My parents have had a hard time with the day of the week for almost a year. I got them a Day Clock, but it wasn’t something that has been a long-time habit so they don’t use it to see what day of the week it is — or maybe they do but they do not remember.

Time seems to be a difficult concept in general for my parents. We were discussing the Christmas holidays and when my dad says it’s 2010, my mom tells him “No! We are in the 19’s — what do you mean saying it’s 2010?”

My daughter is with us and confirms to my dad it’s 2012.  My mom stares at my daughter and asks “What do you mean, we are out of the 19’s and into the 20’s?” We all nod yes.

It’s remarkable how quickly and how intermittent some skills seem to ebb and flow.  While my dad is the one who was clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, most of the cognitive testing lead us to believe that my mom had Alzheimer’s.  It’s not worth pushing for more testing at this point, I’m just trying to watch and learn most days.

Last week at the doctor’s my mom correctly stated the day, date, month and year when asked by the doctor. I was surprised since on most days she will ask what day it is … over and over.

We all wait as we watch my mom mentally chew on this concept. “It is going to be 1913! We can’t be in the 2000’s,” she states. We just move on to the next topic. Shifted.