Yesterday morning I left Kate in the kitchen to take her morning meds. In a moment, she called, “Richard.” I went in to see what she needed. She pointed to the pills. That was her hand signal asking if she was to take them. This (asking if she should take the pills I had just given her) is not unusual. What I noted was that she very easily called my name. That has happened on a few other occasions. In each instance, it seems like it occurred when she needed something. I wonder if the extent to which she needs me helps to trigger my name.
Not long after that we got out of the car at Panera. She asked my name. Then she repeated it several times. It’s unusual that she is able to do that. After taking our table, she asked my name three more times. Interestingly, I don’t recall her asking another time yesterday. Of course, we had a sitter for four hours, but we did go to dinner together and spent the evening at home together as well.
At the last minute, I decided to have a more special meal and went to Emilia. We didn’t even split a meal as we often do. Naturally, we topped it off with a dessert as well. It was a nice change from our usual Friday night meal. It felt good to do something special.
When we got home, she picked up the photo album her brother had made for her. I looked along with her. That turns out to be a good thing since she doesn’t always recognize the people in the photos. Most notably, it’s pictures of herself that she seems to be unsure of, but it is also true of just about everyone else. Of course, all of us have changed over time. It’s not as though we still look the same. She thoroughly enjoyed going through it and turned back to the beginning immediately after spending about thirty minutes the first time. As in the past, there are several pictures of which she is especially fond. One is the cover photo of her and her brother. The other is a picture of her and her mother. She is particularly attentive to her mother’s smile but also comments on the smiles of others including herself. It made for a nice end of the day. I didn’t even select a DVD for us to watch. We relaxed a little in the bedroom before turning in for the night.
