Molly and stairs

For the longest time, Molly was afraid of the stairs. Yahoo! That's something most parents love, right? To know their baby is safe from falling down the dreaded stairs! (My little sister broke her collarbone falling down stairs. I was 5 yrs old and the first to "rescue" her, but being only 5, I lifted her up by the arms, and probably hurt her even worse!)

Back to Molly: She's been an easy baby with stairs so far. She'd sit at the top and keep a safe distance. What a smartie! If she starts at the bottom going up, she's always fine. Or at least, should I say, she hasn't tried to turn around and go back down yet.

Last week she started getting braver, and trying to go down them. But she always starts down head first! Then she gets stuck and nervous and "calls" for help.


I think it's because we were at a friend's house, with just one stair between their dining and living room. Molly had lots of fun going up and down that stair over and over, but always went head first. Since it was only one stair, it was safe, but I think it formed a bad habit for her. (I even thought about that possibility, but not until she had been playing on that stair for 20 minutes. Whoops.)

Luckily, there have been no falls yet. The baby gate hasn't been used much, except to keep her out of Bridger's train set. I've been trying to teach her to turn around, but mostly she's still going head first. Once I get her turned around, she does really well scooting down the stairs.

This last picture though, was the first time I did see her turn herself around finally!

That was yesterday. As I'm typing this, I can hear her at the top of the stairs again waiting for help. I'll be right back... At least this time, she waited for me to help her get turned around before heading down them head first. Maybe her fall off the couch this morning took away some of her new found bravery for heights. (Yesterday though, she turned around and got off the couch just fine.) But maybe I should put some of our extra couch cushions at the end of the longer section of stairs for the next week just in case...