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This is what life with no magic means: when things break, you can't instantly make them like new again. Sometimes you can't fix them very well. Sometimes you can't fix them at all.
The first time Ponyo realized that, she was kneeling on the floor over the pieces of a porcelain dish that insisted on remaining broken, about to cry in frustration. Lisa managed to pry the fragments away from her before she managed to cut herself, insisting that it was all right, really, it wasn't a big deal and they could buy more dishes later.
But that wasn't the point. It was this big revelation, this overwhelmingly distressing thing, that Ponyo couldn't even start to explain.
(After all, words were still new to her.)
So Ponyo became very careful with things, the better to avoid breaking them in the first place.
She never stopped going too fast, even in these days when her energy keeps diminishing as everyone else's does when they grow. She may not run and jump from one point to another, but she does have a stride that leaves most other people behind if they're not careful.
So you may see how it never was too easy for her to be careful. And that's without getting into the first time she got sick, when she would refuse to stay in bed and someone -first Lisa, then Sousuke- had to be around to make sure she wouldn't get up, until she fell asleep in sheer exhaustion.
And that's still nothing compared to what happened when Ponyo grew older and started to truly understand what are the consequences of your actions, and why even magic can't solve everything. She felt guilty about almost destroying the planet. She felt relieved about not having any magic anymore. She grew concerned about global warming and the effects of pollution on sea life. She obsessed over news on the subject, and wondered every time where would her sisters be, if they would be all right. Then she got so worried she started avoiding the news altogether.
There's only so much worry one single person can hold at once.
So Ponyo stopped worrying so much about most things. Objects. Appliances. That kind of stuff. If it got broke, it was broke.
Now she only worried about people. People were a lot more important, and couldn't be replaced. Not even all the magic in the world could do that. She was all over Sousuke for quite some time, right at the age when other kids start noticing that and getting to conclusions. That couldn't be easy for him either.
She still goes too fast, except when she's walking with Sousuke and holds his hand just daring at everything to come get them (so he won't get tired) and tries to be up to date with what happens to her sisters (which is harder than it sounds when you can't speak fish anymore).