Keeping busy

One of the challenges I face daily is keeping Mom busy enough. I worry that she does too little some days. She'll read the paper all morning and work on the crossword. She used to do all of the puzzles on the page and the Cryptoquip used to be her favorite, I think. But now she just struggles with the crossword and she still does pretty good on the word search.

Now, with the Virginia Tech massacre all over the paper, it's hard to let her sit there and read it over and over. It just upsets her so. I thought baking cookies might be a good diversion, so she helped me. I was looking for things for her to do on the Alzheimer's message boards the other day and, sure enough, someone had printed a long list. They are always good for ideas, prayers, suggestions and a plethera of useful information. And it's all coming from people who have been through it or are going through it now. Anyway, the list had baking cookies on it and Mom hasn't done anything like that in years, probably.  I'm baking something all of the time but I usually just do it while she sits in the kitchen and works on her puzzle. Today I had her grease the baking sheet and mix the ingredients. Then she dropped them out on the sheet. All sounds so smooth and easy, doesn't it?

It was one of the hardest things I've had to do in my own kitchen!  AAAHHH!! It was excruciatingly painful to not jump in and do it for her. But I was good and I made myself be patient and let her do it. She needs to feel that sense of accomplishment, I think.

After that we took a walk. I can get her to take a walk with me but rarely can I get her to make it all the way around the block. She'll start breathing heavy and then she starts moaning and groaning...lol. And telling me how she's 78 years old and she can't walk like that anymore. (Keep in mind, we're moving at a snail's pace but if I take her out shopping, she'll walk all afternoon!) Anyway, we got out there and I thought I would point out all of the new flowers coming up with the spring weather and keep her mind off of the walk itself. She pointed out some spirea in bloom and we talked about how beautiful everyone's tulips were. It was a nice walk but when we got to the alley she still wanted to take the shortcut down it and back home.  My goal is to get her all the way around the block!  When we got back to the house she told me we needed to get a bud vase out and cut some of my tulips. I got the vase ready and she cut the flowers.

She helped me get dinner ready, too. She's still the best potato peeler in the house. All in all, it was a good day for her and I.