Super mom

By Andrea

"Only a mother has reflexes like that!"

I heard these words spoken as I was leaving the school yard, just after I dropped Emma at kindergarten last week.

A little boy had tripped. In the blink of an eye, his mom stepped forward and caught him before he even hit the ground. She didn't even break a sweat. It was quite the sight. Onlookers ooohed and aaahed with amazement. She continued with her conversation as if nothing had happened.

I have often surprised myself at the precise hand-eye coordination involved in the act of lunging and catching a falling toddler. The other super power I've developed now that I've been a parent for 5.5 years is the Power of Peripheral Vision. There is very little sneakery that can get by me.

But my mother reflexes aren't always as well-developed as I like to think.

The other day, the four of us were at a park watching a softball game. DH and I were sitting on a bench, the girls sitting in the grass a few metres ahead of us. Suddenly: crack! I see it's a flyball. I look up, the ball looks as if it's floating in the sky. There was a huge evergreen in front of me, partly obscuring my view, but I could see that the ball was going to come down somewhere very close to us if not right on top of our heads. Concussion city, here we come.

Unfortunately, we had left our capes and tights at home. DH and I both froze. Thankfully, the ball plonked down in the grass beside us. But still, it was close. Where were my super reflexes then?

What super powers do you have? Which do you wish you had?

Comments

[VJ]

Sometimes I scare myself with how well I can tell you whats coming before it happens. When the phone rings and I'm in the other room, more often than not, I know who is calling.

And, I have a great since of timing with my husband. If I need to call him on his cell phone for some reason, generally he's in the ....well...he's indisposed when he answers my call.

[Goldberry]

I wish I could catch a toddler before his/her face hits the ground. I freeze in times of crisis - LOL. My daughter will, sadly, walk away with a scrape somewhere.

My Mommy super power is - a super strong sense of smell. My daughter has never and will never sit in a poopy diaper very long. I can smell her diaper from a mile away, evem if no one else can.

[AGK]

I've often caught things thrown at me by kids at work (I'm a cashier). I'll be scanning along and then suddenly I reach out and catch the item before it hits me. It always amazes people. Of course, sometimes I don't see it coming at all, and I get clocked upside the head ;)

Another time, though, I froze when I saw a child falling. I hated that moment, the one where I couldn't move, but was amazed when the mom caught the toddler right before her face hit the ground. I just wish I knew my super powers would always be at the ready!