Today's scenario- I was getting the Wee Ladies dressed to leave the office. I asked Spark Plug to come over to me to get her coat on. She did just that. As she was standing right in front of me, practically on my toes, I said, "Please come here and get your coat on!"

The lady sitting beside us blurted, "But she is 'here'. She is standing right there in front of you!" And she laughed. She proceeded to tell me about all the times she used to say the same things to her daughters. Things like, "Come here, Julie! We need to go now!" Her other daughter would say, "Mom, Julie is right in front of you. You don't need to keep telling her to come over there. She is there!"

It is like telling EvieG to buckle up in the car 40 million times before I put The Guzzler in drive. She buckled up after the 5th time I asked. I-am-on-autopilot. I get into the groove with a mission in mind to get the Wee Ladies organized and prepared for departure or asking them to get things done. And they get so annoyed with the record-repeat.

We will be walking and I will state in multiple layers, one after the other, "Come on! Stay with Mommy! Hey! Hurry on! Come on!....." and over again, in that order. And they are with me. In fact, they are only about two steps away from me. What do I think they are going to do if I turn off the repeat-mode? Run out onto the street in front of a bus? Jump into the fast flowing stream to our left? Really, I mean is it that necessary for me to be repeating myself like I have completely lost my mind and need to use my outer-monologue for fear of losing my train of thought or the task at hand?

The classic for me is the old, "Come on! Get dressed! You have school! Are you getting dressed?" This drives EvieG nuts. "Moooommmm! I am!" she will moan. It is like I think my power-pellet-repeat is going to get her to dress faster. In fact, I think it does the opposite. It distracts her and irritates her to the point of where my 5 year old is rolling her eyes at me.

I think the stranger in the doctor's office did her good deed for the day. She made me realize that I am in such a pattern of repeating myself that I don't even hear what I am saying anymore. She totally called me on it. And not in a snitty way. In a humourous way because we had a good chuckle about all the things we say but don't hear.

I am going to try and listen a little better.

I wonder how many times I say, "Shhhhhhhh!" in a day. Maybe I should start a tally. Just like I did with how many times I said, "Just a minute!"

All's I'm sayin's all.