Aaron bounded in the door today and saw me in the kitchen right away. "Mom! I ate two large buttered popcorns at the theater......and a Twizzlers..........and I have acid now!" So started another "Aaron is home!" moment............or a couple hours, actually. He seemed even more talkative than usual today, if that's even possible. So many subjects..........so much to say..........and he doesn't care how much time it takes.
He was very excited that one of his day program staff's children came to his day group today, and that they brought their little dog. At least I think the people that came were Barb's children. "Mom, Barb's sister was at Paradigm today. Or was it her child?" I asked how old this person was and Aaron said she was young, or maybe a teenager, so I told Aaron that this girl must have been Barb's daughter. He continued to talk about the little dog and the daughter (I think), and then paused and asked, "So is she her child? Or sister child?" You know, Aaron's family tree must have lots of twists and turns! Where would you put a sister child?
I went to pay for some repairs on Gary's truck, and then to go get Gary at work. Aaron wanted to ride along.........and talk..........talk...........talk......... As we walked into the service center, I told Aaron to be quiet. I walked up to the counter and one of the mechanics was on the phone, bent over at the counter talking and so of course didn't acknowledge us. Aaron stood there about 5 seconds, and then said, "Hey!"
Aaron!! He's on the phone! I said to be quiet!
So Aaron decided that being quiet didn't mean to not speak, but it meant that he could speak............in a whisper. He whispered, "Well, I was trying to get his attention." And I found myself whispering back, "He can't talk to us when he's on the phone." The manager came out then and waited on us, and as I was taking care of the bill, Aaron was still making his whispered comments. "Mom," he said in his hushed tone, "those are some big tires on the wall."
"Yes, they are," I whispered back. Good grief! Why was I whispering, too? I felt like we were in a library or a funeral home! The manager smiled and I explained that I had told Aaron to be quiet and I paid as we had a nice normal, unwhispered conversation, and we left before Aaron tried to get anyone else's attention. He doesn't have to work hard at that, believe me!
As we drove and as we waited on Gary later, Aaron had lots to tell me. Remember how I talked about Aaron and his way of trying to figure out where people are from? Today he said, "Mom, there's a staff at Paradigm named Boo....." and Aaron proceeded to tell me something that Boo had said. I was still back on that name. I have no idea if that's his name or how it's spelled, but Aaron insisted that his name is Boo. And of course Aaron had to add, speaking of Boo, "He's a Spanish kind of way..........or Chinese, Korean, or Japanese."
Oh brother..........here we go again! I am not listening anymore!
He talked about our Great Dane not listening to him. Aaron's right..........Jackson doesn't listen to or obey Aaron. Much like me. And Aaron said, "Is Jackson dumb?" I reminded him that Jackson is certainly not dumb, and that I've told him not to say that he's dumb. I told Aaron that sometimes Jackson is stubborn, but not dumb. So Aaron asked, "Well, is being stubborn a reason to say he's dumb?"
Speaking of stubborn.............
This morning I told about how Aaron was talking about Gary living on a farm when he was young. I don't know what it is, but Aaron keeps going on and on about farms. We were driving home and Aaron pointed up to a housing area. "Mom, have you been in that neighborhood? It's a farm area!"
Well, look Aaron............we're home now! See you later! I need to finish supper. Alone, I thought to myself. Please let it be alone for at least a few minutes. My head was full of all his chattering and whispering and questioning. But my mouth had a smile, too, because with Aaron there is always something to learn or to laugh about or to understand or to see in a different way.
And the fun memory of turning our music up loud in the van and holding our hands up in the peace sign as we bounced to the music, with Aaron laughing and saying, "I hope there's no policeman around!"
Me too, Aaron, me too. I can only imagine what Aaron would tell him before I told him to whisper!
P.S. Aaron just came downstairs to tell Gary about Barb's family that came to Paradigm with the little dog. He was once again struggling with the relationship. "Mom! They were Barb's teenager children, right? Or her brother and sister?" Is there a Relatives 101 course I could enroll him in, I wonder?
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