And the visuals went out the window.

The kids are off of school next Monday and Tuesday for conferences. Y is going to be at a friend's house the entire time. That leaves it just J and I. He's absolutely thrilled about it. He gets me all to himself for four days. He loves these mother/son days. I wish he had father/son days but that's an ugly issue all onto itself.

We were out and about all evening, until around 9:00. Here was our evening itinerary (sp?):

-go with Y to her therapy.
-drop Y of at her friend's house.
-go to Toys "R" Us to look at Imaginext, Bionicles, dinosaur, and Star Wars toys.
-go to Perkins for dinner.
-go to Home Depot to buy a storm door, paint for the basement, energy saving light bulbs, and new thermostat.
-go to Petsmart to look at the animals (and see a gorgeous black cat I wanted to bring home with me so badly! We're only allowed two pets in the townhomes we live in so I couldn't do it. *cries*)
-go to Target to buy a new heater for the basement. It's always cold down there.
-go to Walgreen's to get J's prescriptions.
-go home.

That's a lot of running around going different places. It also means a lot of transitions for J and the potential for overload and a meltdown. With an evening this full I'd have a social story ready to read before we left and he'd have his "travel" book handy and ready to set up for the duration. This is a book full of visuals cues for when we go places. And normally I wouldn't have a list of errands this long and full. It would be divided into a two or three day process.

Well, tonight we got it all done and I can to say it was accomplished with hardly any problems. J got a little impatient in Perkins waiting for our food and did some stimming in Home Depot and again in Target. But beyond that he was great! He was able to go through a very full and busy evening and keep it together.

Here's the clincher. He did it without the social story or his "travel" book!

Y was running behind, as usual, and knowing she had to be a therapy by 4:00 both J and I were on her case to get her butt in gear. So we both forgot about the social story and J forgot his "travel" book on the couch.

I realized it when we were at Y's therapy and was going to run home and get it. J looked at me and said, "Mom, I don't need it."

I looked at him like, "Are you crazy? You always use it when we go somewhere."

He said, "I don't. Just tell me where we're going to go."

So I did, slowly and carefully naming off each place. I watched J and could almost see him processing and filing away the information in his head, setting up a schedule.

He then asked, "Can we go to Toys "R" Us before Perkins?"

I originally said no but he had asked so nicely that I said yes. This made him very happy.

So we went on with the evening schedule and proceeded in the order above. Petsmart shares a parking lot with Home Depot and J asked if we could go in there after buying the stuff we need for the house. Again, I told him yes. And again he was very happy.

We then went inside Walgreen's and he stayed in the toy aisle while I got his prescriptions. Then we went home and had a relaxing rest of the evening.

I was so impressed by how well the evening went and how well J behaved and kept himself under control. Looking back I can see why it went so well. We took various turns doing things that he wanted to do and things I wanted or needed to do.

-go to Toys "R" Us to look at Imaginext, Bionicles, dinosaur, and Star Wars toys. J wanted to do.
-go to Perkins for dinner. I wanted to do.
-go to Home Depot to buy a storm door, paint for the basement, energy saving light bulbs, and new thermostat. I needed to do.
-go to Petsmart to look at the animals J wanted to do.
-go to Target to buy a new heater for the basement. It's always cold down there. I needed to do.
-go to Walgreen's to get J's prescriptions. J wanted to go to the toy aisle.

After I had done my errand we went to a place he wanted to go. While there he was able to relax and enjoy himself and regroup. He was looking at things he liked and I think it made the time he spent with me while I did my things easier. After each of my errands he had something to look forward to.

And while in the car he kept repeating to me the errands schedule, reminding both of us where we were going. And then adding in the extra stop when I agreed to it.

This was the first time he's ever gone without his "travel" book and he did so well. This was also the first time he was able to make it through such a full errands schedule. Dividing our time between my errands and the places he wanted to go really helped.

I plan on keeping the social stories and "travel" book around; who knows how next time is going to go. But this could be the start of something new for us.

After we got home J was playing around with my camera again. I had to post this picture he took of his stuffed meerkat. "A little too much partying in the manor," he said, referring to Meerkat Manor, one of his favorite shows. I thought it was cute.