Little steps....

One of the many, many things Mary stopped doing during her regression was to use the computer. Now, I'm not saying that she was a master at Solitaire or was writing a novel or anything like that. But, she used to enjoy getting on the computer and just "dinking" around - or just messing up our programs really good.

Maybe I should back up and make a list of what her "typical day" has been like before we got involved with NACD.

7am - ish: Get up and get dressed in whatever I set out. If I forgot to set something out, she'd get her dirty clothes on from the day before. If they weren't available, she'd come downstairs in her undies. Forget the buttons and snaps.
7:15 - Have some breakfast that I made for her and set in front of her.
7:30 - Sit at the counter - in HER chair - and draw on a pad of paper. Mindless drawing. She won't even look at what she's drawing. Many of my attempts at getting her to be involved in something else are met with violent tantrums and screaming. Yeah, intimidating!
7:30 - noon - We try various activities to coax her out of her chair and do something else.
Noon - Lunch - pretty much like breakfast. If I try to get her to move to the table for a meal, she ignores it and goes hungry until I move it in front of her again.
12:30 - 5:30 - More mindless drawing. I put on music and act like a fool trying to coax her out of her chair. Usually I'll give up after a while. She has me well trained.
6:00 - Dinner with the family. No exceptions - she HAS to sit at the table for this one.
7:00 - Back to her chair and more mindless drawing. The girls try various things to get her to do something else. Rarely are we successful.
10:00pm - Bedtime - we escort her upstairs and to her bedroom, sometimes with resistance and yelling. If her pajamas aren't out, she'll try to go to bed in her clothes.
(Next blog I'll list her typical day NOW! Things have changed!!)

I know, pretty sad isn't it. And I'm baring my very private life by admitting this on a blog. But it helps make me accountable. It was worse when I was working. Thankfully I am no longer working and, we will take any and all improvements we can get, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. In fact, nothing is insignificant!

And so, it's been a couple of years since she'd have anything to do with the computer.
Especially on her own initiative.
So, imagine my delight and enthusiasm when Mary, of her own accord, wandered into the office one morning, sat down at the computer, and started "dinking" around!! Waahhhoooo!!

She'll go in there and we put on Paint for her or Word (so she doesn't destroy the other programs with all her clicking - which she loves by the way) and she'll spend hours drawing or making lines of letters, smiling and humming the whole time! And that's not all! She'll get tired of that and go re-stack papers (another little quirky thing she used to do) or organize a pile of junk, or refold my kitchen towels - smiling and humming all the while.
Now, these may seem like small things, but they are not.
They are affirmations that Mary is returning to us, bits at a time.
See Mary smile!