"It's okay to make a mistake"

A week or so ago Joel and I were studying for his geography test. He took a practice test and concluded that the Arctic Ocean was near Antartica because the two words sounded so similar. When I told him that despite his good reasoning the Arctic Ocean was near the North Pole he flipped out because he had made a mistake. I told him it was okay to make mistakes but he was inconsolable. I felt so bad. Finally I said a little prayer outloud asking Heavenly Father to help Joel know it was okay to make mistakes. After hearing that he started to calm down and was okay. Then a couple of days ago when I was making sugar cookies, I flipped out a little myself when all of the cats' heads kept falling off. "Mom," I hear from a little voice in the living room, "It's okay to make mistakes." Such a full circle moment, and I know he gets it. He doesn't have to be perfect.

Today when I got up Joel had three shirts on. I actually thought it was two and I asked him to take one off. When he did I noticed there were still two more. When I asked him why he put three shirts on he said, "Because yesterday was the 30th day of school and 30 is three tens." I love that boy.