caregiver

Share a few “smiles” today. 

CAREGIVER NOTE:
He’s waking up with a smile most mornings — and there’s a sparkle in his eyes. He’s generally the first to say “good morning,” as he shuffles from his bedroom to the living room. He was happy to spend a little time outside yesterday — he kept mentioning how blue the sky was and noticed that there weren’t too many clouds either – just a few very light wispy ones. He heard one of the national guard helicopters fly by, but couldn’t really see it.

Frequently, we hear he wants to do something useful, but doesn’t know what that is — most ideas are met with a “no, I can’t do that,” answer. We’ve been batting zero again in that realm on a daily basis. He’s content to sit in his chair and watch the news most days. He does ask questions for clarification on a few things, but for the most part, just listens. Hoping we can get him out tomorrow to let him pick out some plants for the garden and get a few in the ground by the end of the weekend and maybe pick up a few flowers to brighten up the landscape.

seek beauty

Seek the beautiful things in your world today. 

CAREGIVER NOTE:

I think we finally narrowed down the “worry,” he’s had for the last several days (and nights) and we may have come up with a resolution he could live with — at least for the moment. He was able to go back to bed and has pretty much slept through the rest of the night. We’ll see what today brings.

plant a little positivity

plant a little positivity/kindness along your path today.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
He was pretty impressed with the eclipse yesterday. We watched it on TV as the totality moved from south to north in the eastern part of the country. We only had a partial eclipse here, but he didn’t want to venture outside — he was pretty amazed at how things went dark so quickly and then returned to light.

He’s been up for a second night in a row — but not as long or late as the night before. There is something bugging him, but he hasn’t been able to verbalize it or put a finger on it to let us know yet. He has been sundowning more regularly – little more anxious about things as things progress in the evenings even though the days are getting longer. He’s stirring now, so we’ll see how soon he’s up for the day.

Take a chance on a dream and grow a little today.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
We took a long walk down memory lane yesterday — several hours of stories with slight embellishments with each retelling. He was all smiles and a bit of laughter as he shared. After he finished, he sighed and wanted to rest. His gait is more of a shuffle now and he would rather hold onto the walls and furniture as he moves around rather than use the walker which he strongly suggests is a hindrance rather than a help. He will take an arm or a shoulder for extra help if it is offered.

He is still in love with his talking watch and he was checking it about 2am this morning. He was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t any later than it was, but went back to sleep after about 5 minutes of near constant checking and recognizing that the time hadn’t changed much.

Make today the best day possible. 

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Celebrating his going outside to sit in the sunshine for a few minutes yesterday. He heard a dove cooing in the tree across the fence line, a neighbor’s dog barking with another dog a yard away. The song birds were singing too and we could hear the kids from next door playing with each other. He was happy with all the “noise” and a bit of fresh air. The temps were perfect and little to no breeze. He was content for about 15 minutes before asking to go back inside. I doubt we’ll make it outside today with anticipated rain and wind, but we’ll see if there’s a break and he’ll agree to at least walk around the deck a couple of times.