Maya's Next Step

Part 75

Carina POV

"Elva wait for us," I called out, stopping an excited six year old from running too far ahead.

She turned and rushed back over to us and took hold of my hand.

"Hurry mama, we can't be late," she wined, pulling on my hand to try and get me to walk faster.

"Wow bambina, calm down," I chuckled, watching her try to drag me down the street.

She frowned.

"There's no rush Elvie, we'll be there in five minutes," Maya told her calmly.

"She's got your determination," Katherine smiled, nodding her head towards Maya.

"Let's hope she doesn't inherit the stubbornness too," I smirked, lacing the fingers of my free hand through Maya's.

"Hey," she frowned.

"Kidding, I love it," I laughed.

"Mama let's go," Elva wined, pulling on my arm.

"Bambina we are going," I said, concealing my laugh.

We reached the end of the street and Elva was about to carry on rushing ahead.

"Ahhh ahh Elva!" Maya called out seriously, putting her arm out in front of Elva to prevent her walking straight out into the road.

"Bambina you know that's not safe," I said, warning in my voice.

She looked down sadly, lightly kicking her shoe on the ground.

I released Maya's hand and moved to pick Elva up while we waited until it was safe to cross.

"I know you're excited bambina but we always need to be careful by cars and roads," I whispered to her, remembering that it's better to praise in public and punish in private with children.

She nodded and calmly rested her head on my shoulder.

"Shh good girl," I said softly, kissing the top of her head.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the park and began to walk towards the playground where Maya had arranged to meet Molly and her mom.

"She's there," Elva said, lifting her head back up and full of energy again.

"Down mama," she said, wriggling around in my arms.

I let her down and smiled as the three of us stood and happily watched her run over to her friend. Molly had also spotted Elva and had begun to run towards her.

Katherine, Maya and I continued to make our way over to the playground.

"Hi, it's nice to finally meet you in person, I'm Lauren," Molly's mom introduced.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Maya and this is Carina, Elva's mama. This is my mom Katherine," Maya said happily making the introduction for everyone.

"Shall we find somewhere to sit?" I suggested.

"Great idea, this little one's getting restless," Lauren smiled, gesturing to the baby boy in the pram beside her.

"There's a picnic table over there," Katherine pointed out.

"It's by the playground so we can see the girls," she added.

We agreed and made our way over after showing the girls where we would be.

The two of them entered the play area and headed straight for the climbing frame. When we sat down, Lauren unclipped the baby and lifted him out of the pram, settling him on her knee.