Part-time Boy

So, we have a part-time 4 year old. I'll call him Bob. He's very cute, and very "country". I met him for about an hour one afternoon. Then we had him for a day. This past weekend was our first chance to have him overnight. And we did it with style.

Friday night my 14-year old and I had to work at a dinner at church, so we took Bob with us. Apparently, he had never been in church. So his behavior was quite precious. He asked if this is where God lives. When we told him that it was indeed God's house, he called out for God, "God? Where are you?"

Later, when he saw the microphones on the stage, he asked if God was going to sing tonight. When we prayed, he told me to "Wake up." And then he asked if God liked children. When I told him that He did, Bob replied, "I love Him!" Too cute.

As the night was drawing to a close, Bob decided that he didn't want to stay overnight. I knew this might be an issue. He got tears in his eyes and said that he wanted to go home. He threw up. I was pretty sure it was due to nerves, although by the fourth bout, I was wondering if we should let him go home (though I knew if we could just get through the night it would make the next time that much easier). I did call there twice (they said they were going to be home and that we could bring him home if there were problems), but there was no answer. Needless to say, he made it through the night. And when he woke up on Saturday, he was so proud of himself for making it through the night.

We took "our girl" to work and visited the doggies. Bob played with Eric and they did some jumping in the leaves. Then I took Bob swimming. I had purchased some swim trunks on clearance at Wal-Mart ($1/each) at the end of the summer in multiple sizes. Bob had worn the 4Ts to bed on Saturday night, 'cause he forgot his pajama pants. But when it was time to go swimming, it was clear that he wasnt' going to make it in those. The next smaller size I had, however, was 24 months. But guess what? They fit perfectly. So that's what he wore.

I don't think this little guy has ever gone swimming in a real pool before. I took him in the small therapy pool (which is heated and shallow). He could just barely touch the bottom, but preferred to cling to me instead. We did get him to practice kicking his legs without bending his knees and also to blow bubbles in the water. He even tried a lifejacket for a short while. He had trouble walking around the pool, but even that improved as the time went on.

So we had a good weekend with him. He's full of energy and cute. He should be back in two weeks :)