The Perils of Perseveration

Perseveration is Riley World’s middle name. So “What’s the deal with perseveration?” Well…click on the red words (if you’re reading from my blog) or the blue words (if you’re reading in an email) for a great reader-friendly explanation from my friend Bec.  I’ll wait. *whistling*

Yesterday Riley came downstairs quite distressed about his underwear. His white and grey underwear to be exact. Apparently the night before while getting dressed after his shower, he noticed a teeny-weeny hole just under the waistband. “It’s broken!”  But…he put them on anyways. Shocking. I. Know.

This is what happened to that teeny-weeny hole by morning…

Yup…less than half the underwear was attached to the elastic waistband. He had put what was left of this pair in his laundry basket.

Now typically when R ummmm “rips” his clothes it is due to stress/anxiety. Only took me about 3 years and 87 shirts to figure THIS one out.  If you follow us on Facebook, this will not come as a surprise. Photo proof…

What he looked like when we picked him up one day.

Yes...he was wearing the shirt at the time. 

No...he was not wearing these shirts at the time.

Other times it is because he can’t leave something (a loose thread, a teeny-weeny hole or any one of 1,067 reasons) alone. It bothers him to a point of no return. In this case…the teeny-weeny hole in his underwear. OR…just maybe…he wanted thong underwear instead of his usual boxer briefs. Yea…I’m not buying that either.   

Needless to say R was stressed out about getting some new white underwear. Today. He would have preferred right then and there but we agreed that I would try and find some while he was at his program.

So now the detective work began. Where did I originally buy those particular white and grey underwear??  Because…of course…being a seasoned autism mom…I had cut out ALL identifying labels. I really need to stop being so efficient. ;)  Lucky for me…no-name or generic brands usually mean either Wal-Mart or Superstore.

I managed to find some similar white underwear at Superstore. Not exactly the same but all that they had. As soon as I got home Riley came running down and looked in the bags. I held my breath and showed him the underwear. He eyed them up. I continued to hold my breath. He looked at me. I started to get dizzy. He looked back at the underwear and that’s when I blurted out “These underwear look different but they are just bigger than your other ones and we need to wash them and then they’ll be the same.”  R looked at me and said “Where’s the grey ones?” I don't remember what happened after that.