When we found our new house we commented on the stairs and that we would need to get gates so DD1 couldn't play on them, before we moved she figured out how to climb the stairs and became quite confident so we decided instead of scare her away or stop her from learning we would just show her how to use them properly and would buy a gate to the upstairs part of the house for when other kids were here.
She has been using the stairs and is quite good, she wont crawl down them she walks up and down them with 1 hand on the wall or rail.
This morning DP bought her into our room as she was awake as he was leaving for work, she climbed out of bed and headed for the stairs so i figured i might aswell get up, was about to put my dressing gown on when i heard BUMP BUMP BUMP then SCREAM
I bolted for the stairs and her CPK baby was on step 2 and she was at the bottom, i was shaking as i ran to her, my poor poor baby!
I have no idea if she let go of Luna to climb down the stairs OR she dropped Luna as she fell, IF she dropped her as she fell then she fell down about 8 stairs
I am still shaking a couple of hours later, she seems fine, a little sooky but i would be too if i fell down some stairs, she's not complaining of a sore neck and is walking around fine, i feel horrible.
DP didn't turn the light on on the stairs as i guess he assumed she would stay with me, she called her dad and has a chat between sobs... my poor poor girl.
I still wont be buying a gate for every day use, hopefully now she will realise they are not a toy BUT that said i am having MG here in 2 wks and i don't trust the other kids so off to buy a gate we go.
If it makes you feel any better, I fell down a flight of stairs when I was 3 years old. I think the shock of the fall was more traumatic than any pain I felt. I'm sure you're DD will be the same.
Thx hun, i don't think i've ever gotten down stairs so quickly, there are 4 stairs down into the lounge and she has been using those so she doesn't seem 'scarred for life' lol.
We have a gate on both the up and downstairs now. We bought this place when I was pg with Oskar though so obviously we had to have one at least at the top. He still has fallen down the stairs though. He was about 18 months I think when he went down hmmm about 10 I think? It's so scary and I was checking him over like crazy. We now have a gate at the bottom also as Elijah kept crawling up them and if I was in the bathroom I couldn't stop him and he has also fallen down ... cos he was so fast one day that he got up about 3 or 4 high then thought he could just sit on them... ummmm wrong kiddo, wrong! Luckily babies and young kiddies "go with the flow" when they tumble and they don't brace and try to stop.
Our upstairs gate is only locked close if Elijah is upstairs and awake so Oskar can get up and down on his own. They are annoying but a necessary evil with young ones and/or kids who don't know how to use stairs well. I know kids older than Oskar who crawl up and still crawl backwards down..... so I basically keep all kids but my own off the stairs lol.
Thanks, there is only our room upstairs so i wont bother with one for up the top but when other kids are here i will be putting one at the bottom so they can't climb up and then fall down.
This morning Ava came up to my room and was sooking cos she didn't want to go down the stairs, being the mean mum i am i made her sit on her bum and go down, she got her confidence back so she went and climbed the stairs and came down walking holding the rail.
Hopefully no more spills from her... my nerves are shot...
Ours has fallen down the concrete stairs at big sister's school *cough* more than once *cough* and she does it in this kind of slow-motion way. They're so small at that age they don't fall very hard or fast.
The number of times she's fallen off the back of the couch - a much higher drop - because she's copying her big sister doing something idiotic she's been told not to do 1000 times is much higher.
Big sister was once encouraging her to climb up a VERY steep set of METAL stairs to the office of our local builder supply yard. Had to nip that one in the bud. "but she waaaaaaaaaaaaants to climb up there"
When big sister is around we have a perpetually bruised, battered, crying toddler. When big sister is away for holidays we have surprisingly few injuries ...
RumpledElf the older kids are such a PITA when it comes to those sorts of things, am so scared of what Ava is going to teach Zara that said Ava is a bit of a tomboy and i think the stairs may be the least of my worries... once i found her CLIMBING her TALL BOY she managed to open 3 drawers at different intervals and start climbing...
Oh hun accidents happen and I am so glad that she appears to be fine, it is horrible when they take a tumble like that how are your nerves now?
DD has gone down one or two steps but not that many, she is very good at going up and down them, but we watch her all the time, unless she has done a runner for them and we don't see, we have a door between them and the living area that we can shut so she can't get to them.
We have a gate at the top, just so that if she is wandering around in the mornings when we are getting ready for work, or in the evenings we know she is safe. The gates are a bit of a PITA, but I guess a bit of piece of mind.
DD did the same with her tall bay, early morning start I was napping on her floor while I thought she was playing, only to find that she had opened the bottom drawer and then the second drawer and was sitting it it opening the third drawer I freaked out as I was right next to her
Little ones are very good climbers. The big one has her chocolate and other snacks on the top shelf of the pantry and hasn't yet figured out that the little one can just climb up the pantry shelves like a monkey to get it. There's not many safe places in this house you can stash snacks these days.
When the big one was 2 I had an electrician in and she was all set to follow him up his ladder into the ceiling ... ladders are even worse than stairs
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