the heater...

[smittenbyu]

This is our first winter that we are having to use the heater in our apartment. The windows are terrible as they let in a draft. Our previous apartment faced West directly, head-on and so all we needed was the sun to show up and we were good for the night! Here, we face the East and are at an angle. And the old building they changed the window glass to something more efficient. So, even with the polar vortex upon us, we needed the heat maybe once or twice in the WHOLE winter season.

Anyway, I don't know how efficient the heating system is but we hate it when it's on. It's a dehydrator and found D can't sleep as her lips her chapped she gulps down glassful of water (sometimes twice) a night without needing a potty run.

Now, we sleep with blankets and so having the heater off is not an issue. But our darling daughter who loves the line from Let it Go! keeps telling us that "cold doesn't bother me, anyway!" with the attitude from Elsa. And never uses a blanket or even a sheet. I do layer her double (long sleeve shirt over/under short sleeve shirt. On some nights I notice that yeah, she is fine. But on other nights she is cold to touch. sigh. Her room is warmer than the rest of the apartment - so am not completely worried. It and the study have a separate heat control and so we try that, but by golly is it dry! Humidifier is on but seems to make no difference.

sigh... have to figure something out. Sometimes with D I don't know if this is the way she can control her life or if she really is not feeling all that cold. It's just me that even in the hottest days of summer need a light sheet to cover and have to accept that it's not for everyone! 

Comments

[lyssa027.livejournal.com]

I never feel cold, I tend to feel hot or fine, even in the middle of winter.

[smittenbyu]

I guess I should relax! ^_^

[echomyst.livejournal.com]

She's most likely fine. She's not shivering or huddling, right? Best place to check kids' core body temp is the neck, iirc.

I used to wear short sleeves when it's snowing out, sometimes, when I was a kid. Now I snuggle under blankets on summer nights.

[smittenbyu]

that's what I think that she is fine but yeah I do find her huddled although not shivering every once in a while - when without a blanket. With a blanket she sleeps like a baby on her back with arms up! :) Maybe I just need to add socks. I avoid touching her at night as well, my hands are always freezing, and that would wake her up! See, that's my qualms over this, I get cold very easily. And out and about, people sometimes audibly gasp seeing me all bundled up and her in casual spring-attire!!! sigh...

[echomyst.livejournal.com]

To the curious onlookers: when in doubt, see if the child him/herself looks comfortable and happy! But then again, sometimes it can be stubbornness or peer pressure -- when I was seven or eight, my mom would force me to wear a snowsuit to school as soon as it's zero degrees (Celsius) even when there was no snow... that was obviously not cool for a kid, so I'd endure recesses with no outerwear rather than wear that silly snowsuit! (Haha, timely parenting reminder to self...)

I'm one of those ppl who sneakily drape covers / blankets over sleeping kids. :-P They sometimes stir and kick the covering off, sometimes not... usually not enough to wake them anyway!

[smittenbyu]

ha ha.. mom also shares with me the story of when we were in Rome, our first winter onwards, she would make us wear jackets and zip them up. By the time we got to the bus stop we would have them unzipped...mom, of course, saw it all from the balcony! ;) She never said anything then though. She says you need to let your kids "rebel" a little... if it's just jackets, she will have it! ha...

oh hubby and I both try draping covers/blankets over D, and she will kick them off violently even in her sleep 8 out of 10 times! sigh... ah well...