It is such a curious thing to watch someone with Dementia figure out how to accomplish tasks that once were so natural to them. Because there are holes in their reasoning it is humorous what they come up with as solutions. Even more humorous are the new tasks they choose to create for themselves!

Of particular concern to my Mother are wet or damp items. She is obsessed with drying things or keeping things from getting wet. But the steps she takes to accomplish this have taken on a life of their own as she fills in the blanks with what makes sense for her now.

As an example, Mom will wash dishes in the sink then put the items in the strainer to dry. If there is a large item, like a pan or a cutting board, Mom will take them out into the yard or put them on the deck to dry in the sun. She will not hand dry large items with a dish towel. However Mom will hand dry small items but then immediately takes the dish towel out to dry it in the sun. Same goes by the way for the sponge or the dish-washing brush she used to wash them….all items marched outside to dry on the deck.

Another quirk is the outside furniture next to the pool. All the pieces have cushions and pillows on them, meant of course to be able to get wet. If after you swim you sit on a cushion and get it wet, Mom will take the cushion off the chair, that is already by the way sitting in the sun, and place it in another part of the pool deck in the sun…huh?

The reverse is true for all the outdoor decorative pillows I recently purchased and put around on the outdoor chairs. Again, meant to be able to withstand the weather but she will pick them all up at night and bring them in the house to keep them from getting damp with dew. I have to make the rounds in all the rooms each morning picking them up off beds or out of closets and place all the pillows back on the furniture outside were they belong.

Sometimes she will combine collecting cushions AND pillows but thankfully she will stack the cushions up under the porch and not bring them all into the house for me to have to scavenge the next morning.

All this is eclipsed by her obsession at not wanting to sit on any of the outdoor furniture that has a cushion when she has on a wet bathing suit. She swims many times a day and each time after she swims, she takes off her bathing suit by the pool, then will wrap herself in a towel and only then sit on the furniture. Never with a wet suit, ever. Then the suit has to be placed in the sun and of course when she wants to swim again she has to have a fresh DRY suit and the whole process starts all over again!

Naturally I do sometimes get annoyed by all the extra work this creates for me, sneaking behind her picking up pans, cutting boards, sponges, dish towels and bathing suits. Hunting around the house looking for pillows and constantly replacing cushions on chairs so people can comfortably sit. It can be a bit crazy making at times. But mostly I just have to marvel at it, because in her lack of reasonableness she has created quite a routine, a new one that makes perfect sense to her….and what ever makes sense to Mom will have to be OK for now….because we know for certain that to will change!