You will remember I have talked about J and his unusual sleeping habits.
They have been going on for over a year now and as this has been so long we are all just used to it and don't bat an eyelid.
I thought it could'nt get anymore unusual than sleeping on a hard floor on the top of the stairs, but he has excelled himself now.
To set the scene -
J broke our old freezer. We have a separate utility room which houses storage cupboards, a washing machine, tumble dryer and (until recently) an upright freezer.
J became obsessed with opening the freezer door and leaving it open. Over the last few months I have had to throw away the whole stock of goods as they had defrosted to mush several times.
I would check the door was closed, but somehow he would sneak down at night, open it, go back to the floor and sleep.
Now I had been nagging for months to have a lock placed on the main door to the utility room, as we have a 'star' key lock for the kitchen doors, and so a 'star' key lock for here would be suitable and easy as the 'star' keys are all the same. My nagging fell on deaf ears, and so I wasted money on re-stocking the freezer, only for J to spoil the goods all over again.
Well, one day my freezer went on strike. It was very old I will give that, so it was not unexpected.
I decided a chest freezer would be more apt as the lid is sprung mounted and so should come back down and so J would not gain the same fun element he was getting from the old upright one.
After it was delivered they told me not to plug it in for a few hours.
Well the next day I still hadn't plugged it in as I was hesitant about not having a lock on the main door and also I didn't have time to go shopping to do a re-stock.
On day four, in the morning, I woke and discovered J not in his usual spot on the landing floor. His cover was not in his room and I presumed he was on the sofa.
Downstairs I could not find him on either of the sofas in the downstairs rooms and was then thinking he was in the downstairs bathroom (I had checked the upstairs bathroom too). On my way to check in the downstairs bathroom (which is accessed through the utility room) I noticed a triangle of his cover hanging out of the new freezer.
I lifted the lid and there he was asleep, curled up in the fetal position, with his cover around him.
I immediately thanked God I hadn't switched it on as he may have climbed in despite the cold and goodness knows what may have happened.
So, thanks to this episode a lock is now going to be fitted, and quick. I still have not turned the new freezer on and will not do so until I feel sure it is completely safe to do so.
I think in a post near the beginning of this blog I mentioned a lady called Temple Grandin. It was back in the early days of our journey into autism that I came across a piece she wrote, which states her preference to sleeping in a cow press as she enjoys the sensation of feeling compressed when sleeping. Ms Grandin is a high functioning autist and writes eloquent and succinct pieces surrounding her life and her autism.
I liken J and the chest freezer incident to Ms Grandin and the cow press.
If J is needing this stimuli then we need to find something more suitable than a freezer, less expensive and space consuming than a cow press, and more in keeping with safety and ethics in the house. Any ideas more than welcome!
