“I did it!”

Six letters total to form three very small, very simple words, to create one of the shortest sentences in history, but when is the last time you uttered them together in a sentence?

“I did it.”

I’m spending a couple weeks with my two-year-old grandson and I’m hearing this phrase all over the place. It never gets old.

“I did it.”

Apparently when you are two, this is a common phenomenon: doing things and exclaiming your own accomplishments for all the world to hear.

You climb the stairs by yourself. “I did it.”

You crawl up onto the big bed. “I did it.”

You brush your teeth. “I did it.”

You pull the wagon. You put something into the garbage. You take your shoes off. You put them back on. You find your milk cup. You brush your own hair. 

Every action is a success and cause for celebration.

“I did it!”

It’s a powerful phrase. He may be describing a small feat — like finding his favorite stuffed animal, but these three simple words actually say much more. 

They acknowledge that he is conquering his environment. He is learning new things. He is accomplishing today what he couldn’t do yesterday. He is challenging himself and he is succeeding. And with each victory, he extolls his achievements. He takes ownership of each one.

“I did it.”

With every utterance of this phrase, I see glory in his eyes. His smile is infectious. He is winning at this thing called life and he is liking it. No, he is loving it.

And I love watching him. And hearing him.

“I did it.”

He did it. He is doing it, and you know what else?

So are we. All of us. We are doing it.

Problem is, we’ve just forgotten, over the years, that every “it” is worth celebrating.

A couple of weeks ago I planted a garden. (I did it!) 

Yesterday was my late husband’s birthday and planting anything seemed monumental. Still, I did manage to do a load of laundry.

I did it. 

Planting a garden is a pretty big thing. And maybe a pretty big thing is too big an “it” to accomplish every day. Maybe some days are load-of-laundry days. Maybe even that’s too big sometimes. 

Maybe your “it” doesn’t seem so substantial. Never mind that, you did it.

Did you get out of bed today? 

You did it.

Make supper? Eat supper. Wash the dishes. 

Take a shower. Brush your teeth. 

You did it.

Breathing in and out. You are doing it. 

Whatever you did to day? Whatever you managed to do today?

You did it.

And as big as that may have been, or as small as that may have been — it doesn’t matter.

You did it.

My two-year-old grandson doesn’t worry about what other two-year-olds are doing. Walking. Running. Hopping. Skipping. Climbing the stairs.

He simply and inherently celebrates his own victories — however large or small they may be.

As should we all. Day by day. Moment by moment. We are all doing “it” the best way we know how.

I wrote this column. I did it! 

You read this column. You did it!

I say we celebrate together. 

Let’s do it!

— Jill Pertler’s column Slices of Life appears regularly in the Times. She can be reached at slicescolumn@gmail.com.