Get ready to Wiggle

[charliesmum]

zambinigirl, through her niece, has discovered the joy* that are The Wiggles. This is for her.

Brief background. Back when Charlie was still a toddler, and hadn't gotten his PDD/NOS diagnosis, and was not talking and having all sorts of problems, his day care du jour had a tape of The Wiggles, and one day the teacher told me that he loved them. It was the one thing he responded to over just about everything else. "What are The Wiggles?" I wondered, "Some cartoon worms or something?"

So I did a search on the good old interweb and found out who, exactly, The Wiggles were. I was immediately smitten. They didn't talk down, they didn't use dorky voices, and the music was pure pop rock, and very reminicent of The Monkees, at least for me. What clinched it was when I discovered they actually sang a cover of "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" originally done in the 80's by Split Enz.

So, I set off to find a tape for Charlie. This, back in the early days of 1999, wasn't bloody easy. They were just starting to break into the US riding on the annoying purple tale of a certain dinosaur. Some Barney videos had a clip from the Wiggles on it, but finding the Wiggles videos was not easy. I did, eventually find Yummy Yummy and we proceeded to wear it out. Charlie really responded to it. You have to understand, he was completely non-verbal, would have horrible temper tantrums, and had only just started to walk. When the Wiggles were on, he would listen, and dance and smile and laugh. And sing. He actually started using words because of The Wiggles. His first word was a very Ozzie accented "Teddy Bear".

Anyway, a few years later, in 2002, I had the opportunity to write an article for a magazine called Autism Asberger's Digest about the Wiggles, and managed to get a hold of their Publicity Manager, who arranged for us to meet with The Wiggles at their show in Wilkes Barre, PA (two hour drive, by the way), so I could arrange an interview, and get some photos.

Here are the photos of Charlie with The Wiggles. (forgive the quality, I don't have a great scanner)





Charlie was totally ahead of his time with The Wiggles, and now that he's just a bit too old for them, there are finally toys and videos and DVDs and CDs galore. Not to mention birthday stuff. His fifth birthday was a "Wiggles Party" but I had to make do with colored napkins and streamers. No Wiggles decorations for me.

*for a given value of joy, that is

Comments

[nam-jai.livejournal.com]

Hee! I've only seen Captain Feathersword in costume, and he doesn't do much for me looking like that. But he was the highlight of the live show, at least for my sister and me. He sang some song (can't remember what, but I think one of his regular numbers), and then took shout-outs from the audience to sing it in the style of ...[fill in the blank]. It was impromptu and he was spot on with all of them -- I remember he did Elvis, Bon Jovi and Cher, among others. It was pretty much a moment for the adults, who were all in stitches. I can't imagine the toddler set really cared how good a Cher parody he was doing!

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

Captain's Magic Buttons. Totally funny. He did this dead-on Mick Jaggar impersionation when we saw them the first time.

Love your icon, by the way.

Anthony has the bluest eyes ever. I was talking to him, and he was all looking at me all interested in what I had to say and I could barely speak. Embarassing. :)

[nam-jai.livejournal.com]

Oh, now I remember the Magic Buttons. I had forgotten that's how it worked!

Which one is Anthony? I don't remember their names. But my dentist bears an uncanny resemblance to the one in the red shirt in your photos!

I'm glad you like the icon! *uses it again* I got it from vanity_made.