3 whole hours...

Today was a beautiful day outside, very nice for a visit with our friend Charlie. We arrived at the safe home to pick him up for lunch and he ran to greet us saying, "My friends are here". He also got his hair cut today. Looks very nice!
We all hopped in the car...him in to the new booster seat we bought for him..who knew...and headed to Friendly's for lunch. We figured what better place to stimulate a kid and see how he does. Happy to report he did great. He ate all of his Grilled Cheese and Applesauce...sometimes dipping one into the other. He told us he never wanted another cucumber AGAIN, meaning his pickles...which Bev happily ate for him. Each time she ate one he gasped with disbelief and crinkled his nose at her!
For the past 2 days he has stayed dry in his pull ups, telling the safe home staff when he needs to pee. He did the same with us today, and went on the toilet at Friendly's.
After he ate, we had some ice cream...I am telling you we were at Friendly's for over an hour and we just chatted, colored and ate happily.
Then we went to the playground near by. We were all for pumpkin picking but never got around to it. There were a slew of kids on the playground, a lot Charlie's age so it was a good test for him. We talked to him on the way there about how some kids like to play by themselves and other kids like to play together so it is best to ask first. Well as soon as we turned the corner into the yard, he was yelling, "DO YOU WANT TO PLAY WITH ME?". Most of the kids were very friendly and he played appropriately. He really only had to be redirected when he saw another kid's toy...because he went RIGHT for it. But he moved on easily when we told him 'no'.
He got enthralled and worked up playing and pooped in his pull up! That was a treat. He didn't want to go change it but we did and MAN was that a lesson learned. 4 year olds poop MUCH more than babies! But we survived and he got a new pull up on and back to the playground he went. When it was time to go he gave us some difficulty but eventually came as we started walking out of the playground. On the way back to the safe home he sat in the back seat sucking his thumb "resting". He was a tired boy..as were we!
So here is our plan....Wednesday another visit, likely to the library and maybe dinner with him at the safe home. Saturday we are camping so we are going to pick him up and let him spend the day with us at the campground! If all continues to go well, the first overnight is planned for the weekend of the 24th. We are a tad overwhelmed and nervous but just taking it one step at a time!
Until then...