From my perspective where I am dealing with an AH who claims to be sober and did all 12 steps in one month, and is still selfish, cold, and mean...
it sounds like your AH is on the right track, good for him!!! and good for you and kids too, but you're right, take it slow and be cautious...
The kindness and compassion he is showing is amazing, I've yet to see anything even close to that, so congrats on being able to see a real person sitting across from you at the table, what a great, and probably scary, feeling that must have been!