And Another Thing...

OK, perhaps you'll put this in the weird/crazy mom category. Or perhaps you'll see it as another piece of the "what's up with Asher" puzzle that will help us heal him:

Asher is SUPER ULTRA SENSITIVE to temperature. Until now.

For example, last year, both Simi and Asher took swimming lessons last summer. When I say it's HOT here in North Carolina in the dog days of summer, I ain't exaggerating one bit! Temperatures reach nearly 100 degrees and routinely hover over the mid-90s with 80-95% humidity. The swimming pool where they took lessons is heated to a temperature that it pleasing to the skin. Well, pleasing to everyone's skin but Asher. Asher was the only child wearing a thermal suit in a heated swimming pool in the hottest days of the Carolina summer. And he shivered.

At Asher's pre-school, they routinely have sprinkler days during the summer. The children love playing in the sprinkler! Asher wouldn't. He'd stay out of the sprinkler, stay on the perimeter of it and watch his friends play in the water. The cold water - even whilst wearing his thermal suit - hurt him.

I have mentioned this to Asher's doctors, who look at me as if I'm green and say, "everyone has different levels of sensitivity to things." I heard, "so what?" "It's no big deal." I always thought this temperature sensitivity thing was a piece of the "what's wrong with Asher puzzle" that was being overlooked.

Fast forward to two weeks ago: the boys were playing in a sprinkler. The temperature was about 105 degrees that day (really! that really and truly was the actual thermometer reading!). I didn't realize that Asher's thermal suit no longer fits him, and that it's also old, torn, and ratty. I found boys swim trunks that fit him and away he went to play with Simi and Leila in the water.

Water from the garden hose is COLD - A LOT colder than that lovely heated swimming pool. And here's my boy standing in the spray and getting SOAKED - with no thermal suit and looking as happy as I've ever seen him. Can it be that Asher is no longer super ultra sensitive to water temperature? Now...doesn't that seem bizarre?