it’s a long way down… 

Since the year began, Aisha’s been literally moving in leaps and bounds, from standing to walking and pushing herself into a standing position from a seated one. And yes, in that very order. And no, she still doesn’t know how to crawl. There is no rhyme or reason to the girl; she just bes who she be.

Anyhoo.

Even though she’s far more surefooted as a walker, she’s been giving the stairs a wide berth. The staircase is curved, steep and plentiful – and from her vantage point, they prolly also seem like an awful lot of work. Aisha very much dislikes a challenge (she’s definitely her father’s child in that regard).

* * *

My cousin Steve was over last weekend, filming segments for a family documentary he’s doing. We were in the kitchen with my mother and the kid, chatting and reminiscing about the funny moments we’ve shared. When mum took leave of us to retrieve some old family photos from upstairs, Aisha became very upset that grandma had left her, despite being told, “I’m coming back!”

My cousin and I continued with our documentary talk, when we were interrupted by my mother’s urgent shout: “JOANNE!”

We looked at each other and bolted in the direction of the yell. We rounded the corner from the living room into the foyer to find my mother laughing-crying, clinging to Aisha, who was standing dead centre of the 14-step curved staircase, looking rather bemused.

“What happened?” we both asked.

Turns out my mother was coming from her room, pictures in hand when she heard these tiny little gasps of effort. Strange, that sounds an awful lot like Aisha, she thought, and hurried into the hallway. She peered from the landing, only to see her teeny little granddaughter (who’d never so much as climbed ONE step, never mind seven) clinging perilously to the balusters as she made ready to mount another stair.

This. Kid. Though. Oi.

* * *

The next day, I asked my mother to try and get her to do it again. Like, I  had to know how she’d managed to get up so far, and all by herself. So, with much howling and after some resistance, she did three steps. I watched from above and my heart was in my throat the whole time. Her technique is so precarious that it’s a miracle she didn’t tumble back down.

It would have been quite the fall. The very thought of it makes me cry.

Yay! She’s climbing stairs!

Holy shit she’s climbing stairs.