We walk around in our milk and pureed food-stained clothes. Contact lenses a thing of the past and the once-upon-a-time-never-to-be-seen-in-public glasses, now firmly pushed on our noses. Our hair greasy from the fine sheen of drool and the occasional spit-up.
As we move through public places, scrunched over baby strollers or slings and baby carriers dangling from our chest, dressed in our baggy shirts and flat shoes, we are comfortable in our public personas. No one knows about the powers that are concealed within. Our secret identities remain secret.
That baggy top with the loose sleeves shield our biceps that are now bulging thanks to carrying around our little ones. What passers-by will never know from looking at our flip-flop clad feet is the power of lightening speed that they possess. The power to dash at a speed unseen to the naked eye as our precious baby breaks into a wail in her crib or hurtles towards the wall on all fours or vrooms past in the walker that she/he was just gifted.
No one knows that our unremarkable looking ears will test positive for the gift of supersonic hearing- an imperceptible sigh, the slightest wail, the beginning of a sneeze – you name it, we hear it. Hey, sometimes we hear it even before it happens. (But then that could possibly be a side-effect of extreme sleep deprivation as well.)
And then, of course there is the eye sight. Don’t let the dark shadows underneath them or the aforementioned eye- glasses fool you, we miss nothing. From the tiny speck of non-existent dust or the barely visible red welt on her leg that may or may not be a mosquito bite. (Fingers crossed hoping it’s not a mosquito bite!)
Oh and six months of exclusive nursing (in both public and private places) later, we all know how blurry the line between inner and outer wear becomes, much like those other popular figures who wear their inner wear as normal attire.
And sure, to the non-superhero public that shawl is just a nursing shield, but we, the members of the league of extraordinary women know it as an essential part of a superhero costume – the cape and a super baby car seat to get the kid secure on a wild ride to the supermarket, school or anywhere else!
Who are we?
Just your everyday mother by day and a superhero in disguise every other moment, from the time we became mothers.
Like they say in the Incredible, we are no one but “average people, average citizens quietly and anonymously making the world a better place”.
As we move through public places, scrunched over baby strollers or slings and baby carriers dangling from our chest, dressed in our baggy shirts and flat shoes, we are comfortable in our public personas. No one knows about the powers that are concealed within. Our secret identities remain secret.
That baggy top with the loose sleeves shield our biceps that are now bulging thanks to carrying around our little ones. What passers-by will never know from looking at our flip-flop clad feet is the power of lightening speed that they possess. The power to dash at a speed unseen to the naked eye as our precious baby breaks into a wail in her crib or hurtles towards the wall on all fours or vrooms past in the walker that she/he was just gifted.
No one knows that our unremarkable looking ears will test positive for the gift of supersonic hearing- an imperceptible sigh, the slightest wail, the beginning of a sneeze – you name it, we hear it. Hey, sometimes we hear it even before it happens. (But then that could possibly be a side-effect of extreme sleep deprivation as well.)
And then, of course there is the eye sight. Don’t let the dark shadows underneath them or the aforementioned eye- glasses fool you, we miss nothing. From the tiny speck of non-existent dust or the barely visible red welt on her leg that may or may not be a mosquito bite. (Fingers crossed hoping it’s not a mosquito bite!)
Oh and six months of exclusive nursing (in both public and private places) later, we all know how blurry the line between inner and outer wear becomes, much like those other popular figures who wear their inner wear as normal attire.
And sure, to the non-superhero public that shawl is just a nursing shield, but we, the members of the league of extraordinary women know it as an essential part of a superhero costume – the cape and a super baby car seat to get the kid secure on a wild ride to the supermarket, school or anywhere else!
Who are we?
Just your everyday mother by day and a superhero in disguise every other moment, from the time we became mothers.
Like they say in the Incredible, we are no one but “average people, average citizens quietly and anonymously making the world a better place”.
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