Stairs? Not a Problem

A couple years ago my sister told me she had trained her (then) 13 month old son to go down the stairs at something like 11 months old. M was 4 months old at the time, but I couldn’t believe he had learned so early! I never taught M how to go down the stairs though, because when she was old enough to learn I was hugely pregnant and it was just way too much to try to get down with her and teach her. I just always held her hand as we went up and down and at about 17 months just let her do it on her own. She fell once…maybe twice, but never had a problem. We are constantly having to baby gate off the stairs so L doesn’t tumble down (which she has done). Earlier this week I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom and M (without me knowing) yanked down the baby gate so she could go downstairs. I happened to peak out and saw what she had done and ran over to put it back up so L wouldn’t fall down. I was surprised to find Baby L already 2 stairs down. I was impressed that she could do so, so I decided to try and teach her. She had NO problem! She’s a little pro on the stairs. I took this video on that first day of her going down the stairs. She gets distracted, but does really well!





This is Baby L two days later. She’s going down the stairs so much better after just two days. We still stand behind her when she goes down because she likes to turn and look at you as if to say, “Look how good I’m doing!” We’re afraid she’ll accidentally fall. She hasn’t yet, but still. She’s so funny too, because when she wants to go down the stairs she will crawl towards them and when she’s like 3 to 5 feet away she’ll turn around and start back up towards them. It’s so hilarious to watch! She is so proud of herself!