Stepping Milestones

I have decided that for me the first steps of a child are not the most significant.  Sure, they are exciting and well worth clapping for.  They are certainly a refreshing milestone attained after a long stretch of my child's constant neediness.  But for me they're just not the best. 
For me the best steps come later, when walking has been nearly mastered.  They come when my child has been teetering around all day long, busy with her newfound freedom, busy without me.  After hours of exploration, climbing, and stretching for things I don't want her to reach, Emma turns on her heel and looks at me.  I am, finally, back in her line of attention rather than on the sidelines where I have waited all day.  Her face stretches into a tired smile, she reaches her hands out toward me and she walks, no, runs into my outstretched arms.  When she reaches me her smile dissolves into a giggle, her tiny little arms lock around my neck, and I swoop her into the air.  In this moment the baby I have lost to walking toddlerhood returns to me for a moment, and I am once again needed. 
And that is the best.