Am I Getting Muscles?

Those of you who have followed Aaron for a long time know that he talks a lot about his weight.  He makes many comments about losing weight, such as, "Mom, am I losing weight?"...........even as he's cramming his fifth croissant roll into his mouth from the stash he bought at Wal-Mart.  Or, "Mom, have I lost weight?"..........as he turns to look sideways in the mirror.  Or one of my favorites:  "Mom, am I halfway losing weight?"  Many of us adopted that statement as our mantra when I first publicized it............we're all halfway losing weight!!

Aaron does love to eat, though, like most of us do - and so his desire to lose weight is offset by his desire to eat.  He makes excuses for what he eats, like the time I made Rice Krispie treats and he asked if he could have one.  Before I knew it, he was walking across the kitchen with a huge stuck-together Rice Krispie treat square.  "Wait a minute, Aaron!" I declared.  "What on earth are you doing?"   And he replied, "Mom, I was just trying to pull one off and it did this!"

So you couldn't correct what it did, Aaron?  How convenient!

Or the time the staff at his day group fixed burritos and Aaron was excited to tell me all about it.  "Mom!  Today they fixed burritos!  They did this thing that if you ate one then you could have another one!"

Really, Aaron?  How many did you have?  He answered, very flatly, "I had four."  FOUR?  You had FOUR burritos?  Good grief!

Then another meal at Paradigm featured some garlic cheese bread on the side.  Of course, we heard his assessment of that when he got home.  "Mom, we had some mushy bread at Paradigm today.  It had garlic and cheese on it."  I told him that this bread sounded yummy despite the fact that he thought it was mushy.  He said, "Well, I didn't like that mushy bread but I ate a bunch of it."

Why does he eat a bunch of something he doesn't like anyway?!

Aaron is specific about his food, such as when I was serving him some mashed potatoes.  "Mom, I want the gravy INSIDE the potatoes."  It's funny how well I understand him............kind of scary, too.

So this morning Aaron strolled into my bathroom as I fixed my hair.  He had just showered and I was not prepared to see him walk in wearing only his underwear.  Modesty is not his strong point, no matter how often we stress that is should be.  As I said, "Well, Aaron!" ...........and he was totally unaffected by my exclamation...........I realized that he was on a mission.  I assumed we were about to have another "am I losing weight?" conversation, when instead he said, "Mom?  Am I getting muscles?"  He then bent his arm and flexed his muscles, and stood there waiting for my answer.

How on earth do I not laugh out loud when my grown son is standing there in his favorite striped briefs, flexing his arm and asking me if he has muscles?  Well, I did laugh and he smiled but still waited for my answer as he continued:  "Am I getting strong?  I wanted your opinion."  I had no idea that Aaron ever thought about the manly trait of being strong.  I'm still wondering where this all came from.

In the meantime, Aaron, you want my opinion?   Yes, you are getting strong.  That's why I had you carry the big bag of dog food out to the van for me on Saturday.  He was pleased with that answer, even as I was coming to grips with this new side of my boy who is really a man.

You want another opinion?  Please put your shorts on.......your carpenter shorts!  Spare me the sight of you flexing your muscles standing there in your underwear.

It's enough to make me lose weight, and not just halfway!