Well, a lot has happened this past year. I moved my Dad back in with me in September and he has pretty much settled in. His get up and go, however has definitely gotten up and gone. It drives me mad because all he wants to do is sit on the love seat in my office while I work...and "snooze". Half the time he doesn't even sit on it, he lies down.
Bathing is still a big deal and Dad dreads the "weekly" ritual. I had to cut up paper and write the numbers from 1-7 on each, which I leave by his place at the breakfast table. The day after bath night, I remove number 1 from the pile and put it aside. So now he knows that when he gets up in the morning and number 7 is on the table (I have to tell him because he can't see it, but he can count the ones missing) - he knows tonight's the night.
He still doesn't like it - but can't argue that he "just had a bath last night". Uggh! I got tired of fighting with him about it and getting angry and stressed - so tried this and it worked!
Now he's decided that since I won't let him sit around the house all day in his pajamas, he's just going to wear his clothes to bed. That way he doesn't have to change twice in a day. *sigh* Of course he looks like he slept in them - pants all wrinkled, can't see his shirt because he wears a sweater over it. I'm just tired of wrangling with him so I haven't said anything about that. Some of the gear he gets on though, would make you roar! This morning I put paste on his toothbrush and handed it to him. Something else he argues with me about. He had a dentist appointment 3 weeks ago and they were only able to clean half of his teeth because they were so bad - he hasn't been to a dentist in about 30 years. And for cleaning half his teeth, they charged $140.00!!! And in the days since - he has brushed his teeth once. ONCE! And flipped out at me that one time when I said "dad you need to go brush your teeth" because there's no point in spending $140 on a cleaning if
you 're never going to brush them. I lied, he brushed them again today when I made him do that and shave, which he hasn't done in 2 weeks...so he's brushed them twice in 3 weeks. And his breath smells really bad. I am calling the dentist tomorrow and cancelling the second half of the cleaning, which they informed me would take even longer and cost $170.00. There's not much point in doing this, that I can see.
So Dad's going to be 79 on Wednesday the 8th. I asked him how he wanted to celebrate it - he "doesn't want to celebrate it". Translated, that means he might have to wash and shave and get his hair washed, so he'd rather just sit here on the love seat.
But I've already bought tickets to the Legion's roast beef dinner and dance on the Saturday night after his birthday we're going - with Brie and Gail. He'll enjoy it once he gets there. I just wish these places with huge flights of stairs would install elevators for people like Dad - whatever happened to disabled access - I thought it was the law in Canada?
