Our little wanderer....

I have been meaning to post this story for quite a while but just haven't had the time to actually sit down and write it all out. We'll see if I get interrupted at all this time.....
It happened on a Saturday, a few weekends ago. We were outside on a beautiful day with most of our neighborhood. The kids in the neighborhood were all playing together and having a great time while we were doing yard work, spring cleaning, etc. It was just before lunch and Matt was going to take a run before we ate. Wyatt asked is he could go with (his new favorite thing to do--ride his bike alongside Matt and I while we run) and Matt said sure. Sadie was down the street at a friend's house (just 2 houses down) playing outside. I had the monitor with me and heard Blake waking up so I asked my neighbor if she could keep an eye on Sadie while I got Blake and fed him quickly. During this time, Matt and Wyatt were getting ready in the garage and I heard Sadie in the garage with them. A few minutes go by, all is quiet in the garage, and Matt and Wyatt were off on their run and Sadie was back at her friends' house....or so I thought. The doorbell rang and it was Lily and Gracie, our neighbors from down the street who Sadie had been playing with. They asked if Sadie could come back out to play. I said, "She's not in here. I thought she was outside with you guys?" Nope. I thought, "No big deal. She must be in the garage playing..." Nope. So Lily and Gracie, their mom Terri and I started looking around for her....checking both garages, backyards, across the street, the park.....nowhere. By this time Terri is starting to freak out and feels terrible. But I still wasn't worried......no one could have come and taken Sadie because everyone would have seen it happen. I figured she must have just been hiding somewhere or playing somewhere where she couldn't hear us. (Sadie has NO fear and will wander off to play on her own without saying anything, so I tried to stay calm and just look everywhere where she might be). After a few minutes of searching everywhere, including the trunks of all our cars and inside our houses, I started to get a little panicky. I looked in the garage and saw her bike was gone, to which Terri said, "Matt wouldn't have taken her running with he and Wyatt, would he?" My initial thought was, "No way. She can't keep up with them on training wheels!" but the more I thought about it, that was the only explanation with her bike being gone. So I asked Terri to hold Blake (who, by the way is such a great baby that he didn't make a peak this entire time, despite the fact that his meal had been interrupted about halfway through!) while I drove through the neighborhood to find Matt, Wyatt and hopefully Sadie. Matt usually runs a similar route when Wyatt is with him, so I had a pretty good idea of where to look. As I drove down one of the streets, I just 'happened' to look down a side street and saw a flash of pink pass by---it had to be Sadie! I quickly pulled down the street, parked my car, and ran down the path where she was biking....ALL BY HERSELF!!!!! She was crying and saying, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" and I just ran as fast as I could and picked her up. After I comforted her (and myself!) I asked her what she was doing so far away from our house by herself?! Her answer, "I was going for a run with Daddy and Wyatt but I couldn't find them." Turns out that when Matt and Wyatt left our house and told her she couldn't come, she still followed and tried to keep up.
I wish I could show just how far she had gone, but let's just say that although she stayed on the path the entire time, she had crossed 2 streets (in addition to ours) and had gone up and down a decent sized hill. I put her bike in the trunk and drove her home. I was half relieved and half upset with her. I proceeded to explain the dangers of going that far without an adult; my attempt of putting a little fear in her since she has none! When I got home, there were two other families from our neighborhood and all their kids waiting to see if I had her, since they ad continued looking to no avail. When they saw her, they were so relieved (especially Terri, who I didn't feel had any responsibility in any of this, but she still felt bad).
We recounted everything that had happened and all the details, amazed at how far Sadie was able to get in just a short amount of time. Our nerves weren't able to calm down for quite awhile and I just kept telling Sadie why she can't just wander off like that. She proceeded to tell all the kids in the neighborhood who had gathered around about her experience, still not telling it with much fear in her voice but rather with a bit of pride (a problem I'm not quite sure how to combat!) So by the time Matt and Wyatt got home and I told them the entire story, they were sparred of any of the emotions I had endured during that time.
Matt and I laid in bed that night, amazed at the difference in personality of our first two kids.......Wyatt is still very reluctant to play in our yard without Matt or I outside and Sadie had no problem taking off on her own to try and catch Matt and Wyatt. With Wyatt, I have never mentioned anything about someone taking him because he would never leave my side if I did. Sadie, on the other hand, still isn't too afraid of being taken as I think she thinks it would be some fun adventure! YIKES!!!