That Pillsbury Dough Boy!

The other day I cleaned out the refrigerator, a job that really needed doing.  In one of the drawers, which you can see through, I rearranged everything……and there in full view were two containers of crescent roll dough.  I had bought them for something I ended up not making, so there they still lay, unused.  That is, until Aaron saw them, due to my cleaning…………and my forgetting to hide them.  Once Aaron saw them, he laid claim upon them with a vengeance. 

He pulled one of the crescent roll containers out of the frig on Sunday while I was in the kitchen, and walked over to me.  “Mom!  Can you fix these CROY-sont rolls tomorrow for breakfast?”  Notice that I tried to spell the word “croissant” the way that Aaron pronounces it.  I didn’t tell him that they are actually crescent rolls.  What does it matter?  He’ll insist that they are CROY-sont rolls regardless.  I told him that if he got up in time, then yes, we could probably have the rolls for breakfast.  And needless to say, I was reminded several times of this hopeful upcoming breakfast.  “Mom, can you fix both CROY-sont rolls?”  And I told him that we did NOT need 16 CROY-sont rolls.  One container would be more than plenty.  Aaron smiled and decided to leave well enough alone.  One it was!

I was in the shower on Monday morning when I heard Aaron thumping up the hall.  He never walks softly, so even in the shower I could hear his distinctive clomping.  Then the expected knock on my bedroom door.  Of course, I didn’t answer………..so he knocked again………….and paused……….and then I heard him thumping down the stairs.  It wasn’t long until he was back at the door, my shower still running, and this time he not only knocked but said, “Mom?”   Silence.  More thumping back up the hall to his room.  Before long, the whole scene was repeated………Aaron ever hopeful, I guess, that even though he could still hear the shower running, I would somehow appear at the door to answer the question I knew he was going to ask.  Not on your life, buddy!  So he waited…………..and knocked……………and waited some more. 

When he heard the water turn off, he was back at the door in a flash.  “Mom?!  Can I have some of those Pillsbury?”  I told him yes, and he continued, “Can you hurry?  I’m hungry.”  I told him that he would obviously have to wait………….something that Aaron doesn’t do very well.  I heard him go downstairs, and soon he was back at the door. 

“Mom, I laid that Pillsbury Dough Boy on the table.”  I almost told Aaron that there was really no dough boy this time, that these were Great Value…………but who cares?  It was Pillsbury Dough Boy to Aaron and so I left it there.  Or Aaron left it there………on the table……….waiting for his very slow mother.  Eventually the CROY-sont rolls were baked  - with me eating two and Aaron eating six.  Yes – six!  And enjoying every delicious bite!

When he got home from his day group, he said, “Mom, we had pizza at Paradigm for someone’s birthday.  It was Pizza Hut!”  I asked him if he ate any after eating six CROY-sont rolls.  He answered, “Yes, but I decided I needed to lose weight so I only had three pieces.”  Good grief, Aaron!  I’m so glad you’re concerned about your weight!  Imagine if you didn’t care!

The call of the one remaining container of CROY-sont rolls was strong, and so the evening was still young when Aaron asked, “Mom, tomorrow do you want to have that Pillsbury Dough Boy?  There’s only a last one in there.”  I knew that this last one in there would be Aaron’s constant focus until it was gone, so why not?  Yes, Aaron, we’ll have the last one in there, tomorrow.

Aaron was up early, anxious to see if Mom remembered the Pillsbury Dough Boy promise.  He took that last container out and brought it to me.  “Mom, here’s the Pillsbury Dough Boy.  Can you fix the CROY-sonts now?”  So I popped them in the oven, and we sat down together to another Pillsbury Dough Boy CROY-sont breakfast…………..with me being glad that we polished off the last one in there.  Neither of us need to eat like this every morning. 

Taking time to sit with Aaron, to pray together, and to talk…………..mostly me listening to Aaron talk………….can be very enlightening.  I know it means a lot to Aaron for me to sit there with him while he talks about the comics in the paper that he likes and how good the CROY-sont rolls are and why he doesn’t want butter on them (you don’t want to know) and all the myriad random topics that cross his mind. 

And if I hadn’t taken that time with Aaron this morning, I might have missed this gem as he talked about looking at sugar, salt, and pepper in his microscope years ago.  “Mom, did you know that salt is a square and pepper is a leaf, but sugar is a no-shape?”

Wow, Aaron!  How amazing!  He truly does delight me with his descriptions and his ability to recall so many details. He also leaves me smiling and scratching my head as I look at his plate.  I will never completely understand why Aaron needs a knife, fork, and spoon in order to eat his CROY-sont rolls, but he does……………as well as everything else under the sun that he eats. 

That’s part of the mystery of Aaron that not even a microscope can reveal.