I've noticed that when my mom and I can laugh together that there is a wonderful reconnecting across the barriers that AD has erected between us. Let's share things that bring patients and caregivers together through laughter.

I'll go first:
My mom and I often laugh together over the antics of our cat. Most recently I had to remove all the houseplants from Mom's apartment because the cat had been eating them and then getting sick. I replaced them with a nice bouquet of silk flowers--which the cat also ate. They did not digest and the deposits in the kitty litter looked like a garden of lavender flowers blossoming from...well, you know. This struck both Mom and I as being funny and we laughed together.

mom and i laugh all the time, as well as others. it seems to be a very emotional connection. she laughs at the antics of the dogs frequently. she laughed and threw her arms around me when i walked around a corned and surprised her this am.

i can just see the little pooflowers!

It's harder to get Mom to laugh than it used to be but, she still laughs at herself when she has a moment of clarity and realizes she done or said something nonsensical. Today she walked flat into a glass door before I could stop her. She just kind of stood there for a second and then burst out in the most laughter I've heard in a long time. So I joined her!

Sometimes Mom and I have problems communicating and understanding each other. The other day I looked at Mom (rather confused) and said, "Well Mom, perhaps we don't understand each other because we BOTH have AD!" (Which is true). We looked at each other and laughed! It was great!

My mom and I laugh at a lot of things.

Side note: She is stage 6. She really seems more with it lately. I think it is the prescription strength vitamin D. She was low when tested back in May.

Anyway, My daughter and I were on a walk with my mom today around her alf. and we saw several lady bugs on a plant. My daughter picked one up and showed it to my mom. She wanted to hold it. The lady buy walked around her hand, my mom danced a little jig and the lady bug flew off. This really made her happy. We all laughed and laughed.

I thank God for little blessings.

Many many things. We always find something to laugh, smile and joke about. Some days it's much harder then others.

Comedy Central is on often in our home. Do you have a library system you can order up things online?? We get CD's and DVD's all the time.

A plus about our library system - it is so easy to search and order, its like shopping without the cost! I pull up Amazon's top list side by side with the library and click away!

CD's and books on disc/tape are now our first choice because.... who has time to read??

Forums the exception!

Whoa, what a good idea, Serendipity. I know our local library has online search tools and that I could order materials online... What CD's and books bring laughter for you and your AD patient?

My mom has a delightful sense of humor and she still seems to have it. I love to laugh with her.

She has always loved working jigsaw puzzles and still does at the NH. She does well on 300 pieces or less, especially the larger pieces. Because they're so easy for me, I usually spend a lot of time putting pieces aside that she can work on later. She seems more focused on shapes of the pieces than colors, so I try to sort those for her. One day there was another lady sitting beside us as we worked. After I had moved about 10 pieces over by my mom because it was a color she was working on (or so I thought), she said to the lady "She (meaning me)keeps moving those pieces over here like I'm supposed to do something with them!" We all got a good chuckle out of that one.

My mom has a laugh like tinkling bells or a babbling brook...or somewhere in between the two. I just love to make her laugh!

I've been scouring youtube for short clips of old shows, downloading them onto my laptop, and taking them in to the facility to share with her.

Yesterday we watched the original Abbot and Costello "Who's on First" -- it was just hilarious.

I find that having a dozen or so at the ready really helps me cheer her up if she's in a bad mood. I can just choose whichever one I think will do the trick. And because I rotate so many of them, I can get four or five plays out of each before she remembers she's seen it recently!!

Some of the clips we've seen: All in the Family (cling peaches in heavy syrup routine), Burns and Allen, Lucille Ball (Vitameatavegamin routine), Red Skelton (Guzzler's Gin).

Great fun, great laughs, and short enough to hold her attention!!

dj okay, jenny k and Ruthie-Ray (whoa, your all's names rhyme...) your stories are so sweet. I evidently cry easily; I cried about the ladybug, I cried about the jigsaw puzzle, and when I read Ruthie-Ray's description of her mom's laugh--you guessed it. Tears. I wanted to thank Ruthie for the youtube idea. I tend to just meet my mother's physical needs and hadn't thought to make it a goal to hear her laughter. I'm humbled and blessed by these posts. Praying to be a better caregiver today...

I too found a lot of humor coming from my husband and recently I had someone channel the meaning of Alzheimer's so I could get a deeper understanding. I have edited the message to remove my husband's first name and replaced with the word husband in order to maintain his privacy. Here is the message that was sent to me and I hope you find truth and comfort in it as well as I have:

July 1, 2009
Channel for Ethelle and the subject is about her husband.

Ashianna is here and wonderful to speak with you about this topic today.

Your husband is a special soul with a unique soul contract. There have been a growing number of these individuals on your earth plane. These groups of souls have chosen to demonstrate to their caretakers, family, friends, and humanity collectively what it is like to live in the Now. You see the now is all they can experience fully. Unfortunately many of these teaching souls have their own personal idiosyncrasies attached with this living now.

Let me address the qualities they are intending to express.

The original intention is to express and be in the Now, but many are stuck in generational or situational life traumas, being unable to fully allow themselves to let go and fully embrace that childlike essence of being innocent and joyful in the Now. Humanity is rapidly moving into Now consciousness. Unfortunately many do not know what the model of that looks like or even how to do it. This is the lesson this group of souls is offering to humanity (and their immediate caregivers and family). They are providing a model as well as a deep contrast as to how the delicate innocence has become out of balance.

Look at any child’s play at a very young age. It is free form and totally joyful in the now. Now look at this group of elderly Alzheimer or Dementia peoples who are only able to live in the now. They possess similar childlike qualities but with the addition of psychological trauma, stuck issues, stagnant past energies, emotional issues that have not been resolved, etc. So they are providing a sharp contrast within the same venue, Now.

A PhD would absolutely see fascinating correlations, the difference in the child’s now and the elderly’s now. A secondary teaching by these collectives of individuals is that our elders have in the past provided much wisdom for the younger generations. The elders were much respected and those of the village were honored to care and provide for them. In our society, it has become not so. Youth is the cherished quality. Our elders are no longer being honored for their wisdom. Many elderly are placed in nursing homes attended by caregivers who simply do not care. So, just as society has lost the value of all stages of life, this group of teachers/elders are demanding attention in great numbers across your land. They are demonstrating the dysfunctional. The psychological, social, emotional, and mental baggage we all carry with us throughout our lifetime. The sharp contrast of child, free of issues and balanced in the Now compared to the elderly Alzheimer behavior of the child with issues. These brave ones are offering an urgent message to all, honor all stages of life, clear blockages, lighten up, and balance as we approach the shift in Time/Now.

If you find yourself giving care to one of these teachers do not wish them to be better or return to the way they used to be. Their teaching is for you. It is a life contract the two of you made long before arrival here on earth. I know the demanding physical, emotional, and mental care is overwhelming at times but what better way to enjoy these individuals than to put your life in order so you can lighten up and enjoy their nowness.

Your husband’s particular gift of empathic people service is exactly the perfect match for your assimilation at this time. You are thinking this sounds quite simple, and you already know this lesson, and of course the why me question has run through your mind many times. Let me say you provided a similar experience for him in experiencing Compassion. You opened his eyes to unconditional compassion which is why he has come this lifetime to experience empathy with many individual souls and teach this (Now lesson) to all he can touch. I will not answer the question of how much time he has left here on earth for that is and will be his personal choice. Let me say your intuitive perception will know in advance that he is approaching cross over.

So to you I say lighten up, enjoy, and play as much as the situation allows. The more you do this, the easier he will feel his mission complete which will swiftly aid him in letting go and able to release.

Ashianna

quote:

Originally posted by Coping and Praying:
I've noticed that when my mom and I can laugh together that there is a wonderful reconnecting across the barriers that AD has erected between us. Let's share things that bring patients and caregivers together through laughter.

I'll go first:
My mom and I often laugh together over the antics of our cat. Most recently I had to remove all the houseplants from Mom's apartment because the cat had been eating them and then getting sick. I replaced them with a nice bouquet of silk flowers--which the cat also ate. They did not digest and the deposits in the kitty litter looked like a garden of lavender flowers blossoming from...well, you know. This struck both Mom and I as being funny and we laughed together.

Animals top the list of what gives my Dad and I a shared laugh! We have a houseful of pets so there's never a dull moment. Our 5 year old is another source of laughter> She is a born caretaker, and has taken over the bedtime routine for my Dad. She takes his hand and leade nim into his room, takes his slippers off, gets him in bed, covers him up and kisses him good night. He thinks this is hysterical and really loves the attention! Often during the day when I am trying to get something done, she will try to read to him. She is going into first grade and really isn't "reading" yet. He helps her out and they manage to read the books together. That gives me a great laugh and some tears as well.(good tears though)

Our two Corgi puppies give us lots of laughs. My HB loves to watch their silly antics. They chase each other and nip at each other's stubby little nub of a tail. When one tries to jump into a chair, the other will grab his leg and pull him down. They love to lick my HB's toes and he gets a big kick out of that. When people come to visit, he'll say, "Aren't they pretty?" He loves his doggies-- Tilly and Pogo.

M J, my husband and I have been married 35 years...just a bit ahead of you. I'm so glad your husband has Tilly and Pogo...AND you!

Leane, your five year old sounds like a wonderful little person. Laughter and tears, that's what this journey is about. Your sign-off reminds me of something a nurse said to me at a support group meeting, "Love lasts until the end of life." I happen to believe that it lasts for all eternity.