Asleep and Awake

Mom is sleeping a great deal of the time now, she is really only awake for about 6 hours most days, with a bit of napping throughout that time. I suspect that we are moving further into the phase where sleep becomes an almost constant thing. But we’re not there yet, so we laugh and watch Christmas movies, look at all the twinkling lights on the trees and enjoy the time we have with daylight and wakefulness.

In conjunction with her sleepiness, mom also seems to be getting weaker. She can barely push herself up to the edge of the chair and offers little assistance to me when I am trying to get her up to move. I’m not sure if the weakness comes from her lack of movement or if it’s just another symptom of the phase we are in.

The other day, for the first time, mom actually hesitated when stepping from the white carpet of her room onto the darker marble of the entry way. I understand that it is not uncommon for Alzheimer’s patients to be confused by dark colored flooring; they think that it’s a hole in the floor, but mom has not really shown much concern over such things until the other day. Even then it was just a momentary hesitation, so it may not mean anything more than that moving from carpet to tile made her nervous. It will be interesting to see if it happens again.

On a decidedly happy note, friends came by tonight to bring their 4 month old to visit mom. I know you think that sounds odd, but the maternal instinct in mom is so strong that she comes alive and laughs and plays with the little ones when they are here. It is such a delight to see her play with the babies and I am always so grateful to friends when they bring their children by. The mother instinct doesn’t seem to fade with the other memories and those big, toothless grins and drooling giggles just light up her face and stir up her sleepy mind. What a blessing it was to put her to bed with a big smile still on her face.