Johanna Speaks

So last Tuesday, my mom and I went to the gym around 4:30 in the morning like we do every Tuesday and worked out there. My mom showed me more different types of weights, and it felt very nice doing them! And Ezra, my brother, of course, goes every day to the gym with my parents since he's fourteen and doesn't need to have somebody with him in the same room. Well, the last Tuesdays, he hasn't been there because he sleeps in, or my dad sleeps in and doesn't go. But he finally came, and he and I played racket ball! Racketball is so much fun to play there! It is in a huge room and very echoey. I had never tried playing it before, so he showed me how to play! It was easy learning how to play, but I kept hitting the ceiling when I was supposed to be hitting the wall. Now the ceiling is super tall! Way taller than our house ceiling! And our house ceiling is pretty tall so just imagine that ceiling! And Ezra never hits the ceiling! But only once did he do it when we were playing. He actually hit one of the lights on the ceiling, and it really made a big sound, but nothing happened, thankfully! :) After we played, my mom and I had to leave to go to M's house and take care of Mrs.M. Now, if you didn't see my other blog post about how we helped somebody, I will tell you why I say Mrs.M and not their name full name. The reason why is because of their privacy. :) Also, this lady has dementia, and she is in her 70's.

Well, we went over to Mr. and Mrs. Ms's house, and Noelle also wanted to come and help out and see what it was like, so she was also there to help out. She had to leave around 7:50 AM because she had to get to work. But that was totally fine because we got to M's house around 6:30 in the morning, and Mr.M left to go to bible study as usual and comes back around 8:30 in the morning. So Noelle would be there the whole time but missing about fifteen more minutes or so.

I made Mrs.M her breakfast and gave it to her, and she started to eat it and after she ate, we put on her favorite song, " How Great Thou Art," and all began to sing to it! She also sang to it too! It was so sweet! After we sang the song, we put on other songs, and after we played those, my mom said to Mrs.M, " Do you want to dust off some stuff? "She said that because Mrs.M, before she got her dementia, always used to clean a lot around the house and always made it spotless and loved to clean! So Mrs.M said sure. So we got some rags, and my mom and I moved some stuff off that we thought she couldn't hold so she could wipe off all the dust with her wet rag. We could tell she enjoyed it very much! Last Tuesday, we did that, and she kept telling my mom how thankful she was for letting her clean around the house and saying this is so good for me! We were both surprised she said that because you know she has dementia and can't think straight and doesn't really know what she is saying. So it was just so sweet to hear that!

After we cleaned, my mom read her " The Wind in The Willows " book.  Mrs.M listened, but I don't think she was really listening because my mom said to her, " what is the mole looking at? " She answered and said the clouds or something completely different from what the mole was looking at and from the picture. And by the way, the picture was a mole in a sort of swamp where you can't see any clouds or anything, and the mole was, I think, looking at a water rat which is in the picture. Sometimes when we read some of Sophie's little bible stories that we got her, and when we read them to Mrs.M, she would actually listen to them and say, " That is a beautiful picture." Or " Oh no, that lame is lost!". Or something like that when my mom reads to her. We love to take care of her when Mr.M goes to bible study! And after Mr.M got back from bible study, we left and went to Starbucks and started to work on our computers there!

I love to go to Starbucks after the gym and take care of Mrs.M! So I am always looking forward to doing all of these things on Tuesdays!! I got to have the caramel frappuccino at Starbucks! I know it has a lot of sugar in it, so that's why I do like two pumps less of everything.

See you next time!! And thanks for reading my blog post!!

My mom and I helped somebody out yesterday! I can't say the names because of privacy, but I will say the first letter and last letters of the name. Mrs.M and Mr.M are the people we helped out. We watched Mrs.M while Mr.M went to a bible study. The reason why we watch her is that she has dementia. So she can't remember much of what she says and also says random stuff out of her head. Mr.M wanted to get out of the house for a break and attend a bible study. And every Tuesday, he goes to a bible study, and while he is gone, we watch her. Mr.M doesn't have dementia or any other sickness. My mom has been the one watching her last week, and this time I will go with her too and help out and see what it's like! I was nervous at first, but after a while, I was fine! And even had a great time!

What is dementia, you might ask? Well, dementia is when you lose your memory and start saying things out of your head randomly.  And you don't even really know what you are saying. Usually, it happens to elderly people. It can happen to young people, but it is more common for elderly people to have it. You know, when people keep getting older and older, they start to lose their hearing? Sometimes, it can get worse, and you could start losing your memory little by little. It is pretty common to have it. This lady we are watching does. So she will start saying things like, I can't eat my food. It's too much. But she eats it anyways and finishes it all. She will also say stuff like, I won't do this, but she does it. So just things like that are what she says. And she will try to go and take walks, but she can get lost easily. So Mr.M locks all the doors so she can't get out and get lost. But she goes to a place where people take her, and Mr.M gets a little break for three hours and then brings her back. He also takes her around, so she has stuff to do.

Mrs.M is in her 70s.

My mom and I go every Tuesday morning so Mr.M can go to a bible study. Their house is small but super clean and cozy! I would love a house like that! :)

Oh, and while we were watching her, we played the song" How great though art. " And we heard her saying over and over, how great though art. It was so sweet!! We played other songs, but she kept saying how great thought art. She was in her bed in a different room, and we heard her from there. They also have a tan cat named Simba. It's a really nice cat. It goes in and out of the house.

Here is a picture of her playing with banana grams with us. We weren't really playing banana grams the right way; we were just spelling words and seeing if she could read them. She did read a lot of different words we put out. And she even spelled words too! The words were just like, " cat " or " sea."

I can't wait to go next weekend!