The Christmas Doll

We bought Lizzie a doll for Christmas. This is a doll created to be as lifelike as possible for people living with dementia.

The doll was expensive (about $200 including shipping and handling) but she's been worth every single penny.

Lizzie has always been vivacious and fun. She lives with a twinkle in her eye and a sarcastic comment waiting for just the right moment to appear.

Despite living with dementia and losing so much of herself to this horrid disease, we still see many moments of Lizzie.

The doll has brought even more of these.

Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash

Lizzie loves "the baby".

She holds her carefully, talks sweetly to her, tickles her chin, taps her nose, and kisses her forehead.

Lizzie also sings and talks with the baby.

Because of the pandemic, there are times Lizzie is alone at her nursing home. Now with the baby, she is never alone. She has a companion who is willing to take all the love Lizzie has to give.

Lizzie is so proud of her baby.

• She's growing so quickly! 
• She said her first words the other day! 
• She's learning to sing! 
• She's such a sweet baby! 
• She never cries!
• She loves this song!

At times, Lizzie mentions that the baby is a doll, but most of the time, she treats her as a baby. And she loves her.

If you've considered a doll for your Loved One, all I can say is the baby has been one of our best purchases ever!

There are also stuffed animals (some are robotic) that are created for the same purpose.

How about you? Anyone else find a doll to be a great purchase? Or a lifelike stuffed animal? Any other success stories from gifts?

To Celebrate or Not To Celebrate?

There are many different thoughts as to how to celebrate special days with our Loved Ones.

Each person is unique and many different factors will go into the decisions.

• what stage is your Loved One at?
• how aware are they of the day/date/time of year?
• will they know about the day if you don't mention/celebrate it?
• will the day bring good or bad memories?
• will the day trigger thoughts about dead friends/relatives who Loved One wants to celebrate with?

One Mother's Day, Lizzie became very upset about not having ordered flowers for her mother and mother-in-law. Her mom had died when Lizzie was a teen, her mother-in-law had died more than 30 years before.

Did the good memories and the fun times we had that day out-balance the bad ones?

Yes.

Will they this year?

Who knows?

All we can do, is look at the issue from all angles and make what we think is the best decision.

Then cross our fingers and hope for the best!

Of course, if your Loved One (like Lizzie) is in a Nursing Home, this year will be very different. Because the staff at the home is amazing, we know we'll be able to video chat with Lizzie on Mother's Day, but we won't be able to bring her flowers and chocolates and her other favourites. We'll make up for it later but we wonder how this will affect her.

How about you? What do you do for celebration days like Mother's or Father's Day? Are your routines going to be disrupted by COVID-19 as well?