Melting in the Midwest

HOLY Mother of Pearl!!!!!!!!!! Yes, it was HOT this weekend - uncomfortable, hard to breathe thick air, bad hair (gee, thanks Humidity), just being dressed makes you want to pass out, oh please let's go grocery shopping just so I can stand in the freezer section for a while, too hot to cook inside and too hot to stand over a grill outside, I love you truly but don't touch me cuz I'm all sticky and sweaty....getting my drift? UGH it was AAAWWWWWFUL! I don't have my window AC units in yet because, well, this is Chicago - it could snow tomorrow.

My longhaired Obnoxiously Cute Furball (OCF) was absolutely miserable. She is the younger and, usually much more energized of my two cats. She will pounce without provocation on Charley (OCF #1), do laps up and down the stairs, over the bed...you know, cat stuff. For the last three days, she hasn't moved except to voice her extreme discontent. I mean, her discomfort is like a human standing outside at high noon in the middle of the desert while wearing a full length fur coat - accessorized, of course with a fur hat, mukluks, fur lined gloves, and the biggest warmest scarf. Suffice it to say she was one pissed off kitty. She wouldn't touch her food, wouldn't play, wouldn't even move to a cooler spot unless we put her there ourselves. She was NOT amused. The only place she was even slightly content was on the cool tile of the first floor bathroom floor.

We were all miserable, cranky, and tired. It's amazing what a little heat and humidity can do to a person. By far, though, SmallBoy suffered the most. What I find interesting about the sensory issues that go along with his Asperger's is that he can absolutely tolerate the cold in the winter, we have to convince him sometimes to wear a coat; in the summer and the heat, TOTALLY different story. He feels it 100x more than any of us do. He can't focus at all, he gets irritated much faster, the overload comes on almost instantaneously. He becomes more tired than we do, but knowing that he "shouldn't" feel like that gets him worked up and he refuses to sucumb to that and just snooze for a bit. He was bored on Saturday, or maybe it was Sunday and asked to go to the park. It was scorching, so I tried to persuade him with other things - I even went so far as to offer him video game time (which he turned down...woo hoo!!!). So, off to the park we went. We had a riot. He ran up and down the sled hill, all over the soccer field, played on the equipment until he had had enough of the sun (about 20mins) and we went home. I suppose I was more than okay with that, not so much because of the heat, but because he had me crawling through the equipment, playing chase with the camera. He took that one of me.

This morning, back to school, was rough. The kids had Friday off also, so he had to readjust after a four day weekend. Yeah, that's a pain in the butt to begin with, but his was a long, busy, and sticky hot weekend. I woke him up at 6:45, like I always do. I woke him up at 6:50, like I always do. Usually he's up and getting dressed by then and is ready to give me a kiss by the time I leave at 7:10. Not today, but that's not usually anything to panic about. I woke him at 6:55, 7:00, 7:05, 7:07, 7:09, and on my way out the door. Nope. I talked to PC this morning and SmallBoy wanted nothing to do with waking up until 7:55 - 5 minutes before the bell rings at school. Needless to say, he was totally panicked and set his day down the wrong path. He seemed to be handling things a bit better this afternoon, and, by about 7:30, the temperature had dropped almost 20degrees. I'd bet it's in the upper 60's right now, low 70's. We just had a storm blow through, and the breeze is fantastic. He's tucked up in bed now. His new favorite way to sleep is in his sensory tunnel. I'll get a pic and post it for you next time.

Tonight, it has cooled. We walked into Girl's recital at 6:15, and in less than 45 minutes breathe again. The house is open and the breeze is the same refreshing feeling that comes with diving into an ice cold pool on a reallllllly hot day. The tensions, real or heat-induced, have all but vanished and it seems, once again like a nice calm end of May evening. The storms have passed, but with the weather conditions going back and forth, who knows what may spring up tomorrow. I think I'll take what I can get for now and be thankful for this welcome respite. I think I'll take advantage of this perfect sleeping weather and do just that....sleep.