Fading

I'm not sure if my mother's dementia is progressing very quickly, but we sure have had some odd moments lately.  These kinds of things have been happening all year, so I can't say they are evidence of an increase.
Last night my husband and I went to a church marriage retreat.  I mainly just wanted to get out of the house and soend time with my husband.  The "retreat" aspect of it was less important to me.  But it was a nice evening away.   In preparation, I made some dinner for my mother and boys and put it in the oven.  I made meatloaf and baked potatoes.  I knew it would frazzle my Mom to worry about getting it out of the oven at the right time, so I gave that responsibility to my son.  But I told my Mom what I had planned for dinner, and I also laid out a can of green beans and told her my son would heat them up.
When we got home that night, we discovered that no one had eaten the meal!  My sons weren't thrilled with meatloaf, so ate other things.  My son took it out of the oven at the right time, but my Mom insisted that I had cooked it for some other purpose, and refused to eat it.  She said she ate "other things". I think she ate a piece of bread with peanut butter on it...... I came home to find the meatloaf in the refrigerator on a plate with a dishtowel wrapped around it.
The other day I made tostadas for lunch.  My Mom and husband were still eating when I finished, so I went in to take a shower.  When I came back to the kitchen, this is how I found that my mother had out away the beans and tomatoes: ( I can't get the picture to load from my ipad.  I'll try tomorrow from my laptop.)

Her ability to read is decreasing too.  She has to spell out many of the words and sound them out.  I wonder what the coming year will bring.