Another Gray Hair - My Superpower

Another Gray Hair, my newspaper column that is published every other week.

I don’t know what it is, but when I first became a Mom I also gained a super power. Not quite in the Superman or Hulk way, something a little more subtle. I gained a greater sense of hearing. I know it may sound a little corny and Marvel comic like, but think of it more in the sense of someone that lost another sense and one became heightened.
I can hear my boys in the night time, whenever they roll over, cough, thud against the wall, whatever. It often wakes me up. However, I can’t hear someone honk coming down the street. We lived in Othello for about a year and a half before I realized that the train tracks are even still in use. I just saw the condition of them and never heard trains so I thought they were abandoned. I can’t hear them at night either, even though they are only three or four blocks from my home. My husband laughed at me when I told him with amazement that they are still in use. He knew all the time.
I can hear doors open and little ones escaping. I can tell which door has been used for escape to a friends to play without Mom’s permission. I have even installed a lock on our screen down - up high, so Noah, the best Houdini of them all couldn’t run away to the neighbor’s. He learned to take a stool from the kitchen, hauling it up the step, into the kitchen, across the entry and to the front door. He would climb up on it, stand on top, right near the stairs, and unlock the “tricky Mom installed child escaping deterrent.”
Usually I would hear the movement of the stool and catch him in the act - but not always. Luckily he has grown out of that phase and is very good about asking to play with neighbor friends now.
When my boys are away from me at church or other meetings where there is child care, I can stand outside the door of the room and hear if my child is the one crying. They all have a distinct cry, at least to my ears. If someone is bring them to me I can hear them coming in the hall before they ever make it to the room I am in.
I can hear them from the other room, or even other side of the house being little boys and their rowdiness. Someone was visiting me and we were in the living room while my boys were playing fairly well together in the family room. I could hear that the play was getting a little rough. My friend was able to see freely into the other room from where she was sitting.
“Noah, get off Kade,” I called out to them. My friend was amazed that I could tell not only what was going on but who was doing what to who. Luckily I can do that, but I can wait until they learn how to really attack each other through wrestling, football or other contact sports.
I can also hear when things have become to quiet. It usually means that by boys are working well together - at something they shouldn’t be doing. That is the time that I truly listen… and then run and find them.

We also have a section where we ask 4 high school kids each week what they wish their superpower was. I just wanted to expound on that. What is your superpower?