Packing for Home?

Mother has started “packing” a lot! I keep a box of Kleenex on a table beside her and she has decided, I’m guessing, that the box is her personal suitcase. Every day she packs the Kleenex, her glasses, her hairbrush and anything else that will fit into the box. Tonight she tried to put her tooth cup (holds her false teeth at night) and would have put her glass of water into it had I not stopped her!
As I’ve said before, she doesn’t think she lives here and always wants to go home. I guess by packing the box with her things, she will be ready if and when someone will take her “home”.
Yesterday, Elizabeth, Addy and Avery came out to sit with Mom so I could go vote. Addyson had a lot of questions about the voting procedure, so while Elizabeth went to vote, I kept Avery and Elizabeth took Addy with her. I guess you can never start too early teaching children about the great privilege we have in being able to have our say in the election of our leaders!












Avery, the little girl Elizabeth keeps in her home daycare, took to Mother really quickly. Avery carries around her blankie and kept giving it to Mom to hold. She kept wanting Mom to hold her, so Elizabeth would help her climb up on the couch with Mom. She loved holding Avery. We have to stay close when she holds any of the kids because she’s so unsteady, but she always wants to have them close to her.
Mother was calm most of the time they were here, which was quite a while. She was confused and talking “out of her head”, but that is common these days. Elizabeth was able to witness Mom as I tried to explain that her Mom and Dad were both gone – that they died a long time ago. I try to avoid telling her about the deaths of her family members, but sometimes I don’t know any other way to explain their absence.
Mom had decided that she was going “home” because her Daddy was expecting her and would be upset if she didn’t go home. She said he was just outside waiting for her and, I’m sure, if she were able to walk she would have gone outside on her own. She gets pretty agitated when I try to explain to her that there is no one outside, that she lives with Jody and me now and that she cannot leave the house. Chance came in from school during this time and I had to send him outside to tell her Dad that she would not be coming home today.
I finally had to tell her that her parents had passed away after she became agitated because I wouldn’t let her go home. She just has no comprehension any more that death is final! She knows that they died, but she also insists that each of her family members, at one time or another has come here and talked to her. I don’t even know how to calm her when she gets this way. How can I explain, in a way that she understands, that she can’t go to her family when she “knows” they are just next door? Nothing I say makes sense to her just as most things she says make no sense to me!
She enjoyed the day with the kids! She loves having small children around her, but she gets completely confused about who the kids are and whom they belong to. She can’t understand why Addyson doesn’t live here anymore – why she lives with Michael and Elizabeth.




Paranoia and hallucinations have reared their ugly sides again! After Elizabeth and the girls left, Mother decided there were men outside who were just waiting to hurt us. She stared at the front door all evening, watching so they wouldn’t come inside. I kept telling her there was no one outside, but she said she had seen them. At one point, she even told me they had come inside and brought a bunch of boxes and stacked them in the corner of the living room. Even when she looked into the corner, where there were no boxes, she still believed the boxes were there. Lately, she tires out about 6:00 pm, but I keep her awake until at least 7:00, preferably 7:30 before I put her to bed. Once she got so tired, she stopped watching the door and settled down a little bit. I put her to bed about 7:15 and she’s still sleeping this morning – 7:30 am.
Jimmy called yesterday to see if I could keep Ethan today, so he should be here any minute so Sheila can get to work. Jimmy has taken a job somewhere else (can’t remember the name of the town) and is staying with Sheila’s parents in Medford. Sheila and Ethan are still here and Sheila wants to stay until the new baby is born, so she can keep the same obstetrician.Elizabeth just called and is bringing Addyson out to go to the doctor and asked if I could keep her for the next couple of days since she’s sick. Elizabeth would have to close her home daycare if Addy stayed at home. So, I’ll have Ethan and Addy today and I’ll have Addy again tomorrow. I love to have the kids here, so it’ll be fun!