Getting Mom and Dad to bed every night puts restrictions on what we can do in the evenings. It's not too bad for me because Mom doesn't go to bed until 9:00. If I'm a little bit late, she will wait for me or go to bed without a shower.
Dad, on the other hand, likes to go to bed around 8:00--right in the middle of the eveing. That wouldn't be so bad if he was consistent. However, he is as random on bedtime as he his on meal times. He may start heading to bed as early as 6:45 or as late as 8:30 if no one stops him. If he puts himself to bed, he doesn't get his medications, he isn't cleaned up, and he usually doesn't put on a diaper. So, we try to get him to let my husband help him. Mom can also help him, but it is hard on her.
Last night around 7:00, my husband needed to get something from his office. With good traffic, it's about a 25 minute round trip, so he was expecting to be home in plenty of time to put Dad to bed. Just in case, my husband told Dad not to go to bed until he got home.
The whole time my husband was gone, Dad kept saying,
"I can't go to bed until he gets home."
"They told me not to go to bed, and I don't know why." "I have to wait to go to be until he gets home."
"No one told me why I have to wait. They must have told someone else, but they didn't tell me."
"They told the whole world why I have to wait to go to be, but they didn't tell me."
"I have to wait until he gets home toI go to bed."
When my husband came home, he immediately went to Dad and told him he could go to bed. Dad kept repeating that he couldn't go to bed until my husband got home. My husband protested that he was home, but Dad wasn't buying it. He was told not to go to bed, and by gum, he wasn't going to bed. My husband finally had to nearly force him to go to bed.
After Dad went to bed, he kept talking. This time it was about girls:
"I fell in love with every girl I met." "I never met a girl I didn't fall in love with." "I wanted to marry every girl I met."
