Paul's Update - 01/28/07

Dear Friends:

Dad slept in again today. We went to breakfast with Bill & Ronda then Dad went to Paul's. He got Max ready and took him to church. He did really good this week and played with the children in the nursery. After church Dad headed back to Paul's and I took Alysa (our granddaughter) home with me after we took a trip to McDonalds to get lunch. Paul had been doing some exercises this morning. He was exercising his arms by doing a "punching" action ... kind of like Tae-Bo. It encourages him to reach out as far as his arms will let him. He still has a lot of stiffness in the elbow that doesn't allow him to straighten his arms all the way out. Today Paul had less trouble with names. He was able to say "Carolyn", "Tabitha", "Mom", "Dad", "Bobby", "Munchie" (the cat), "Ozzie" (the dog) and "Maxwell". Tabby also worked on the parts of the face. He can point to his eyes, nose, chin, cheeks, ears and forehead by copying Tabby. They also did exercising with his eyebrows ... up, down and one up the other down. He also did the hand signs (the vulcan sign). She tried to get him to exercise his mouth and tongue. He was able to make mouth movement to make sounds but not without sound. This evening I was getting his dinner tray ready and asked him if it was OK and he said "OK". Paul gets his medicines at 9pm and he gets pretty tired within about 20 minutes. While Tabby, Dad & Paul were watching a movie Paul used his elbow to get Tabby's attention and she asked him if he needed something. It sounded like he said "yell" which we took to mean yes. He was able to walk with assistance to the bathroom although he was pretty tired. Paul has had a pretty busy and a very good weekend.

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl