Stair climber

No, I did not get Mommy B a new piece of exercise equipment... that's what I'm calling Alli after her latest endeavor. Add another moniker to her already lengthy list of nicknames. In preparation for our house guests this weekend, I brought some cleaning supplies down to our half-bathroom on the first floor. Alli was such a good lil' helper... pulling herself up so she could peer over the toilet bowl to make sure I did a good job. Don't worry - I sanitized her afterwards too.

Once I had finished up, I placed the toilet brush on the first landing on our staircase. There are only two stairs before this landing, but I thought putting everything there would get them out of her reach temporarily. Wrong. She immediately headed for the staircase and pulled herself up so she was standing at the bottom of the stairs. I turned around to find her pulling herself up to the first stair with her arms and lifting her legs up to slide them onto the first step. And just like that, she was kneeling on the first stair with her hands on the next step, reaching for the toilet brush.

I thought to myself, "No way that just happened... had to be luck or something." So I stood there another few seconds, only to witness Alli pull herself up to the landing and lift her legs onto the second step. At this point, she could reach the toilet brush and she had accomplished her mission. Still thinking that this was just a fluke, I grabbed her off the landing and went to get my phone to record this event. I placed her back at the bottom of the steps and hit the record button.

And off she went... marching her way right up the stairs. She slid back once or twice, but only enough to place her feet on the stair below and push herself up again. I kept having to move the toilet brush up the stairs more and more to keep her motivated. And sure enough, she made it all the way up the stairs (navigating two turns, mind you) with almost no assistance. I take that back, I didn't help her at all - I just placed my hand behind her butt to prevent her from tummy-sliding all the way back down the stairs.

I simply couldn't believe it - it seems like just yesterday she was Army-crawling around the floor. Then a couple days went by and she's turbo-crawling around the entire first floor. Then I blink and she's climbing the stairs? Who said that was allowed? In all honesty, I shouldn't be surprised... I skipped crawling and started walking at 8 1/2 months. I bet my parents were pretty surprised about that! I should've known that she'd take after me and hit the ground running, so to speak.

Looks like I know what I'm doing tomorrow - blowing the 9 months of dust off the baby gate we have and installing it at the bottom of the stairs. I'm sure the dog will love another obstacle in her already baby-consumed world. And to think that we've never even tried to expose her to the stairs (for obvious reasons) up until now... she figured it out all on her own. Regardless, nice work Alli girl - daddy is proud of you.