The Naked Truth

If the pizza man comes to most houses in America, its probably no big deal.  Door bell is rung, door is answered, pizza is delivered, pizza is paid for, and pizza is eaten.  In our house, its an outright ordeal.  The truth is, my aspie is a clothing optional kind of kid.  Actually, he is nearly always naked at home. And this nakedness can be sort of awkward during times of pizza delivery, unexpected family/friends visits, and all the other random people that stop by a house during the day.

This nakedness has been developing over some time.  As a little one, he hated wearing shoes, then it was long sleeves, and now we have developed into the loathing of clothes in general.  Before we knew he had Asperger Syndrome, I think people who use to come over and visit thought I was just being too laid back with my aspie.  They thought I should be stricter with him and make him wear clothes.  I never really told them what it was like to try to get my son dressed.  Before I figured out what he would wear and of course to bribe him with a star sticker, he would scream, kick, yell and throw things as I was dressed him.  And then, as soon as I would walk out of the room he would get undressed.  Just as a side note, he has become the fastest undresser on this side of the Mississippi.  I honestly want to time it and call Guinness, because I think I have something here!  But I digress. 

What I have come to find out is that it is not uncommon for children with aspergers to also have sensory issues.  My son hates clothes, loud noises and for anyone to touch him liking hugging or high fiving besides myself and my husband.  However, he LOVES bright lights, hot showers, ice cubes and being hugged hard or nearly smashed by us while we rock him or lay down with him.  In other words he likes extremes.  Clothes are too in the middle, and therefore he finds them unnecessary.

He has gotten a lot better about getting dressed to go places now that we have figured out his favorite types of clothes.  He likes short sleeve shirts that have things he likes on them like Thomas the Tank Engine or Superman.  He likes button down polo shirts but only in blue, gray or stripes.  He loves jeans, mainly because Daddy wears only jeans.  He only wears one pair of shoes, unless there is snow and then he wears his fireman galoshes.  Getting him to wear a winter jacket this winter was a bit harder though.  I honestly had to bribe him with lollipops in the beginning when we practiced in the house.  Then we went to the store for a quick trip and he got a toy.  We built it up until now he does not mind it for short adventures out of the house.

A recent issue that has arisen due to my aspie's nakedness is that my baby watches his brother be naked and has just took a liking to not wearing pants.  He just figured out how to get his pants down to his knees and then my aspie helps with the rest.  The first time it happened my Aspie was very proud of himself and said, "Mommy I helped the baby, do I get a sticker!?"  So now I have one naked toddler and one partially clothed baby.  I have decided to pick my battles and my little one wearing pants just doesn't seem like something I need to tackle as of yet.  If he goes for the diaper, then I will intervene.

And so there you have it, the naked truth.  So what you say?  What's the big deal?  I will tell you the big deal.  Let's go back to the pizza man.  Here's a scenario: I ordered a pizza when my husband was on a trip. Pizza person is coming, so I have to get the little devils dressed. First I have to get the baby's pants on.  Okay, no big deal.  Then I will tackled my aspie.  On the way in with his clothes, my aspie has a meltdown because he doesn't want to put on his clothes on and threw his drink, which hit me.  Oh well, I just had to breathe, remain calm and remember to change my clothes later. I finally get my aspie dressed, when I leave the room to get the money for the pizza man because I heard the doorbell.  I open the door to the look of shock from the pizza man.  I look behind me to see my naked aspie and a pantsless baby all waiting to get the pizza because they are hungry.  Let's just say I do not order pizza unless my husband can go and pick it up.

Here's another person who is not a family member who has become quite accustomed to my aspie's nakedness and the partial clothing of the baby; our UPS delivery man.  I order from Amazon for many things.  Our diapers, wipes, vitamins, toilet paper, paper towels, cat litter, dog food, cat food, etc all come from Amazon which is delivered from UPS on most occasions.  On one particular delivery day my aspie had earned a train that he knew the UPS driver was going to deliver.  Therefore, instead of hiding like he would usually do, he came running out to grab his package.  Needless to say, the UPS man was shocked to see another package that day.  After my discussion with him about my son, he was very cool with it, being a father himself.  Now, our driver is used to the nakedness and does not even blink. 

My father-in-law who stops by unannounced many times has gotten used to the lack of clothing but can never let it go without a funny zinger.  You have to understand my father-in-law.  He is a retired special education teacher who learned a long time ago that humor can get you through a lot. Everything he says is always with a smile on his face to make me laugh, especially on those days that I just need to laugh.  Here's some quick ones that I remember him saying:  "Hey there, guess I missed the clothing optional memo."  "Wow, hi there captain naked."  "Do you need me to call CYS, is mommy not doing your laundry again?" He always laughs and my aspie always runs around happy to see his pappy. 

I have come to this conclusion about our clothing situation...Oh well.  My aspie's nakedness is not hurting anyone, nor it is hurting him, and hopefully someday he will be able to get to the point where the feeling of clothes will not bother him and he will be dressed inside our home.  If not, well then, I guess when he is older I will be visiting him at a nudest colony.