Well all in all I have made some progress on cleaning up and sorting through stuff. Mum has spent a lot of the day resting in her room and that has made the job a lot easier. She gets quite confused and a little anxious when we move furniture to vacuum or change things in the house.
I think she also wants to help me but just can't do much. I give her little jobs when I can like folding the linen. But mostly she gets overwhelmed by anything but the most simple task. Once she just insisted on ironing and it was quiet funny. She ironed the same pair of pants for almost an hour! But she was very happy so I just let her do it.
Her main 'chore' is to peel the vegetables. She enjoys doing this and is very methodical and thorough with it. She can manage that so long as we always set up the vegetables and peeler, etc in the same order.
I remember when I worked in a wonderful dementia unit. Each day the laundress would drop off a few baskets of tea towels and face washers for several ladies to fold. Then in the afternoons there were a couple of ladies who would peel a few vegetable for the cook. They were slow but they loved to contribute and would enjoy each others company while they worked.
Simple satisfactions are the best we can hope for now. Simple pleasure snatched amidst the frustrations and losses that become more apparent as each day passes.
Today was a good day for all of us.
2 comments:
That's great that you allow your mum to get involved and feel useful. I try to do the same with Mr Man. When I'm busy he gets anxious because he feels like he should be helping but he doesn't know what to do. He has a few chores that he does for me, like emptying the bin or washing up a little sometimes. He used to like vacuuming but he seems to have gone off that one unfortunately!
Hi, I agree, I think the feeling of contributing helps, I know I would hate to feel incapable of doing simple things.
I am sure mum ntoices that I am busy and the 'mother' in her wants to help me out.
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