Sunday, March 04, 2007

Flashcards & Memory

Arthur, Mark and I went to Corvallis to visit with Grandma today. When we got to the nursing home parking lot, Arthur said "Maggie!" Mark and I spent a few moments trying to figure out Maggies in Arthur's life (OK, actually, I was trying to stop the replay of the really irritating Maggie May song by Rod Stewart that plays in my head whenever I hear the name...)

"Oh," Mark said. "Maggie the Beagle!" Arthur had met a Beagle last week when we were visiting Grandma and he was remembering the dog's name.

Grandma was the most lucid I've seen her in years (although she was sort of scooting around in the nursing home hallway in her wheelchair trying to figure out where her room was). We played a flashcard game with her; we'd give her a card with an animal on it and she was supposed to ask Arthur the name of the animal or what noise it made. Arthur got a little fixated on the owl, and said that cats go "whoo-whoo." He does know how to say "eagle," probably because eagles are on the sides of US Postal Trucks.

We visited for about an hour, then went and visited with my folks. They seemed to be in good spirits. I helped my dad move a chair to Grandma's new foster home while Mom and Mark watch Arthur re-arrange all the furniture on Mom's deck. Arthur got to feed Sierra the German Shepherd a dog treat, and generally lounged all over her. Other hightlights of the day included spotting two deer, a helicopter on a helipad outside Monmouth, and driving by Independence's really cool old bank.

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