Stairs

I don't generally think much about going up or down stairs, except to think about how tiring it is to go up stairs so frequently during the day, often carrying a 25 lb. toddler on my hip and with 25 extra pounds around my middle. However, for Matthew to go down stairs, in particular, it is clear that it is a very thoughtful, deliberative event. He's not much into the "sit and slide down on the tummy" method, instead preferring to try standing and walking down the stairs as he sees me, Jason and Sam do. He's such a daring little kid.

So today after doing some vacuuming upstairs it was time to descend. We decided to take our time and I decided to closely watch Matthew's progression down the stairs (I usually keep an eye on him, but not too closely). He stood at the top of the stairs and contemplated what to do for a few moments. He had a book in one hand that he apparently wanted to carry downstairs with him, so that required a different tactic to descent than when he isn't carrying anything. He put the book in his right hand and used his left hand to grab one of the vertical supports of our railing. He slowly inched his foot toward the edge of the stair, slowly, slowly, then he was there. He slid his foot off the edge of the stair and started bending his opposite knee. Then he stopped. Something wasn't quite right. He looked up, then re-positioned his hand on the next vertical support. Apparently he thought the balance wouldn't be quite right with the one he had originally grabbed. Then he inched his foot forward again, slowly, slowly, and slid it off the edge of the stair. He bent his opposite leg and lowered his foot to the next stair. Then he lowered his other foot.

On to the next step. First he had to decide what vertical support to grab. Then the slow movement of the foot over the edge and either, he stepped down, or stopped and moved his hand to another vertical support and tried again. He did this for three steps, then he sat on the step and started reading his book. Apparently he had reached as far as he wanted to and wanted to take a break. So then I picked him up and carried him down the rest of the stairs.