Child in Harmony visit

On Saturday we made the always risky journey off Cape. It was worth it to go visit the homestead of Marcia Simmonds of A Child In Harmony. She offered an open house to unschoolers and we just had the best time. What a beautiful home, fabulous family, wonderful new friends and getting to meet up with some treasured folks we meet at Rock the Campground. Scout, of course, loves anything outdoors and animals. She played in the gardens, the sandbox and visited ALL the animals. We went into the house to share a pot luck lunch and Scout played with the toy horses and animals. It is always so wonderful, when we meet in these groups, to observe how all the children get along. Always a mix from toddlers to teenagers and never a fight or harsh word from anyone. I think this is what we treasure most in these groups. Everyone is always respectful of everyone, no matter what the age and it shows in the harmony of the group. 

When it was time for us to go we asked Scout to say bye-bye. She trotted, deliberately to to slider, onto the deck, down the stairs and off to the ducks...."bye-bye". The she marched over to where the chickens were resting..."bye-bye". The we followed her down a path, through the pines to the horse barn..."bye-bye, bye-bye". Now she was ready to go. Definitely mommies girl!!!

Animal encounters

Recently we have had some fun animal encounters. The most fascinating aspect is learning how normal these are for Scout. Everyday she is surrounded by animals, walking freely around her. She is able to walk up and touch them at will. When these "wild" animals come close to us she doesn't act any differently then she does when it is a domestic animal. With both she enjoys observing them, very rarely moving quickly toward them or touching aggressively. She is never frightened, even when feeding wild baby ducks and they grab at her fingers when the food has run out. She looked at us with a questioning face while it was happening and when  we explained they were hungry her face softened as if she understood. She is so remarkable.

Feeding squirrels and pigeons in the park in Boston.

"Knuckles!!!"

Swimming with baby ducks in Snake Pond. We have decided to come here Wednesday night for the summer instead of going to the Y for swimming lessons. We all go together and bring a picnic dinner. W stayed last night for about 2 hours. We had a blast.

Scout feeding the baby ducks some of her pretzels.

Animal lover

Scout has turned into such an animal lover! She has loved the dogs for about a month or more now. She reaches out to pet them anytime they come near her. She loves to watch them play and always smiles when they are heading in her direction. She has love riding her pony, Tonto, since she was 3 weeks old. She babbles away now when she is riding, hands either relaxed at her side or playing with Tontos maine. Yesterday she was in her stroller as I took the horses out, one at a time, to have their turn mowing the lawn. She got so excited as each horse came out and I brought it over to say good morning to her. Satinka knows how to give a kiss. I told Tink to give Scout a kiss and Scout immediately opened her mouth (her way of kissing) and put her arms out. She is soooo cute.
She also enjoys any other animal she can find. She enjoys watching the chickens. She goes to the nature center every week to "critter capers". She reaches her little hand out when it is her turn to pet the animal. So far she has met a guinea pig, rabbit, tourtose, turtle and a snake. She loves to watch for birds when we go out hiking, when she hears them she begins to search for where they are. We are so happy we have a little nature girl!!