Wow, what difference a day makes!

(pasted from CaringBridge)

In the morning, Paul was able to tell the doctors his name, and respond to commands in a more definitive manner. When the doctor told Paul that Hal was on his left, he turned to look at him. And when the doctors asked if it would be okay to put an intravenous line in, he said no. At one point, he said "Out!", which is what Kayla used to say when she wanted out of the jogging stroller ;-)
When I arrived around noon, he was once again awake and the nurse was asking questions. He was able to say his name, where he was, and the year. He also was able to put up 2 fingers on each hand, wiggle toes, and squeeze the nurses hand.
When the nurse was done, I went to his side and started talking to him. He told me he couldn't hear me, so I talked louder. At one point, he asked me to kiss him, so I knew he was feeling a lot better!
Throughout the day, he continued to engage in conversation in between periods of rest. He was shocked when I told him he'd been there for 6 days, then asked me what was broken. After I listed all of his broken bones, he said something that can't be repeated in this forum ;-)
At around 3pm, I asked him if he'd like to see the girls, and he gave me an emphatic YES! I immediately called the people who had picked them up from camp, and they brought the kids to the house so that Matt could bring them to the hospital. They arrived around 4:30pm, and I showed them a picture of Paul and talked about what they would see.
The girls were shy at first, but they both talked with him a bit, and they we let him rest. While he rested, the girls filled out a "About My Family and Me" chart that the hospital gave us, and then we went to dinner.
When we came back to say goodbye, Rachel told Paul and old family joke about a duck in a bar. Paul's face lit up and he gave us a huge lopsided grin!
Thanks to everyone who stopped by, and to Rebecca and Heidi for picking up the girls, and bringing them to the house on short notice.