The other day I went to Walgreens to spend some money and found the perfect way to blow $10—an almost life-sized plastic Northern Cardinal replica that moves its head and chirps and sings whenever anything moves around it. I was pretty sure Mary would get a kick out of it and I thought the cat might, too. Well, the cat couldn’t care less, but Mary is besotted. I’ve explained that there’s a motion detector that causes the bird to spring to life, but I don’t think she can remember this, if she even understood in the first place. I’m pretty amazed myself ( Let me tell you, the first two days, she talked almost nonstop to this thing! Here are some of the things she said to it:
- You’re a pretty baby, yes you are!
- You’ve got pretty eyes, baby!
- Yeah! Yeah!
- Sing for Mary!/Talk to Mary!
- You’re my baby, yes you are!
- You wanna come home with Mary? Mary will take you home with her.
- Don’t you bite me!
- Mary won’t hurt you.
- What do you want, baby? Tell Mary what you want.
Mom asked me if she knew it wasn’t real. I said of course not, but then I started to wonder myself, she talked to it so incessantly. I finally asked her, just to make sure, but I was immediately sorry. I think she got a bit insulted.
She keeps picking it up, which causes the stand it’s resting on to fall off. Then she tries to get it back and gets all frustrated because she can’t.
She just called me into her bedroom, but when I got there, she didn’t know what she wanted anymore. I leaned over and laid my face next to her and then the cat jumped up on the bed. (It always does that when I lie down with Mary.) I said something about the cat wanting to be with us and she said something about how she thought places like this almost always did have a cat. Then we had a strange conversation where I tried to get her to tell me where she thought she was and she just kept saying she knew or she’d try to say, but she couldn’t get it out. She finally said something that conveyed to me that she didn’t know she was at home, so I told her she was. I always say, “This is McD___,” and she recognizes the street name. I just don’t get why she can’t remember where she is at night. Maybe she’s just telling me, whereas during the day she doesn’t let me know.
I’ll be glad when I get the yard more under control. Then I won’t have to spend so much time outside. It’s nice for me, but I hate to leave Mary alone for so long. She needs some mental stimulation. Other than Annie’s Mailbox. Sometimes I sit her out on the front porch while I’m working out there. Today she asked if she could sit out there, which was so touching, but it was just too windy. I don’t want her to get sick. Plus, she gets cold so quickly.
The Cubans next store are having a party, I just know it. I don’t hear any music, though. They’re probably going to turn it on around 1 AM. I should just go to sleep on the couch. But I always end up with cramped legs, so I should go to sleep in my bed as long as I can. I would put in ear plugs, but then I wouldn’t hear Mary. Plus, they’re really annoying to sleep with.
My resolve to get Mary into bed earlier is going nowhere. It’s so nice out on the back porch, so we stay out there until it gets dark, around 9 PM. Then I’ve got several movies from the library, which take 2 hours, so it’s, bingo, 11 PM when we’re finally getting around to brushing our teeth.
I asked her to cut out a crossword puzzle for me (for one of my brothers) the other day. She cut out the puzzle but not the clues. I thought that was so cute! The next time I outlined it in red and she did a great job. I wish I had more puzzles for her to do, games to play with her, or little tasks to give her. There must be a resource for these things somewhere. I guess it’s different for different people, though. I mean, she used to love to do word searches, but she doesn’t do them anymore because she shakes so much.
OK, past my bedtime.
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