It was still dark. I had no idea what time it was but I was lying in bed, asleep, when I heard a distinctive click. I processed that bit of information, chewing it over in my mind. Was this something I needed to worry about? The click was the only sound breaking through the stillness of a sleeping household. There was no dog barking, no creaking stairs, no child crying. So what was it?
Click.
I decided to get up to pee, and investigate along the way.
Click.
As I made my way to the bathroom I noticed the time: 6 a.m. Then I noticed the light was on in our youngest daughter’s bedroom. Mystery solved. It was later than I thought and she was getting ready for school. I suddenly understood where the clicking was coming from. It’s the sound her markers make when she’s snapping the cap back on.
I realized right then and there that this amazing sense of hearing is a superpower that I did not have before having children. It wasn’t until I had put in some serious time being a mother that I learned to hear everything, and deduce everything from every sound. I could even hear trouble brewing in the silence that comes when the kids have been quiet in the other room a little too long.
That’s not my only super power. The other day I was standing in front of the fridge with an armful of odd-shaped packages and bottles when I suddenly dropped one. I didn’t even stop to think, I just reacted. In a flash, in a swoop, I caught the package (I believe it was sliced ham) before it even touched the ground. YESSS!
I think I got the most practice with the ol’ fall n’ catch routine when the kids were spitting out their soothers and dropping their lollipops and popsicles hither and yon. I know for a fact that I also caught the KIDS on numerous occasions, especially when they were learning to walk or run, jumping off playground equipment and hurtling down a slide or a toboggan run.
So SUPER HEARING and SUPER REFLEXES are the big ones. A lesser known power (but no less appreciated) is The Power To Make Dinner Out of Nothing. Or maybe that’s not a super power… just magic. ;)
