Hi
@kindred - had a nice afternoon with Mum, although it would appear that she is now mixing me up a bit with other people. The female robot cat (that Mum now insists is a male dog) is blessedly silent - but I will remedy that with some batteries on my next visit.
The staff have been actively trying to get Mum up early, and keep her out of her room and socialising, to stop her sleeping so much. This has been relatively successful although Mum refused point blank to join in with the virtual reality glasses session this morning!
I thought we would 'do the Xmas cards' this afternoon. A job that Mum has never truly enjoyed. Last year I organised some personalised pre-printed cards for her. Mum and I inserted the cards, sealed the envelopes, stuck the address labels on that I had printed and added the stamps. We did it together and it was a bit of a production line. I had no illusions that this year would run as smoothly but oh boy - the reality really banged home how far Mum has deteriorated.
This year, I decided to stick the address labels on the envelopes and put the cards in the envelopes pre-visit. I showed Mum the pre-printed and personalised cards ( which she liked), I sealed the envelopes and then peeled off stamps for her to stick on. She insisted on sticking the stamp over the address. I explained that it had to go on the blue bit (the envelope) as the postman would not be able to read the address if she stuck the stamp over it .......but she insisted on sticking it over the address. I then put my fingers over the address label to mask it .... so she stuck the stamp on my hand. After doing one small pile with the stamp in all manner of places and positions, and VERY CLOSE to the address, I left Mum for a few minutes to make us a cup of tea. When I returned she was busy ripping open all the cards that we had just finished
! So very sad ... perhaps I should have realised that she would have problems now with even the simplest task? I try hard to get her to be the best that she can be, and try to prolong her limited independence - but now it's like pushing water uphill. I praised her efforts and she was proud of what she had done, bless her. Now I am back home and sorting everything out before posting.
I'm glad that the Cowboy Carol is proving to be a success. I remembered another one that I learned about 45 years ago that I thought was really lovely. 'A Little Lonely Shepherd Boy Sat on a Hill' - do you know that one? Evidently it was made quite famous by Nina and Frederik (blast from the past) and came out the year I was born. There is a youtube video of them singing it and I can find the lyrics but not the music (boo!) As I remember it, the accompaniment is really good fun - I found the music on a well-known auction site, but refuse to cough up £8 plus postage. I'll keep looking!
Take care X