babies and puppets

my job can be so interesting at times. we have a dear lady who is convinced that any object that resembles a baby is in fact a live baby. this includes dolls, santa clause figurines, stuffed rabbits and frogs, teddy bears, even pictures of dolls in magazines. no amount of convincing or rationalizing will persuade her that these objects are not alive. she sings to them, carries them around, and when she has kept them occupied for long enough, she frantically searches for the mother. this conveniently always happens to be a staff member who is thankful to her for returning their "lost baby." it is quite interesting to observe, she is so gentle and loving with them-it's just hard for me to imagine someone believing a stuffed animal is alive and well. although i guess i should know by now that rational thinking in the world of Alzheimer's is non-existent. today i was hanging a clown puppet from the ceiling and she spotted me. oh boy. she was hysterical. wondering why the child was hanging from strings. never a dull moment.