Some Days It Would Just Be Easier To Move
Kids get really happy and excited for summer for lots of reasons — ice cream afternoons, swimming, sunshine and no school.
My son, however, counts down the days to summer for one major reason and one reason alone… shorts!
Regular readers of Mommy Evolution know my oldest son Vman, who is now seven years old, has a serious tactile diversion to clothes thanks to his Sensory Processing Disorder.
It can be -10 Degrees F and Vman would rather run around naked in the house than put on clothing.
Never mind the fact that he says he’s cold and has to wrap himself up in a blanket.
(And don’t even get me started on the fact that it’s my satin comforter he’s taken over!)
If he has to choose between chilly toes or any type of clothing, he’ll choose frostbite any day.
Be sure to hear from other special needs parents, too!
Rewind to this winter in the Midwest…. Polar Vortex.
Trapped inside the house.
The winter that just won’t end.
Any of this ring a bell?
For those of us with sensory kids who need to be outdoors getting their energy out, this winter was doubly as long.
And despite the ridiculously cold weather, most mornings we had to have a “discussion” about Vman wearing his coat.
At least I was smart last year. I took him to the Columbia Sportswear outlet and told him we were not leaving until we had found him a coat.
Once he found one and gave it the Vman stamp of approval, I bought them in the next three sizes.
So this winter, rather than spending countless hours trying to find a coat, I just pulled out the next size.
Getting him to wear it was another story.
One morning after a particularly rough discussion about putting on his jacket, Vman turned to me and said, “Mom. Is it always warm in Miami?”
“Yes, it is,” I replied.
“Then I’m moving to Miami when I get older so I never have to wear another jacket again,” he stated.
The truth is, I completely expect Vman to up and leave Chicagoland the day he graduates high school.
He will leave behind all of his clothes (except for a pair of shorts and flip flops) and head toward Miami or some other tropical climate.
I won’t be offended. I will have been preparing for that day for years.
Some days I honestly think it would be easier to just up and move to a warmer climate than fight him every day about what he has to wear.
Of course, that’s completely unrealistic.
I’m sure by the time he hits high school, Vman will have worn me down.
I hear stories from other parents of gangs of boys walking around in sandals and board shorts despite the blanket of snow on the ground.
My son will probably be the ring leader and even happier for it.
But now it is summer, and those daily “discussions” are becoming more of a fleeting memory.
By the time summer is in full force, I will think about how much I love the Chicagoland area in the summer.
And then the air will turn chilly, and we will begin thinking of Miami again.
Let him know that it isn’t always warm in Miami lol. The humidity pushes that cold into your bones, regardless of what the thermometer says. Making my kids wear their coats in the winter is still a struggle and we live in Florida!
What?!? Coats in winter? When we visit in December, the worst thing he has to wear is a super soft sweatshirt usually.
Thanks for hosting this blog hop. It’s been lots of fun! Speaking as a Northern girl who has lived in southern Florida the past several years, the winters are pretty amazing down here. We generally do get by with shorts and sandals for most of the year, but there are those rare occasions when a jacket is needed. Of course, on the one or two days a year when the temps dip below freezing, everything shuts down.
Oh my goodness do I feel you on this one! I live in Alberta, Canada- an area that is notorious for its extreme weather shifts and patterns. It is not unusual for us to see a beautiful, sunny 25C day end in snowfall in the middle of August. Not ideal for sensory kiddos who are sensitive to barometric changes :S
If we didn’t have such amazing government supports here, I would consider relocating for sure.
Maybe your family and Vman should be Florida snowbirds. 🙂
Ha! It is tempting. But our lives are here.
I dated this guy when I was a single Mom that, no joke, wore shorts every single day. We live in Maine, so it’s cold here. I had never met an adult with such sensory processing needs (of course until both my boys are adults, I’m sure they’ll have him beat).
I’ve heard of other adults since starting to write about SPD that absolutely live in shorts…. even in Canada. Now THAT is cold.
I live near a high school in the Midwest (polar vortex and all) and see students walking to school all year around. Many students don’t wear coats or pants. I have seen countless students who aren’t wearing coats in below-zero weather. He may just stay in the Midwest after all. 🙂 I enjoyed your post.
This made me smile. I have the opposite issue…I have to bribe my son into shorts and short sleeves in the summer and we live in the south! We are on the opposite ends of the same spectrum. 🙂
My youngest one, however, spend last summer wearing a tight fleece hat. He must have been boiling!
I hear this one! I can’t tell you how many clothes we have donated or passed down brand new because he simply can’t wear them. Moving to Miami sounds lovely. Nothing but sports shorts and sandals to buy.
We found Carter’s clothing pretty early on and stuck with them. He managed most of their clothes (and I knew which ones to stay away from). Now that he’s bigger, it’s Osh Kosh all the way in my home.
I love it. Mostly I love the determination and self assured choice he made about moving to miami… way to take charge lol.
I can most certainly sympathize with the naked kid thing. People are always joking about how any minute a VERY name five year old may enter the room. *Face palm