Lobster Girl

Rooster is one of those kidlets that seems to revel in her ability to make me question her sanity. She is the child who will climb onto a dresser just to leap over to a shelf a few feet away, will dart out into a parking lot regardless of traffic, and will repeatedly do something annoying to her siblings all while saying, "I'm sorry," to try and get away with it. If she is told to not do a particular thing, rest assured she will try her hardest to do it anyway.

A number of times, I have gone into the bathroom after Rooster has finished showering, only to discover steam clinging to the walls to the point where it was dripping, despite the bathroom fan running the entire time. I have spoken to her about how she is not to turn up the temperature because overly hot water can hurt her. We have double-checked to make sure the water heater is set at the recommended temperature for families with small children because we do not want her to scald herself when (not if) she disobeys us and turns up the water temperature. She is almost seven years old and I still do not trust her to turn on her shower water by herself, despite her pleas to do just that.

This afternoon, I set up Rooster's shower and went back into the kitchen to get dinner in the oven. Rooster finished her shower and then came out to ask me to trim her toenails. Nothing was on the stovetop at that point, and my husband could keep an eye on the oven, so I grabbed my manicure/pedicure kit and walked Rooster back into the bathroom to complete that task. I asked her to sit on the toilet seat lid and put her feet up on my knees so I could see her toenails. When she put her feet up on my knees, I gasped in horror.

My daughter's legs were bright red. She looked like a lobster. I looked up at her arms and noticed they were also red. Shocked, I immediately called my husband into the bathroom. We were both appalled at how our daughter looked.

So once more, we told Lobster Girl that she is burning herself by turning the water temperature all the way up as hot as it could get. Once again, we are double-checking the thermostat on the hot water heater to make sure it is within safe limits.

I am happy to report that my daughter's skin has resumed its normal color by now. If it had not, I probably would have taken her to either the walk-in clinic near us or the emergency room, simply because of hot much of her body had been red. I don't want my daughter to cook herself! This is perhaps a case of her truly not being able to feel temperature correctly, in which case I shall have to talk to her doctor about the best way to handle such a thing. Unfortunately, sensory issues like this are not something that can be treated. It has to be proactive, at least from what I've already read on the subject. But how do you do that with a kidlet who will wait until you leave the room in order to try and scald herself? We've already lowered the hot water temperature. I'm not sure what else can be done. I might have to assign her the last shower so the hot water is all used up by the time she gets there. I hope that does not count as cruel and unusual punishment.