading this little tribe I am responsible for, I often must communicate "what we are doing" with no choice involved. I have a handful of skills that creates an atmosphere of cooperation and harmony, such as acknowledging the child's message, "You say 'no, no, I don't want to' you really don't want to!" often diffuses resistance and the child will comply with my request once he/she feels heard.



In case your wondering what the kids are doing while I'm sitting here musing, check it out:
We made blue play dough today!



I think there's a bit of "election blues" in all this, too! Will we ever get to the point in public decision-making where we can communicate clearly, acknowledge the other position and make choices based on the good of all concerned?

As one of my teachers would say, "Stay in the question!"
I don't have answers. One question leads to the other and I try to be present and aware of as much as possible in each moment. I'm aware that the simple things I try to model for the kids: that I am intently listening without judgement, that I care about their tender feelings, that I will always do everything I can to maintain safety for all, that I will provide a peaceful space to be in by maintaining a dependable rhythym to the day, that I will never condone violence . . . . . these simple things are NOT present in our public, shared space. As we try our best to maintain harmony in our homes and treat each other with respect, we are in dissonance with the prevailing culture. That's why creating community, creating culture is so vital. That's a big reason I'm so delighted ddoing this work.

Meanwhile, the kids are done with play dough, and I gotta go!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of this!

Play Dough Fun

This very rainy morning we came in from feeding the fish, jumping on the trampolines and riding Wonder, the horsie and the children got right to work making playdough. Usually it takes a while to come in because it is so much fun on the porch but today all I had to say was "Let's go make the playdough" and they were all lined up at the door. The excited giggles started when I handed out the wisks, spoons and scrapers. I let them put their hands in the flour (so soft) and scoop the cupfulls. Such enthusiastic stirrers! In this picture Nayelli is taking her turn putting one spoonful of Cream of Tartar in the bowl. We decided together on green, although Wyatt was dissapointed - he wanted blue and said several times "Next time blue." Yes, we made quite the mess and what was even messier was everyone "cleaning up" with brooms and the mop and spray bottles and sponges . . . finally when the dough was ready and everything reasonably cleaned up they all played happily for a long time.

Nora enjoyed cutting the dough with her "knife" (popsicle stick) into smaller and smaller pieces and giving some to everyone else. Later she collected some back from the others and made a "big tree."
Wyatt smashed, pounded, squished and squeezed and had such a good time. When Nora asked for some of his dough, he right away generously gave her a big piece. He also created characters with pieces of dough and "walked" them around the table to visit the other children's dough.

Nayelli created a little landscape and animated the cookie cutters to hop around. She also often paused her own play in order to watch intently what the other children were doing. Lots of smiles and laughter. She is so fascinated with the other kids, content at this point to watch and a bit shy when the others engage with her. (but not shy at all if she sees something she wants!) She was the first to be finished playing and joined me at the sink on a stool to wash the dishes.

Persimmon right away began creating little characters. She looked at her dough with the eyes and chuckled and laughed! She later added feet and ears.

I loved that everyone was so happy today! Some days there can be squabbling over toys or turns, but today there wasn't a cross word. We played choo choo train with boxes first thing this morning, then the finger puppets rode the train, too. The kettle whistled and it was tea time before going out on the porch. The rain continued all day but we were cozy and happy inside.

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