They really are five years old

Today the girls and I went to the park after I picked them up from preschool.  It was a beautiful spring day, even a little on the warm side.  The minute we got to the playground they went off to do their thing and I went to sit down on a bench.  About ten minutes later I noticed they had both attained swings and were just getting started, pumping their legs back and forth as well as throwing their bodies forward and backward to create momentum.  I smiled as I watched them for two reasons.  Presley mastered the skill of swinging on her own a little earlier than her sister and was very proud of herself.  It made Avery want to be able to do it right away too.  However, it turned out she had to learn patience and the art of practicing first.  She got pretty frustrated with it a couple times, even resulting in tears and plenty of grumpiness.  However, one day something clicked and she was starting by herself and swinging as high as Presley in no time.  So, as I watched her today, I was happy to know Avery had experienced how persistance and practice does pay off.  What a great lesson to have learned!  The other reason I smiled was that I realized it was the first time I was actually watching them go to the swings, get on themselves and go, without running over to me and asking for help.  It really made me think about how old and capable they are and how even something so small as swinging on their own demonstrates a great deal of independence.
Which leads me to my next story...one that happened a few days ago.  And I guess I need to introduce the story by saying that in the last year or so, I have slowly been trusting my kids to go outside and play without supervision.  They stay in our yard, the cul-de-sac and neighbor's yards, and when the weather and lack of rain permit, Caleb especially loves to go into the wooded area behind the houses.  The girls usually run over to Julie's swingset in her backyard, unless they are playing with someone else, and then they may roam around and play in other yards.  I can stay inside and get things done while every once in a while going to check on them.  Sometimes something happens, and I'll hear a crying girl approaching the front door, or even have a neighbor carry a crying person to me, but for the most part, they are all just fine.
Well, the other day I was getting ready to take the dog out on his leash for a few minutes and I remember seeing the girls by the front door, also putting their flip flops on to go out.  I turned around to go back into the kitchen to do something and was in there for a few minutes.  When I did open the door to go out, I expected them to be right there in the yard or maybe making their way across the cul-de-sac to the swingset, but they weren't.  I couldn't hear them at all and thought that was strange, so I walked around the house and peered into the other yards.  No girls.  Then I thought maybe I hadn't actually seen or heard them go outside, so I went back inside and called for them.  No girls.  So, back outside I went, this time jogging over to the swingset, jogging back over to our yard, starting to yell for them.  No answer, no girls.  This was really weird and not like them.  I thought maybe they were hiding from me, so I started yelling about how I was worried about them and wanted them to tell me where they were, NOW.  I even went inside again and tried that while also looking in different places I thought they might be hiding.  By this time my heart had started to beat faster and I was very anxious.  I picked up my phone to call Aaron while I went outside again and was now running through yards and screaming their names.  The only thing I could think of was that someone had driven up and put them in their car, and at the same time I was thinking how absurd that was and that of course they are here somewhere and any minute I'm going to find them.  So, as I continued to run and my voice got louder each time I yelled, it dawned on me that the next thing I needed to do was call the police.  It was then that I looked down the street and there they were, rounding the corner and coming up the sidewalk.  No, I hadn't gone all the way down the street to the corner because they don't usually go that far of course.  They saw the look on my face and my shoulders heaving up and down and knew they had done something terrible.  The tears started flowing down my face as relief and then anger rushed over me.  I turned around and walked inside trying to stay calm but deciding I would let them see me cry.  They tried to explain why they had gone way down and around the corner and I told them how worried I was and asked them over and over again why they hadn't heard me and come when I was yelling their names...
Anyway, the overall point of this story is not how naughty they were and how worried I was for a few scary minutes, but that they understood and felt my panic and were very sorry they had put me through something like that.  Their little faces just looked at mine as I went on and on and the tears came and I wiped them away and then gave them a hug.  Avery almost started crying herself, and the minute I had finished, Presley whispered in Avery's ear about going upstairs to do something.  A few minutes later they came down and gave me these:

They really are five years old.  They are independent and very capable of walking down the sidewalk and going around the corner.  They are also old enough now to understand how their actions can impact someone else and how if you say you're sorry and make up for your actions by doing something nice, it makes it all okay :)