Repetition is the mother of learning...or insanity

Some things about motherhood are very repetitive. Do kids get sick of hearing many of the same things over and over, because I sure get sick of saying the same things over and over. Kelly M. wrote about this inevitable symptom of motherhood, and said she felt like a doll with a string in her back. When someone pulls the string, out comes what may as well be a pre-recorded response. Here’s a sampling of my most common ones:

1. Just a minute
2. Just one more minute
3. I’m almost done
4. Please put on your shoes, Sage.
5. We don’t throw food, Eliza.
6. Where’s Liza Lu?
7. Have you wiped yet, Sage?
8. Then go back to the bathroom, please.
9. Have you washed your hands, Sage?
10. Then go back to the bathroom, please.
11. [Aunt] Krista’s just teasing you, Sage.
12. I love it how you share with Eliza, Sage. [Actually, I just practice saying this one a lot, so I'll be ready when the time actually comes for me to say it.]
    
13. We don’t pull Sage’s hair.
14. We don't pick Eliza up.
15. Jacob, we don't put remotes/pencils/flashlights/cell phones in the VCR.
16. Let's go get in the stroller/car.
17. We're almost there.
    
18. I love my cute girls.
19. I...love...YOU!

Obviously kids can keep up their fair share of repetition. I just downloaded some of Danielle’s pictures from our trip to Southern Utah, and one of the most often-repeated daily cycle of events was captured clearly on film.

1. Sage and Jacob [or Eliza] play happily together.


2. Jacob pulls Sage's hair. Sometimes he does this out of boredom, sometimes out of curiosity, sometimes because her hair got in his face and bothered him.


3. Jacob gets a time out. [Sometimes Sage, too, depending on whether or not the moms were able to break the kids up before Sage initiates vigilante justice.]



4. The sweet taste of justice for Sage is lessened by the rapid arrival of boredom. Sage takes the side of mercy, and pleads for Jacob's release.



5. The friends are reunited with joy--as if they had been apart a long time--and play together happily. (Until the next round starts.) And for a few minutes, life is very, very sweet.


So, repetition is the mother of learning...or, as wise Kelly M. says, "Motherhood is the learning of repetition."