Yesterday we had some unwanted "excitement". Two of Violet's friends had come over on their bikes and Violet and Eden were going to go out with them, also on their bikes. Aria was absolutely desperate to go with them but she is too young and not to be trusted out on a bike without an adult around. Her mother had to forcibly restrain her from going, and she was devastated and angry. After a bit her mother asked me if I would take her to the pond and I agreed, not knowing that that's where the older girls were going. I realised later that Aria did know, which was why she was so keen to have me take her there. We joined the others for a little while, but when they all left on their bikes to go to one of their houses, Aria was determined to follow them. I restrained her for a few minutes but she managed to wrestle her way free and ran after them (crying all the way) with me running after her. We went back towards home and I thought she would stop there because all the other girls were now out of sight, but she kept running past and there was no way I could keep up.

I ran into the house and got her mother and we both went in the direction she had gone. At the first cross street we saw some boys playing in a yard; they called out to us that they had seen Aria and they thought they knew where she had gone. They took off on their bikes to see if they were right, and came back to say she was where they thought she would be - at the home of one of Violet’s friends, where all the older girls had gathered. Her mother sternly took her home, with Aria of course crying and struggling all the way. I was extremely relieved that she had been safe, and also very impressed with the neighbourhood boys looking out for her. My daughter tells me she feels that this is quite a safe neighbourhood for children because there are so many of them, and drivers expect that there might be kids out playing near or on the road.

Today has been lazy for me although not for my daughter and son in law. They’ve been painting Eden and Aria’s room this week as well as doing some small repairs, and they were putting finishing touches on it today. I think the girls will be able to sleep in there tonight; all week Aria has been on a mattress in her parents’ room while Eden has been either on a couch in the living room or on a mattress in Violet’s room.

Right now I’m recovering from spending half an hour throwing a ball around with Aria. It was more tiring than running for the same amount of time would have been.