French Toast Breakfast, 5 p.m.

Mom had a bad insomnia night Saturday. She was up continuously until at least 3 a.m. My brother heard her banging around in her room and found her, in the dark, trying repeatedly to open her bedroom door, without success since her walker was in the way. Apparently she'd been at it for a half hour or so when he found her and was too exhausted to argue when he told her to go to bed. (How I didn't hear all this I'll never know.)

As a result, she slept all day Sunday. I checked on her every now and then but decided not to wake her. At the 3:30 check she was sitting up on the edge of the bed. By four she was vertical and by 4:45 she was out so I made French toast for her (it being Sunday). Two hours later she had soup and a sandwich for "dinner."

I think we're seeing a little more deterioration either caused by, or a result of, the insomnia. Short term memory is going now. This morning (Sunday night was the least eventful night in a long time) I gave her a copy of the latest Smithsonian. I said, "Here's a new magazine."

She said, "Oh, I haven't seen that one yet." She stared at the outer wrapper, which is nothing but a huge renewal plea, and asked, "Should we renew this now?"

I said, "Not yet. It doesn't expire until November. There's plenty of time left."

She put the magazine down, picked it back up, stared at the wrapper and said, "Shouldn't we renew this now?"

"No, Mom," I said. "We'll renew it in a couple of months. It's O.K. for now."

She said, "O.K." and put it back on the table. After a sip of coffee, she picked up the Smithsonian and said, "Should we write a check to renew this now?"

I took the magazine from her, carefully tore off the outer wrapper, and handed it back with just the regular full-color cover showing. "We'll renew it soon," I said. "Right now, stop staring at the outside and read the articles instead."

She laughed and said, "Oh, I've seen all those already."