Dad was quite cooperative and agreeable today. He and Drew delivered the church tree and then went to get some more bowls for the stands. We raised the price of the stands to $15. All these things made Dad happy. Later he went to the church for a meeting. So, he was gone for most of the day and when he was here he was in a good mood and didn't meddle. Whew! A day without crisis.
He called a little while ago to tell us that when he came home he and Laurel saw someone stealing trees from the back field. He said they chased the guy for a while but couldn't get close enough to get the license number. He sounded like he actually enjoyed the excitement.
So.... AHHHHH! It's good to know that it's still possible to have a good day with Dad.
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And she found the missing bag and reconciled the books!
So far, Wednesday is turning out to be another good day.
Now to open the store...
dggbs - doggy gonna get birthday steak
No, no, no, opening the store only invites trouble.
Dad didn't come down until the last hour or so. He immediately started in with the manic meddling. First he ragged on Drew and then after he left Dad got obsessed with putting stands on the Oregon trees. We decided to let him go ahead and do it because it won't make any difference in the long run and it gave him something to do. We had Jon help him. Every once in a while he would try to drag Jim or Stacey or me into his fretful project but we kept putting him off. Jon had to be his personal slave. But hey, that's what we pay him for.
As hard as this whole thing is I think it's good we're doing the tree sales. We're all getting a crash course in learning how to deal with Dad and his disease. Yeah, ok, but it's still hard.
Dede's been pretty good at coming up with attention diverters. I'm starting to get the concept. Jim came up with a couple planned diverters today. He ordered Dad a machine that scans hundred dollar bills and instantly tells you if they're counterfeit. He made a printout of their info page so Dad could read about it.
He also has a print of a couple of Halloween photos that he digitally blended together. It's of Dad and me in the gypsy tent. He enjoys that stuff and he likes sharing it with other people. We'll show them to him tomorrow when he starts to get tweaky.
I was just sitting here looking at some of the picture books we have on our shelves and I thought it might be a good thing to occasionally bring a book down for him to look at. Like Andy Goldsworthy. Jim could bring a keyboard down. Drew and I could sing.
When we go to band practice on Friday I'll bring home some instruments. I'll ask Ken if he'd like to come over some afternoon and play some music.
Another thing I didn't think of before. When he's manic he might be having a blood sugar moment. I'm going to take some cashews to the shed tomorrow. Maybe if he eats a little something it will take the edge off.
I'm thinking we can create a positive environment, give him an activity, give him a snack, get him tired and send him to bed happy.
Holy cow, Dede is right. He IS a toddler!
fgbbrkhp- figgeberkhup
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