normalizing

been a week plus since the tension broke up between mum and myself. and i must say, over the week, she had been more than co-operative and "obedient" in many things. for examples, in the immediate few days after that incident, she would clear up her own mess when she wakes up (such as putting her clothes in the laundry pail in the kitchen, throw away her own soiled diapers, etc...) instead of relying on me to do it for her. she would make her own breakfast, boil her own water, clear her own mess, wash her own cups, etc... these were all things that she would usually rely on me to do, herself choosing to just sit on the sofa and not move. for much of these, i did not say anything cos to me, she's showing the initiative to move a little, and that was a good thing as it forces her to do some much needed exercise. so, for most of the week, i left her alone to do what she needed to do. as for me, apart from what i need to do (eg give her her medication, wear her diapers for her, etc), i kept to myself most of the time. and she learned to leave me alone and not to ask me to do anything.

but of cos, i also know from my sister that while she had avoided asking me to do things for her, she had instead pressured my sis instead. interestingly, today, my sis told me that she had taught mum how to charge her phone and that my mum dare not ask me to teach her for fear of me scolding her... that got me wondering. have i been so harsh on her? certainly, from my perspective, i don't think so... then again, from her perspective, perhaps... or perhaps in my answers to some of her questions, i might have said things that made her think so.

and talking about this, i remembered a couple of things. over the last weekend, i noticed a couple of ants crawling on her bedroom floor amongst her soiled clothes and diapers. and when i looked around, i also noticed lots of ants crawling all over the coffee table in the living room - the table where she placed her medications, drinks, etc. also, i noticed there were lots of urine stains all over the house, stains that were created as she walked all over the house with the slippers that she wore to the toilet. so quietly, i cleared the soiled stuff, swept the floor, mop the bedroom and kitchen floor, removed all the furnitures and washed the living room. the whole affair took me about 4-plus hours. looking at how thorough i washed the house, she asked how often do i undertake such a major cleaning. i said once a year, or when the house is really dirty. she kept quiet. later in the day, she went to their toilet again and with her wet slippers, she started walking all over the house again. well, i kept quiet and after she finally sat down on the sofa, i started mopping the floor again, after which i told her not to do so and that i would get a new pair of slippers for her to be used for the house. she said ok. other than that, we did not converse much...

so... yup, so that was how the week passed. both of us doing what we need to do. otherwise, things were pretty much normal. and well, of course, over time, things are slowly warming up. and i know it is cos she is again starting to leave her soil diapers and clothes on the floor for me to pick.

...

:-)