Paul's Update - 05/24/07

Dear Friends:

Sorry I've fallen behind a bit. Not a lot of new stuff to report. Tuesday was therapy day. Paul did well for Cathy. He walked the length of the therapy room. She had him push a table that was waist high and walk with it. He did pretty good. He didn't want to get on his knees on the floor but she finally got him over on his knees and had him lean over the exercise ball. Once he was in position she had him balance on the ball and play War with cards. He does pretty good at this game. He can tell you who won most of the time. He tired out pretty easily and wasn't cooperative once he was tired. Later in the day the speech therapist came to the house. She bought a toy shopping basket that had plastic foods in it. She had Paul identify the foods. Then she had him lay them out on his lap desk. Once there was about seven of them on the desk she asked him to hand them to her one by one. He didn't get all of them right but got most right with some prompting. He actually got about 3 of them right without any help. Then she had him count them as she handed them to him and then he had to count them again when he gave them back to her. She worked with him for an hour. Wednesday was a pretty quiet day. He told Dad that it was "third-day". Dad had prompted him by saying that yesterday was Tuesday. Since we started teaching him the days of the week by using fingers 1-Monday, 2-Tuesday, 3-Wednesday ... etc, sometimes he gets the days confused with numbers. Paul felt pretty good and was able to walk pretty good. He is using the walker with wheels most of the time now. He occasionally loses his balance but Dad is right there to help when that happens. He seems to enjoy eating his meals in the living room lately. Ronda brought dinner and he sat in the living room while we sat at the dining room table. He joined us outside on the deck after dinner and stayed out there during our bible study. He enjoys participating with us. Max was at our house for a couple of hours in the evening so Tabby could run some errands. He was getting tired and cranky so Pap-Paw took him in the house to play. Bible study was over around 9pm and Paul was ready for bed before 10pm. He wanted to stay up but he was falling asleep in front of the TV. Thursday was another good day. Usually he has Physical Therapy on Thursday but Cathy is not there since her son is having surgery. She will be gone for two weeks and Dad decided to wait until she comes back to resume therapy. It doesn't make sense to work with a substitute since Paul doesn't do well with new therapists. Cousin Tony came by for a little visit this afternoon. Paul walked quite a bit and even got in a hurry at one point, Dad had to slow him down!! At dinner I asked him if he wanted to eat in the dining room or living room. He said (as he pointed) "you bring here"!! He created a sentence without ANY help! I was amazed and pleased!! Wouldn't it be great if he started doing this more and more? After dinner I went out. Paul and Dad sat out on the deck for a while. It was a beautiful night. Paul didn't want his coffee but sat out there anyway. He came back in around 8:30pm and watched American Chopper on TV. He was tired and ready for bed about 9:30. Paul seemed more cooperative today. It is so much easier when he cooperates!

Have a great (holiday) weekend!! Lynne & Carl