A Bathtub and Other Stuff

My goodness, is August nearly over already?!  I seriously don’t know where the time goes anymore……and I realize that I’m sounding just like my Grandma used to sound.  Funny how that happens.  I feel like Aaron when he came into the kitchen after we had been into August a day or two.  He saw that my calendar page had been flipped to August and he said, with great surprise, “I didn’t know it was August!  I guess I wasn’t paying attention.  I was still on that July thing!”

Some days I think I’m still on that March or April thing!  Then I walk outside and am hit with these typical Kansas August temperatures.  UGH!  The temperature was 102 today when I took Aaron down to get him a haircut at Great Clips.  His name was called quickly because I had signed him in online.  It’s always nice to be called fast, probably more for me than for Aaron.  I never know what Aaron will say or do while we sit there in that small waiting area……….but I do enjoy the looks on the faces of the others sitting there with us as they try to figure out Aaron.  Good luck with that.  But today he didn’t have time for hardly a word before his name was called.  He stood up and I reminded him to hand me his glasses…….and as always, he stood there and also took off his watch.  He would have also given me his ring if he was wearing it.  I always wonder if the other patrons are waiting for him to remove his shirts and shorts. 

The haircut and beard trim went quickly.  Aaron answered the hair dresser’s questions but didn’t make any conversation today.  I handed the girl his debit card, which she swiped while he was putting on his watch and his glasses.  He signed the receipt, humming his monotone hum the whole time, which made both the hair dresser and me smile.  Then he grabbed a Dum-Dum lollipop from the gift display on the counter while I took the Great Clips pen from his hand before he stuffed it into his pocket.  I know him so well.  But not well enough, because while I finished writing her tip on the receipt, Aaron said that he would be right back as he quickly turned and was out the door before I knew it. 

Oh brother, I thought!  And just as soon as I got to the Great Clips door to leave, Aaron was barreling back inside……all smiles……..telling me that he had tried to open the door of the martial arts studio nearby.  He has asked and asked and asked about that place, so he decided to grab the opportunity and check it out himself.  Too bad it was closed…..for Aaron it was too bad.  Not for the unsuspecting people in there who would have been loudly interrupted if Aaron had been allowed to barge in.  I must remember this the next time Aaron gets his hair cut………or somehow manage to always take him on Sundays, when the martial arts studio is closed!

Aaron has had some intestinal trouble today, which for Aaron nearly always means diarrhea.  Usually he comes up to me and very softly says, “Mom, I have a problem.”  And I nearly always know what he means.  The other day he said, “Mom, the way I pour my cheese, it gives me diarrhea.”  

No, Aaron, it’s the way that you EAT your cheese cubes that gives you diarrhea.  More specifically, the amount you eat…….which is the amount you pour in your bowl.  OK, maybe it IS the way you pour your cheese that gives you diarrhea.  I need to think about that.  He’s usually right, in the long run.  Sorry for the pun.

Speaking of puns and irony, Aaron doesn’t get those at all.  He loves to read the comics, at least a few favorites, every day.  He read this comic in the paper during supper the other night.  I so wish I could describe the conversation between him and Gary as Gary tried to explain it to him.  I should have just grabbed my paper and started taking notes right then.  Aaron totally didn’t get the comic.  I ended up with the remnants of the conversation after supper as Aaron still tried to understand what the bowling pins meant. 

“I get it!” he finally said.  “They’re just gonna ACT like they fell!”

Well, not really, Aaron.  And off I went again, trying to explain it.

“I get it!!” he said again.  “They don’t want to be hit!”

Again I explained.

“I get it!!” the broken record repeated.  And I waited.

“They’ll act like the fell DOWN!!!”

Whatever.  Yes, Aaron!  Hahaha!  Isn’t that funny?!  

He agreed and we were both happy.  Sometimes I just have to come to grips with the fact that he will NOT ever get it…….ever.  And he is happy, so I may as well be, too.

I got him a new set of sheets last week.  He was with me when we found them at Big Lots and he LOVED them.  Cheetah print sheets……….right up Aaron’s alley for sure!  They went very well with his animal print fuzzy blanket that he loves.  I washed the sheets and last Saturday we put them on his bed.  He was very happy.

But not for long.  He came downstairs a couple mornings later and with great disappointment told me that those sheets just didn’t work.  I asked what was wrong with them and off we went into the world of Aaron trying to concretely explain the reason that the sheets didn’t work.   But he just couldn’t do it.  He couldn’t explain what was wrong, even as he used hand gestures and tried to answer my questions.  We went up to his bed and I saw that the top sheet had gone way down, so we fixed it and I hoped for the best.  

The next day it was the same story…..and the next.  He said the side came undone.  He said the sheet was too big.  He said it was the leopard part that didn’t work……although I thought they were cheetah, but I didn’t say that.  It was already too confusing.  I told him that I thought the texture of the sheets made them slick.  “Yeah!!” he agreed.  “They slick off of me!!”  There!  We had it!

Finally on Wednesday we just took the top sheet totally off and put on another top sheet.  However, the bottom fitted sheet kept wrinkling up……and with Aaron’s tactile issues, this wasn’t working.  It was a HUGE relief yesterday to take the sheets completely off and make his bed with a tried and true pair of sheets that I know will work.  The cheetah/leopard sheets are cleaned and nicely folded, waiting for the next donation pick-up.  

Lots of other things happened this week.  Let’s see……he stubbed his toes, but they’re OK.  Aaron goes on and on when something like that happens, wanting to talk it to death and figure out every aspect of his stubbed toes.  He finally pointed to his toes and said, “Mom, it was just these two toes.  Have you hit your few toes before?”

I assured him that I have indeed hit my few toes before and it sure felt like I had hit LOTS of toes.  And he understood that and he agreed.

Wheel of Fortune finished up their Spa Week.  Aaron was very interested in just what a spa is and what one does at a spa.  He finally felt like he had a handle on it…….unlike the bowling ball comic……and couldn’t wait to share his understanding with me.

“Mom!  A spa is where they get in a bathtub and other stuff!”

I wonder if I want to know what the other stuff is.

And I have just written about a lot of “other stuff” that has been our week with Aaron.  I could write a lot more “other stuff” but I should stop here…..for your sake.  I always have more stuff, trust me, after each day with Aaron.

Tomorrow we start a new week.  New ups.  New downs.  New stuff.

Here goes!