Stairs

I can't figure out what to do with these babies and our stairs. They do great going up them, but for the life of me, I can't get them to go down normally. I've been told that you have to 'show' babies how to turn themselves around and how to go down on their belly. Well, I've done that every day for the 2 months and it still hasn't clicked with them. They'd much rather sit on their bum, and scoot until they PLOP to the next step. Now, I'm normally not a 'you-must-do-it-this-way-because-no-other-way-will-do' kind of gal, but when they go down the stairs their way, I'd say 40% of the time they face plant it and tumble down the stairs.

To stop them from having free range to the suicidal stairs, I usually put the baby gate in between the wall and the railing (banister? whatever that thing is called...) the first 5 or so steps don't have a solid wall for the baby gate grab onto, so I just block the whole entryway off (is this making sense?). About a week ago, I decided to put the baby gate where the wall starts, so the girls could have a few steps to practice on. I still try to 'teach' them to go on their belly, but they're getting better at the scoot and plop method they've come up with. Now, they only tumble down the stair maybe 20% of the time and when they fall, they're usually only falling 2-3 steps. That's progress, right?

Here you can see the baby gate blocking off the entire entryway. Yes, it's suuuper blurry, but you get the idea. And don't mind Sophie. It's just another dramatic meltdown. :)

Lillian doing the scoot...

and getting ready to plop!

Maybe they'll get the hang of it someday. Maybe...

In other news, Sophie is a walking machine! She went from only walking a few steps at a time (and only if it was walking to us) to letting go of furniture on her own and walking across the entire room. She now walks all over the place. And if you're wondering about Lillian, she has little interest in walking because she can still out crawl Sophie. ;)