[furyofantares]

When I was a parent of a newborn I was shocked at how good my hearing for a fidgeting baby became.

Then I realized I was also getting a number of false positives, and eventually I noticed that I felt a sort of constant tax of, well, the kid was just always on my mind. Just always some sort of background simulation of what might be going on in the other room, not at the forefront but almost always running.

So any little noise would quickly fit some imagined scenario involving the kid, and I'd be on my way to her as soon as she woke up and made the smallest noise - or any time the house creaked.