Wednesday's Winning Words

Today's winning words post is more about a new habit Justus has, rather than one individual conversation.  I'm hoping that it is an age-appropriate thing and he will grow out of it.  Otherwise, he's going to be "that guy" and let's just say, mama ain't gonna let that happen.

So, it goes something like this (examples are ficticious because I can't recall any specifically off the top of my head):

Me:  Hey, let's read this book tonight, Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm.
Justus:  I knew you were going to pick that book.  That's the book I wanted you to pick, so I knew you would pick it. (Note--there are about 100 books in Justus' book shelf to choose from.  There's NO way he knew which one I would pick).

OR this

Justus playing in his room in the morning, not at all aware of me standing there...

Me: ahem, shouldn't you be making your bed and brushing your teeth.
Justus:  I was just about to come tell you that, that I was making my bed and brushing my teeth.

OR

Justus:  What is that, mommy?
As soon as I tell him...he says, "I knew that, that's what I was trying to tell you."  Really?!

These are probably not very good examples, but everything lately with him is "I knew that" or "I told you that" when he didn't.  At all.

I fear that without redirection, he may become the know-it-all or one-upper.  How does one curb these tendencies?  We touched on the fact that when he says he knew that or he was trying to tell us that when he wasn't is actually lying.  While that is true, I feel like that's kind of strong response to a kiddo who seemingly is just trying to exert a little I-can-keep-up-with-the-big-kids behavior.

I'm open to suggestions or similar stories of others around that age doing the same thing.