Thank heaven for little girls

Yet another reason to having daughters rather than sons, at least in the years when you have to accompany them to public rest rooms. I had no idea men's rooms were so icky. It's bad enough with the girls in reasonably clean women's rooms when you have to guard against the Terror of Automatically Flushing Toilets by holding your hand over the sensor.

Update on Ben's little talk with his mother yesterday: as planned, she was told that she's staying indefinitely at her Alzheimer's residence, and the staff henceforth will reinforce this message. I was afraid she would react with anger, grief, etc., but actually she did not -- because those reactions would have implied some level of acceptance. All she did was argue around and around (forgetting the rebuttals and facts from the previous go-round) and make some references to taking Ben to court, since he has power of attorney. She would never be able to do that, owing her state of forgetfulness and lack of follow-through, not to mention having no phone books and limited phone access, not being able to remember how to use her computer, etc. So we just keep drifting down that river in Egypt.

Ben decided not to tell her that her house is on the market. If and when he does, that may elicit more of a reaction, but again, her level of denial is so immense that she may simply choose not to believe him, or may forget the conversation entirely. She's already forgotten that her niece died in a plane crash about six years ago (asking her brother on the phone recently how she doing, etc.). The worst part for Ben is going to be when she starts forgetting who he is.