Warm and Cozy

It is not uncommon for some people with Asperger’s to shower with water much hotter than most folks could tolerate.  Dearest and I wondered why the paint was peeling off the ceiling in the kids’ bathroom – we learned the reason when Girlie called me to bring her some shampoo while she was showering.  The air was so steamy and hot I could barely breathe, and when I checked the water temperature I couldn’t believe she wasn’t being scalded!  As she got old enough to turn the water on for herself and learned to adjust it, she was taking much hotter showers.

She also likes to sleep completely under all of her blankets, and when I check on her before going to bed she is often soaked in sweat.  Definitely another case of ‘different strokes’, but we’re teaching her to air out her bed every day and change the sheets more often. 

Girlie complains that it’s cold in the house when everyone else is comfortable, and often doesn’t like swimming even in a heated pool because she gets cold.  This all makes sense when you consider that she has an extremely low BMI, with not a bit of extra fat anywhere on her body.  One might think this would limit her outdoor playtime, right?  No; in fact when she is in the mood she often stays out ‘til dusk, no matter the weather.  How, then, is it possible for her to be outside on extremely chilly spring days with short sleeves, and no shoes or jacket; or to wear wet, sandy clothes at the beach for so long when she is looking for rocks? 

Research shows that sensitivity to temperature for people on the spectrum goes from one extreme to the other, and clearly in Girlie’s case that can happen in one person.  There is some suggestion that it may go with along with dyspraxia, which affects people on the spectrum at a higher rate than the neurotypical population.  Discounting the very low body fat and how that affects her perception of cold, it seems like ‘warm’ has to be ‘hot’, and ‘cool’ has to be ‘cold’ before she acknowledges it.  She prefers extremes of temperature, and in-between is uncomfortable.  No matter how it seems to me, I don't comment any more; at nearly fourteen years old she can make her own decisions about how to stay warm.

Adapted from a free DROPS Design sock pattern
knitted with KnitPicks City Tweed DK in Poseidon.

Speaking of warm and cozy, I've had occasional problems with joint pain related to an auto-immune condition for several years.  More recently it’s been exacerbated in my ankles due to an injury a few years ago (the circumstances of which are not discussed, due to the abnormally high ‘stupid factor’ of the incident).  Sometimes even a slight draft of cool air on my right ankle, especially, is very painful.  A little over a year ago the discomfort was so bad I decided to knit some wool legwarmers, and the difference they made was incredible.  I just finished another pair recently and I love that something so simple can improve my comfort level so dramatically.  Wool socks + wool legwarmers = warm and cozy (and almost pain-free!) ankles.