Sometime after Sophia began butt scooting but before her birthday, I caught her on the first step heading up to the third floor. She fell and hit her head before I could get to her. She shrieked and cried, but didn’t mess with the stairs again until mid December.
I had been taking her by the arms and bouncing her up the stairs occasionally when she decided that it was time for her to revisit the stairs. Climbing up was no problem. She used all for limbs to help her up the stairs. Once at the top I took her hands and helped her take the steps down. Thanks to Kurt for showing her how to get off our bed and the couch by sliding down feet first on her belly after a few trips down the stairs she insisted that I let go of her hands. She turned around to face the steps and went down the stairs feet first. She is a scary smart little monkey!
A couple days after that I learned that when I’m on the main floor of our tri-level, instead of using the baby gate for the stairs leading down, I need to use the gate for the stairs leading up. It was the day before my birthday. I was in the kitchen when I saw that she had climbed up two steps. She saw me and started heading back down. When she reached the bottom step, she decided that she wanted to turn around and walk down like a grownup. She positioned herself to face forward, but had her feet and hands occupying the same step which caused her to loose her balance. She did a forward roll off the last step and hit the top of her head before I could reach her. She shrieked and cried. I carried her to the top of the stairs into her room to rock her. She cried for no more than two minutes before she pushed me away and headed for the stairs again. We spent a good half hour practicing going up and down the stairs. She is one stubborn kid!
A few days after our trip I was once again in the kitchen and had forgotten to put the baby gate up, I heard her grunt-cry which in baby-ese indicates that her highness wishes my assistance. I ignored her. More fussy grunt-cries persisted. I ignored her. Finally, her grunt-cry became quite insistent. I decided I should at least give her a glace. HOLY CRAP! She’s at the top of the stairs! Monkey genius was waiting for me to help her walk down the stairs.
It is amazing what the little ones learn to do when given more freedom. I sometimes wonder if society protects kids too much these days which stops them from natural learning and discovery. Hmmm…Deep thoughts by Jack Handy lol
Susan Anderson – Oh I’m sure our current society protects them too much. I refuse to buy a helmet and knee pads for every damn wheelied object Sophia plays with. And don’t get me started on all the activities they do where every kid gets a prize!