“I already did it! I already said it!”

Lately Ella has been adamant that once she has done something she’s not going to do it again or once she’s said something she isn’t going to say it again. For example, we’ll ask Ella to repeat a word that she’s learning for the first time, and she doesn’t want to repeat it because she thinks she’s already said it correctly. The words “I already did it!” and “I already said it!” are commonplace around our house lately.

 

I’ll admit that her attitude has been a bit frustrating to me. I have to remind myself that she is only 2 1/2, and she has so much to learn. It occurred to me that one of the reasons she probably says those things so often to me is because I say them to her. When I tell her for the fifth time to put her shoes on (it is absolutely great that she can do this now, by the way!), I know that I tell her something along the lines of “I already told you to put your shoes on.” Or when she asks for the tenth time in a five minute span what I am doing, I know that I respond with, “I already told you what I am doing.”

I need to have patience with her. I’ve said it before, and I know that as my children get older, I’ll only say and think it more often, but raising children is hard work. I have to be patient, yet firm and steadfast. I have to let her know that I mean business when I tell her to do something, and that it is important for her to obey me, but I have to show her that with a loving and caring attitude. I have to remember that there are times she’ll need to be reminded to do things more than once. After all, don’t we all need to be reminded of things at times? I am humbled when I think of the many things that God reminds us of over and over again in His Word. I am so thankful that God has left us His Word to guide us as Psalm 119:105 states: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.”