A Little Life Back In Independent Mommy

As my girls grow older, they play together more.  They also fight and argue more but from time to time, I notice I get about a ten minute stretch  when I can actually finish a task without being interrupted or having to stop to go see whose fort is being attacked or who said someone else was a poo-poo-head.  As much as I love my cute little girls, it's nice that they are getting older and can manage being left for a few minutes without my eyes directly on them.
We have a toy room upstairs near our movie room.  The girls will go up and play in the toy room most afternoons and I"ll either stay with them or go try to get something done elsewhere on the top floor. Going downstairs is usually a waste of time because I just find myself sprinting back and forth breaking up fights or a meandering Lucy will come and find me.  Yesterday, I had the great idea of trying to catch up on one of the shows I had on the DVR while the girls were playing. So I went into the movie room and started watching it.  I got rather engrossed and then suddenly realized I hadn't heard a word from either of my children in a while.  I had lost track of time so I didn't know if it had  been two minutes or twenty.  I went running into the toy room to see if they were okay and they were sitting on the couch watching a cartoon, perfectly still  and content.  I was shocked. That never happens!  And of course it ended because I had entered the room and suddenly everyone needed something.  If only I had been a little more stealthy. . . .
But it got me thinking of all the possibilities having older children brings!  It hadn't even crossed my mind that someday I might actually be able to go do whatever I want for more than thirty minutes, while both of my children are awake and in the same house. It's an amazing idea, almost too wonderful to be true!
Brian and I have watched a lot of Seinfeld over the years and we really like an episode where George gets angry that his girlfriend Susan is becoming friends with Elaine.  He says she is, "killing Independent George."  One day, out of frustration, I told him that Imma was, "killing Independent Mommy."  It's kind of become a joke in our house over the years. I am looking forward to reviving Independent Mommy and the idea that my children might actually learn to play well together--or separately for that matter--is quite appealing!
If you have older children, what age were they when they became more independent? If you have smaller children, how do you manage to supervise their play and still get everything done you have to do?

This is one of my favorite pictures of my girls playing together.