This morning, I was rushing around trying to get out the door. I called out from the kitchen to my oldest daughter, Mackenzie, “Do you have your crocs on?” She said no. All of a sudden I hear, stomp…stomp. My youngest daughter Delanie had come into the kitchen, with a bagel shoved in her mouth. I turn to look at her, and she is holding Mackenzie’s crocs (shoes) in her hands.  She lifts them up to gesture “here they are”.

These are the moments that melt my heart. She knew to stomp her foot on the floor to get my attention. It’s so obvious to me that being a hearing child in a Deaf household is an entirely different culture.  But in our house, there is a flip side.

My husband, whom is Deaf, was raised in a hearing household. He doesn’t tune into stomping feet. He is not ultra sensitive to vibrations. So my children have to work a bit harder to get daddy’s attention. While dad is taking a nap on the couch in the family room, the kids play and run around the couch without waking him. It’s quite amazing in contrast to my childhood.

My Dad’s sensitivity to vibration is a mystery. In our 3 bedroom ranch home, we had an addition built, the family room.  The family room was one step lower than the remainder of the house. Dad would be sleeping in the back bedroom. All of a sudden he is in the family room telling us to stop jumping around.  It was a calm instruction. However, get us jumping in the living room on the same level of the bedroom and he would come out yelling at us to stop.

Now reflecting, Delanie must have learned to stomp her feet from me. Daddy doesn’t stomp his feet. A Deaf tradition carried on by a Coda.