Who chewed my meat?

Dad and Matthew and I went to Far East Taste for dinner. Dad repeated a lot of his antics from the previous visit - asking for bread to go with his soup (no Dad, a chinese restaurant does not have rye bread), insisting on ordering something else than what you suggest and trying to cut the big hunk of hard broccoli in his soup bowl which looks imminently in danger of flying across the room.

but he topped his performance tonight with the strangest sequence of thoughts. He ordered beef and it turned out to be chewy. So he proceeded to pull half chewed pieces from his mouth and place them on his plate. As the meal progressed and Dad put rice on his plate, I saw those chewed pieces getting closer to his rice and fork. Finally I said "Dad those are the already chewed pieces of steak your are about to eat". He looked at me and actually said "who would chew my meat???" He was incredulous that someone would do that to his food.......

and #3?

I took Matthew to task today about a phone message he left that made little sense. Since he usually leave a pretty concise message I decided to explain why it was a bad message.

Matt - that was a bad vmail. #1 You didn't identify what time you wondered if David was available - we want to have dinner with him so you should say that not just are you available tomorrow to be with me, Blair and Dad..... #2 you then insert a completely unrelated request about a DVD at Long Branch library and how is Dave supposed to know what you are talking about?

I am way up on my soap box as you can see. So Matt is sitting there and finally says ... " and #3 ?"

I laughed all the way to the group home

LITTLE MATT STILL MISSES MOM

Found him asleep in his bed at 10:00am last week - flat on his back with a picture of he and Mom at his side. He must have been having a chat before taking a quick nap.

WISH I DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS

But staff/resident dynamics at Virginia Manor have suddenly turned completely around and I'm worried about Matthew.

One female staff member seems to have it out for Matt. I can't tell if she dislikes him or dislikes that he disrupts her perfect world. Is a 12 resident group home too much for her? Schedules are important, rules are important. Making changes to suit your own needs might not work with a special needs crowd. Matt doesn't like to obey sometimes - so find a compromise. don't keep pushing your agenda because Matt pushes back

Example - short staffed so the shower schedule was moved up to 5:30 or something incredibly early. Why? So everyone could be tucked neatly in their beds by 9:00? Knowing that Matthew doesn't go to sleep early, asking him to get in the shower at 5:30 was futile. I happened to come by and tried to support the staff member. when I finally got Matt ready for the shower, another resident was in the shower. Seems like a big waste of my time and a pointless fight with Matt.

I mentioned in Matt's IHP Nov 2009 that this staff member harped on negative things with Matt and I asked that she be asked to try to look at the positive and not tell me bad things all the time.

This same staff member spent an entire day helping Matt rearrange his room - and its beautiful. So the signals are mixed.

Thurs Feb 4, 2010 This staff member took it upon herself to take Matt and I aside for what turned into a bash Matthew session. Everything bad that had happened in recent memory. I consider it staff failure if Matt is disruptive. However, I agree that Matt should NOT touch women inappropriately and Matt's brothers are going to step in and have a "discussion" that impresses Matt.

DAD AT THE UHRIG WEDDING 9/25/09

The 'ole dad reappeared for a brief fleeting moment

NOT AGAIN!

SAME OLD SH****T, DIFFERENT ASSISTED LIVING. DAD IS MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO BE IN HIS COMPANY FOR MORE THAN A FEW MOMENTS WITHOUT LOSING YOUR COOL.

THE CANCER WAS A GIFT

Hard to imagine anyone saying that. Unless of course you have experienced the death of a loved one from cancer and managed to have the most wonderful memories from that time.