The Stairmaster

So, here I am doing laundry in the basement. Both girls are playing upstairs and Graham is in bed. Then Lucy comes in, as always, to "tell me something" (Lord, that girl always has something to tell me, and it usually is total nonsense about some storyline she has running in her head that involves her "husband" Matt or a horse named Ryan or one of her 12 kids. But I digress...)

And then, here comes Harper. Now, why is that monumental? Because as I stated before, Harper was upstairs. She was UPstairs. And now she was down. I didn't know whether to celebrate or be upset. She had never tried going down the stairs before. Never even tried. And here she was, all the way down. I applauded, if she can go downstairs all by herself then I don't have to constantly take her down there to play (constant, since she gets carried down and then comes up to tell me something or show me something or get a drink, etc and then wants to go back down immediately).

Well, I applauded until about and hour later I witnessed her trying to go down them all by herself. It made me a nervous wreck. She doesn't scoot or slide, she tries to walk down, just as she sees Lucy and adults do. She doesn't hold onto a rail, she tries to grip the wall. She wobbles, catches her balance and then goes for the next step. It is a concussion waiting to happen.

I have since tried to show her how to go down other ways. Sometimes she does it, sometimes not. For now, she isn't allowed to wear just socks in the house for fear that they will just make her all the more slippery.

And as a note, the stairs are not just for climbing or descending in Harper's world. They are a whole new place to play. She loves to go down just a couple and sit there. Like it is her own little nook. She also will go down to the landing and look out the window. Right now she stands there and yells "Spider!" or "Bones!" or "Ghost" because of our Halloween decorations that we have out. We have a no playing on the stairs rule but there she is, many, many times a day. All little and cute on the third step down.