Monday we spent an hour at the pool, playing, but also "practicing" his beginner swimming skills.  Tuesday was his swim class.  In talking to another mom there I got a recommendation for some early readers, so I put one on my reserve list at the library and will let you know if I like them.

S finished the last of the ten books he had to read for the library's summer reading program.  I liked their checklist...after the space for the title of each book it had a smiley face, a neutral face and a sad face.  Samuel had to circle the face that described how much he liked each book.  He is only supposed to fill out one list, but I think I may snag a couple more just for our records and not to turn in for prizes.  He read a book Monday and Tuesday. 

Last year he began an alphabet book that was a series of worksheets for each letter with a picture to color, so cut and paste shapes and two lines for practicing the upper case and lower case letter.  In our review of this "book" a few weeks ago, we noticed that "k" was missing, so he did that this week.  He is a perfectionist (read "slow") so it took him two days to finish, one day for the color, cut and paste and the second day for the writing.

Another writing activity involved copying "Happy Father's Day Love Samuel" onto his dad's card he made.  We hd the beginning of a melt-down on that one because he didn't like how it was looking and his "r" looked like an "n" and he didn't have enough space...you name it. 

He is such a little perfectionist and he is sometimes afraid to try if he thinks he cant' do it perfectly.  I have told him that "practice makes perfect" and that I will just be proud of him if he tries and does his best, and that his "best" doesn't have to be the same as Mommy's best, and many other variations of encouragement and explanation.  I want to pull out my hair sometimes because I have never been a perfectionist, but a "good enough" person.  I am good at a lot of things, but not great at any one thing as a result of my attitude.  But I really need to find a way of helping him deal with his way of thinking that doesn't result in temper tantrums.  Any ideas?