Caution--Rougher Roads Ahead

     I learned something today.  I learned that if company wants our house to be clean when they come, they'd better plan to help clean it--ha, ha!!  Seriously, though, trying to do just a minimum of cleaning this afternoon was a much bigger chore than ever before.  The reason was that Bob wanted desperately to help, but he couldn't seem to figure out how.  Even after I demonstrated something several times (e.g. pulling the fitted sheet corner over the mattress), he didn't even come close to doing what I'd demonstrated.  I asked him if he wanted to dust the kitchen window sills and he said "yes" so I left him with the dust rag and proceeded to vacuum the rug.  Each time I looked in on him, he was rearranging the dish drainer on the counter, running water in the sink, and cleaning out the (already clean) drain stopper.  He never did dust the window sills.  He took a wastebasket from the bedroom to empty into the larger trash can in the kitchen.  When I walked in on him, instead of emptying that basket, he was trying to put into the larger trash container the kitchen footstool, the dust pan, and hand broom--all of which were sitting near the trash container and so distracted him from what he had thought he would do.  He went outside to shake out the dust rag and instead began wiping down the screen door with the same rag.  At one point, he was cleaning off the dust build-up on the vacuum attachment and I thought  that was great--until I noticed he was flicking the pieces of dust onto the already vacuumed rug!  All the Alzheimer's literature says to let the person help you, but sometimes (like today) it seems like not only does Bob's helping make more work for me, but it also makes it harder for him because he knows he's not getting it right.  What a challenging disease this is, and it seems we have only just begun to know the depth and breadth of those challenges.  I'm hanging on tight, expecting this to be a rough ride.