Virtue Building…

They say patience is a virtue. Sometimes raising an autistic child can be a virtue building machine…for both the child and the parents. In our case we have been building our virtue for the past month waiting for Mr. Man’s “Wiggles Furry Tales.”

For those of you who haven’t been following this blog (you know who you are…your fines have been accumulating) “Wiggles Furry Tales” is the latest DVD from Australia’s ever evolving contribution to Children’s entertainment “The Wiggles.” Jeffery has only been asking for this DVD since the end of last year. It’s release was scheduled for February 28th and he has made sure he asked about it almost everyday since we posted this information on his refrigerator dry erase board. “Wiggles Furry Tales,Please Daddy?” “Wiggles Furry Tales, Please Momma?” We have accepted this as a daily rite of passage, counting the time until the DVD is released and Best Buy notifies me they have shipped it. Never has one shortened Month went by so slowly. Fortunately, Jeffery will usually ask only a few times per day until moving on to something else so it has not been intolerable.

Finally on Friday, February 21st, Best Buy emailed me and said those magic words…”Your item has shipped!” At least now I had a definitive answer for the boy when he made his daily request for “Furry Tales.” “Very soon, Son. It has shipped and is supposed to be here on the 26th of February. Wednesday, Jeffery…it will be here on Wednesday.” Guess what DIDN’T get here on Wednesday…and who remembered when it was supposed to be here. The minute he stepped off the school bus, “Wiggles Furry Tales,Please Daddy?” “Furry Tales,” Daddy….Wednesday!”

CRAP!! Stupid postal service. I should know by now to allow for slow shipping in my proclamations. Of course, I should also allow for Jeffery’s enviable ability to remember EVERYTHING that he was told. “Wiggles Furry Tales,Please Daddy?” “Furry Tales,” Daddy….Wednesday!” I meekly tried to explain that even though I had told him it was supposed to be here, it had not quite arrived yet. He looked at me with a sympathetic stare and then said the thing that all fathers want to hear… “Wiggles Furry Tales,Please Daddy?” “Furry Tales,” Daddy….Wednesday!” I realized at that moment that trying to explain the time honored tradition of an unreliable postal service was falling on deaf ears and not helping my case, so I fell back on “Hopefully we will receive it tomorrow, Son.” He seemed to accept this in stride and went about his after school business. So far, he has not asked about it again. Maybe he already used his daily quota and is simply waiting for a new day. In any event…the virtue building continues…