Charlie 25 July

What a great day for Charlie! This morning he woke up and talked to Dad. Dad asked how Charlie was doing, and he said, "okay". Dad asked his name and he said, "Bill." Dad was puzzled and asked again and he said, "Bill" and smirked. He was making a joke! Hugely exciting for us. Of course, he went immediately back to sleep.

As the day has progressed, he has gotten even better. Dad was on the phone and Charlie opened is eyes, looked around, and asked about Mike's mission call. When Dad told him where it was, he said, "Wow!" and went back to sleep.

After a while, he opened his eyes, looked around, saw Mom and said, "Hi, Mom."

Later he was awake and talking to Dad. Dad asked how he felt and he said he hurt and was hungry. Dad asked if he had any questions and he asked, "What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?" For those of you who aren't familiar with the question, it is a Monty Python line famous in our family.

And later, a family from our ward came down to visit. Katie went to a Spanish-speaking mission, and she and Charlie had a conversation in Spanish.

Oh yes, and the medical part. Charlie had surgery done on his hand last night. He now has four screws, two on each side of the break, and they are screwed to the next bone over. He will be in a soft cast for two weeks and then in a hard cast for six weeks. He will have to wear the collar for six weeks because of some stretched ligaments in his neck.

I don't think I can tell you how pleased I am. We were (and still are to some extent) concerned about the head trauma Charlie received. John warned me that he might have some problems with planning, memory and organization. However, I don't really think Charlie had any of those skills to start with, so it won't be much of a change really.