Yesterday's visit to my folks wasn't as happy as it could have been. With my grandmother in hospital, my mother was off visiting most of the time I was there, and my sister was well and truly distracted by her daughter - currently exemplifying the 'Terrible Twos', perfectly understandable considering she's going back to hospital today for a check-up and is likely to be readmitted - so I ended up doing all-day breakfasts for everyone's lunch (with the occasional moment of help from my sister), mistiming it slightly.
The niece was perfectly pleasant most of the time but, at the drop of a hat, would burst into tearful litanies of "I don't want..." including, but not limited to "I don't want you to sit there", "I don't want [toy that someone had just moved from floor to table] on the table" and "I don't want my dinner". The weirdest one was throwing away her dummy, then almost instantly complaining "I want my dummy."
Most of it, particularly the attack later in the day, was due to having gone off to sleep in the afternoon only for my sister to wake her up for dinner in an attempt to ensure she got to sleep at a reasonable hour that night. Eventually, she was coaxed to eat a little of her dinner, though she did spit out one partially-chewed chunk of meat because it was too big (blimey, I could see that before she stuck it in her mouth - it really should have been chopped up a bit more). Even so, a good part of it is going to be down to all the hospital time and the heart monitor.
Still more, I suspect, is learned behaviour from her parents. She has developed a little 'game' whereby she crosses her arms, turns away from everyone and says nothing but 'Humph'. This strikes me as mimmicking adult behaviour of the "I'm not talking to you" variety. It didn't take me long to figure out that she can be coaxed out of this mood by playing a variation of that very game right back at her. For every 'Humph', I'd respond with either a deeper or higher-pitched 'Humph', then move on to animal noises. Normally, by 'Woof', she'd be giggling.
Somehow, I doubt the same would be true of either of her parents...
Still, we did get a couple of turns around the garden - I discovered a dead frog on the lawn the first time round - with exploration coupled with fun and games. Despite being quite a bright day, it turned quite chilly fairly early in the afternoon, so the second outing didn't last quite so long.
When my mother returned - after we'd had dinner - the news wasn't good. Grandmother seemed OK early on but, after a visit from one of her neighbours and yet another move to yet another new ward, her condition seemed much worse. It can't have helped that she's clearly been skipping doses of her medicine, but we still don't know what has caused her degeneration. My mother is keen to find her nursing home, rather than let her return to her flat, so as to give her as little upset as possible once she's ready to leave the hospital.
During the evening, my sister got a call from her mother-in-law (later wondering if she'd misdialled though, considering her son is away with his scout group, it may just be that he was unavailable) with news on father-in-law. Now, he's basically infirm at the best of times - some kind of back injury has left him permanently leaning backwards and shuffling around uncomfortably. Apparently he's now had a fall and broken his hip, so he's in hospital as well.
On the upside, at least some of my post had arrived, so the limited edition of The Last Story is in my possession... Haven't tried it yet, but I'm really looking forward to it.
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