The Neighborhood

I grew up on a country road.  Our grandparents lived a mile away in a small development and that is where my sister and I would go to play with other kids.  When we were young we always wished we lived in a development where we could go right out our door, ride our bikes, and play with other neighborhood kids. 

We live in a small, older development now, no sidewalks, but a fairly quiet street to ride bike on...but hardly any other kids to play with. 

The few families in the neighborhood keep to themselves, and there are no other girls close to Ava's age.  Ava has one schoolmate that lives down the street, but she is in 4th grade.  Ava REALLY looks up to her but I never felt she would be interested in playing with a Kindergartener.  But today, to my surprise, the 4th grader and her friend invited Ava over to ride scooters!  Ava was SO excited and happy to be invited over by the 'older' girls.  It was so great to see her scoot down the street to play with friends, something I always wanted to be able to do.  Also a little scary too...a bit of independence for Ava that I'm not ready for I guess.