So I guess I had a special Thanksgiving story of my own from last week. It didn’t happen exactly on Thanksgiving (it was the next day) which is why I’m only reporting on it now. But still, to me, what happened definitely gave me big reason to be thankful.
It was a crazy afternoon. Jayden, my four-year-old, had an infected arm that needed to be treated. It had started off so stupidly; with just a scrape from when he was coming up the stairs outside our house. But somehow it just wasn’t really getting better – a doctor friend of ours had told us to go check it out. Now, you have to understand something about Jayden. Great, wonderful, sweet kid that he is, he simply hates doctors. I knew it wouldn’t be fun. Meanwhile, I had to take Ethan (the one-year-old) along for the ride and I was pretty tired myself too. So it wasn’t bearing for a good afternoon.
We get to the nurse who needed to dress Jayden’s arm and of course he was screaming like he was being shot. Ethan cried on seeing his big brother – his hero – so upset. When the ordeal was finally over, I just wanted to go home but I felt bad for Jayden and agreed to take both the boys to the park. Big mistake; I was simply not in the right space for it.
We get out the car, and I go to put Ethan’s Peg Perego car-seat on the wheels. I was always resentful of my husband who, I felt, had, at the time, purchased the heaviest car-seat out there (although I couldn’t complain too much as I did tell him to get whatever he thought was best – I was about 4 hours post-partum with Jayden at the time, so probably not thinking all that clearly). Anyway I go to put Ethan (thankfully strapped into the seat) on to the wheels without double-checking that the seat was clicked in properly to the wheels.
All of a sudden, Ethan cannot be seen. He is face down on the ground – on the road! The car-seat wasn’t clicked in properly to the wheels. For about 10 seconds I honestly thought he might be dead; I couldn’t see him! It was definitely my scariest moment to date as a parent. Jayden was screaming as I went to pick Ethan up. Apart from a tiny bit of road-dust on his forehead, he was perfectly fine, only crying a little! I was in shock as I hugged him close.
Finally I was thankful. Thankful to my husband for buying the heaviest – clearly safest – car-seat around; thankful to Ethan for having such a big (protective!) head that I initially thought looked weird, and thankful my two boys were alive and well.
Yes, Thanksgiving always has tales of gratitude. I just hope next year mine is not quite so dramatic!