Paul's Update - 01/06/07

Dear Friends:

Dad had a busy day working with Paul. He did more exercises and standing. Max kept Pap-Paw on the run ... he crawls all over the place now. He has to be watched carefully since he has discovered that there are many interesting things on the floor that he can get to! Paul says more things on his own all the time. Whenever he says something I am amazed that he is forming thoughts enough to communicate words to us. It isn't much but I thing we can be hopeful for lots more over the next few months. Tabby worked on the alphabet again on Friday and he can do almost all the letters. He still has trouble with 3 or 4 of them but sometimes if you back up to the letter before the one he is having trouble with and do it again ... he can get the letter he was having trouble with! Tabby came home from work very happy. She was offered another job that will pay her significantly more income than she is currently making. She likes her current job but she really NEEDS more income. It looks like she will be changing jobs in the next couple of weeks. Sadly she won't be working with Carolyn anymore but it is a good job offer and she is excited. Saturday was Dad's day to sleep in. He was still home at 8am but had been awake since about 5:30am (when he normally gets up to go to Paul's). Tabby had errands to run this morning. She went to Starbucks for a bit then did some grocery shopping ... then went to gather wood in Billy & Carolyn's yard. The have a heavily wooded lot and Tabby has an outside fire pit that they like to have going in the backyard. Free wood is good!! Tabby got home in time for Dad & me to go to the Mexican Restaurant with Bill, Ronda and Jessie. We always enjoy this outing with our friends!! Paul was able to say "hi" to Jessie when she came in and then he said "I am good" when she asked how he was. Tonight Tabby was holding up her fingers and asking him to count. She started by holding up one finger and saying "one" ... then HE said "two" and "three"!! He copied a few more numbers then when she held up 6 fingers she asked "how many is this" and he said "ou" ... this usually means he doesn't know how to say what we want him to say ... so she said "six" and then held up seven fingers at which time HE said "seven" and then "eight"!!! Tabby was going to go back through the numbers again and she said "OK ... ready to count?" and Paul said "zero"!! We've never told him how to say any of these things!! Later when Dad had him up to go to the bathroom he decided he wasn't ready to get back in bed so he laid across the bed and started exercising his legs. Dad asked him if he wanted to exercise and he nodded "yes" so they worked on some leg lifts and stomach crunches. It is amazing that Paul has done so well these last couple of weeks. We are so thankful. Since we've always known it would take a long time for him to recover we try not to expect too much at a time but it is so wonderful when we see such improvement. It shows how wonderful God is ... he blesses us with these things just when we need it most!!

Have a great day! Lynne & Carl

Here is a link to some photos that I took on New Year's Eve