This week, I am giving my thanks

It happened without warning. 

I was having a conversation with my husband in our living room, which seemed important at the time, but now I couldn’t even tell you what it was about. I was worked up — a trademark of mine — hands flying for dramatic effect, when suddenly, something amazing happened.

Our son, who only days earlier had turned 10 months old, let go of the baby gate he was holding onto, toddled down the 10-foot hallway, plopped onto his rear and began playing with my shoes.

My husband and I were speechless.

“Did that just happen,” I asked, incredulously.

“Yeah!” he shouted. “Go Peanut!”

The baby, having no idea what all the fuss was about, seemed slightly confused, but not enough to interrupt his chewing one of my shoelaces.

“We need to record this,” I said. “Let’s see if he will do it again.”

But then we discovered a technical problem. My cellphone was full of video and would not allow me to record any more footage — all of the baby, I might add.

So I found the camcorder, but the battery was dead.

“Argh!” I cried.

“Not to worry,” my husband said. “I’ll record it on my phone.”

But every time the baby got moving, it took too long to activate his phone and get the recorder rolling.

Then, an idea hit.

Ten minutes later, my baby was toddling toward his momma in full view of the camera phone — as I held a bottle of milk as incentive. He crossed the kitchen, swiveled around and went back to the starting point.

It is the most incredible thing to watch him walk, as if he has been doing it forever. Only we parents can appreciate all the effort our children put into developing the strength and coordination into achieving this feat.

Yes, this is an amazing milestone for every infant but, for the mother, this is nothing short of a miracle. It is beautiful and joyous and amazing and incredible and all the other superlatives that I can’t list fully.

We slave to give our children the best possible life — the clothes, the food, the toys, the activities — and when moments like this come along, it is a massive sense of validation that our baby is thriving.

This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for everyone and everything that I have and I’m sure that’s the ecstatic mom in my talking.

— Sarah Leach is assistant managing editor at The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at (616) 546-4278 or sarah.leach@hollandsentinel.com.