"I just signed my mom up for DAY CARE," is what kept running through my mind as I drove home the other day.You see, my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in July. She's only 68...that's not that old! In July, we were just concerned about some subtle & kind of vague memory issues. It rather quickly progressed to her not remembering to take her meds or even eat unless we (I'm one of 5 siblings) are there to take care of those things. On top of that, she began falling in November & isn't able to get up by herself. Anyway-- to make a super-long story short, I've been spending a great deal of time, energy, & stress taking care of my mom. Over Christmas Break, I created a calendar & my sibs & I now have specific days & times that we are "on duty". It's really been a blessing...I now find that on my 'off days', I no longer feel guilty. I also learned from a work-friend about a day adult service in our area that we tried out over break. I 'officially' registered her on Monday. As I was driving home, it hit me that I had just signed my mother up for day care.
As my brother said when we learned the diagnosis... now we're on a roller coaster with no safety bar. It's certainly been a journey so far. I very quickly became an expert in Alzheimer's....read over 1,000 pages of information within a week. It's going to continue to be important to take care of myself. For instance, I've been so busy taking care of things that I haven't taken time for myself. I truly have missed blogging. I finally realized today that I have to make time to take care of myself....& I have to PLAN to set aside blogging time. YAY!
I am really looking forward to getting back to/finding my new normal!
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What I've been up to....One of my most popular products is my Calendar Math Pack. It's truly made a great difference in my kiddos' math skills! At the end of the first semester, my teamies & I took a look at the skills that the kiddos had seemingly mastered & the ones they still needed to practice. As a result, I created a "baby" Calendar Journal (as my kiddos call it!). Just a half-sheet journal page that has these skills:
- 100s Chart Puzzle - though my kiddos seem to do okay when the numbers are within 100, they aren't nearly as confident when the numbers are in 300s, 500s, or in the 1000s. We now do daily practice with these types of puzzles.
- Money- we are still working on counting $!
- Function machine - this continues to be a skill that kiddos will need. It's really a great algebra-readiness activity. Right now, we are doing machines in which the rules are half or double.
I'd also like to give away a copy of the Calendar Math Pack...just leave a comment & make sure you include your email so I can send it along to you! I'll draw randomly Tuesday evening!
