step right up!

We recently purchased a new home and one of the biggest changes will be that we actually have stairs with easy access for Mary. Of course, we are going to do our very best to block her from the stairs – but I don’t want her living in a bubble either. Falls, especially falls down stairs, are a leading cause of injury to young children. I would rather Mary not be part of that statistic.

Luckily, while on vacation we were able to do a little practicing on some stairs at my parent’s house. We were especially lucky because they have just two stairs in their entryway – a perfect petri dish! We worked with Mary to start crawling backward and then go down the steps. She was super cute because she would start crawling backward about 4 feet from the stairs.

Then going up the steps we want her to stay on her hands and knees. Eventually we’ll work with her to do it standing and holding onto the handrail but right now she isn’t steady enough and I’m worried she will fall backwards.

It’s worked so far – really praising her when she does it the safe way! Any other thoughts on keeping kids safe when they are learning how to climb the stairs?