As we are experiencing record highs in January (80 degrees), while other parts of our great nation are experiencing record lows (-50 in Maine) it got me to thinking about a quirk of my eldest son, Caleb. The concept of regulated body temperature didn't seem to make it into Caleb's brain mass, and so he insists on wearing shorts year round, regardless of the climate. To top even this the shorts are all swim shorts. This basically means any blast of air finds its way home in a jiffy! We occasionally insist on him wearing long pants, but I don't think he has ever initiated changing into warmer clothes. Perhaps this would be no big deal if Caleb stayed inside, where I generally manage the overall temperature for a year round comfort. But he would rather be outside, all day, every day, any day than stuck inside.
The flip side of this is how he dresses for bed. Once again, regardless of whether it is warm, cold, or hot he generally prefers to wear sweats. On top of this, he pulls the covers over his head and completely buries himself. The hotter, the better. He sweats so much in his bed that there are times he almost wonders (as do his poor parents) if he had an accident. Nope, just all that hydration that froze in his blood during the previous day's winter expedition... in shorts.
Like I said before, I don't think that part of his brain is working yet. Apparently I didn't get the activation code in my user's manual.
Joe opts out of wearing that jacket-thingy on a regular basis. I've given up paying anything close to retail for winter outerwear because I keep finding them in lost-and-found boxes wherever is a frequent attendee (church, school, etc.) While the sweat factor doesn't come into play with him, he does relish sleeping in his 15-degree rated mummy-style sleeping bag...with the window open.
ReplyDeleteWas it, perhaps, a common residual effect of some Barbarian Night throwdown?