The five of us were heading up to Michigan to visit my folks and the kids were listening to a new CD that the oldest kiddo had put together before we left. The oldest kid was burning through 99-cent downloads and soon wiped out the funds on his gift card. I was just happy that my three deaf and hard of hearing kids were taking such a great interest in music. There they were, bobbing their heads to the music.

I soon realized that they were playing the same song over and over on the two-hour trip. I turned around and watched them sing together.

They were counting the number of “Wows” in the song. Even the ten-year-old was singing along with gusto.

“So what’s the name of this song?” I innocently asked. I’m deaf and I can’t hear the words to any music without following the lyrics in front of me.

“It’s called ‘Wow,’” said the middle kid. All three of them were counting the “Wows.” Over and over, they counted. And over again.

Seventy one wows. One kid insisted there were over 80.

“Who sings this song?” I asked and learned that it was some hip hop singer named Kia Shine.

I grabbed the Sidekick and looked up the lyrics in Google.

Uh oh.

Oh my.

Needless to say, they aren’t singing “Wow” anymore.