It is not my cleaner, it is not my mum or dad and it certainly is not me! This person is my grandma and she lives with my family.

I would like to share my story with you about what it is like living with my grandma and how it affects my life.  You see, my grandma has Dementia which is the early stages of Alzheimers.  At first I did not know what that meant.  I began to notice that my granny said and did some strange things.  She looked confused and her thoughts were muddled and mixed up. She used to forget little things and she used to ask me the same questions over and over, even though I had answered them many times.

My mum had to explain to me that my granny’s mind was slowing down because she was getting older and her brain was not as quick as it used to be. She asked me to be patient and help her if she needed it.

To make it easier for me to understand what was happening to my granny, my mum told me to imagine that my granny’s mind was like a castle full of sparkling lights. Eventually, over time, these lights would slowly switch off.  Now I understand why she can’t always remember what day it is or what she had for breakfast.   Once we went to see "Freaky Friday" at the movies but by the time we had driven home she had totally forgotten that we had seen a film.  She doesn’t always remember the names of my friends but she can remember the names of her friends when she was my age.  In fact my granny can remember things from long ago and I love listening to her stories from her past but then she can’t remember what she did five minutes ago.

When my granny was my age she used to live in Europe and she spoke a dialect of Spanish, called Ladino,  fluently. But then her family moved to Africa and she learned to speak English. She spoke Spanish less and less and soon forgot to speak it.  You can imagine my surprise when one day, out of nowhere my granny started speaking to us in Spanish.  My mum and dad and I burst out laughing because none of us understand Spanish.  It was really funny, and even my granny could not understand how she suddenly remembered all those words.

My mum explained to me that, because her long-term memory is still strong, she might go back to her own childhood.  So now, instead of living with a granny, its like living with a little sister instead.

This can be really cool, but annoying too, because she is always moving my stuff. She piles up all the shoes in our house and puts them in my mum’s room. She folds up all my clothes and packs them away in her cupboard or my parent’s cupboard. Once I was reaching for a pair of socks in my drawer and instead of holding a dainty pair of my socks I had my dad’s undies. UGH!  Not a pleasant sight!!!

My poor mum goes nuts but she can’t yell or shout because my granny is only trying to help us and she wants my gran to think that she still is useful.

My grandma might not be the same as she used to be, and we have to do more and more things for her but she always takes my side when my parents are telling me off. She always believes in me and loves me so much. She calls me "my darling" and always tries to do things for me. She comes to all my concerts and lets me ride with her on her wheelchair. I dress up in all her clothes and she never gets mad. If I have bad dreams, I run to her room and jump in to her double bed and cuddle her. Her beautiful wrinkly skin is so soft and looks like lace. She ALWAYS wants me to be happy and does her best to help me

I love my granny.  She tidies my room every day!