Patience

DMG,

After some wildly wrong directions from Google Maps extended our hunt
for breakfast this morning I told you I appreciated your patience, and
that I'd need even more of it.

You told me you would show "more patience than <you> even needed to".
You said you could be as patient as an eagle.

Apropos, I thought, and I commented that eagles were verrry patient—
sometimes sitting still for hours at a time waiting for prey.

I guess you weren't as impressed as I was by the imagery, as you then
announced you could be more patient than an eagle. You would be as patient as a building. In fact, as patient as a skyscraper!

And you were.

—

Later in the day, standing in line for a ride at Legoland and frustrated that someone had jumped in front of you and taken your spot when you were next up, you started to get agitated. I leaned over behind you and whispered "patience of a skyscraper". Without turning your head, or acknowledging me in any other way, you suddenly stilled. Your hands eased to your sides as you seemed to grow an inch or more. You faced straight ahead, and there was a distinct lack of rigidity to your motionlessness, yielding a strong impression of poise well
beyond your four and a half years.

Dad