“Daisy is doing it! She is going down the steps by herself. We don’t have to have the gate anymore,” my daughter called out during a recent visit at her two-story house.
I walked over to the stairs. Looking down from the gate-free top, I saw our 11-month-old grandchild kneeling part way up the stairs. She turned and carefully looked behind her at the step beneath her before extending her baby leg to reach for the step beneath and her mother behind and below her. Catching it with her toes, she settled her leg and began shifting her weight and other leg to the step beneath her as her mother’s arms reached out on either side ready to steady her if necessary.
Learning to descend the stairs became a necessity when the crawler began pulling herself up from a crawling position and climbing onto toys, furniture and up the steps. With an older brother and sister running the stairs all day, no one could guarantee that the baby would never quietly ascend the stairs with no one seeing or hearing her.
As the youngest with a couple older talkers, the baby smiles and laughs but mostly she quietly watches everyone else, including her big sister. She has a calm, accommodating nature – even while waiting for her food.
Plopped into her high chair to await breakfast, the child looked around, spotted the cup of yogurt with a spoon and cried for her food. Her just turning 3-year-old sister decided to help. She picked up the yogurt their mom had left for her toddler as she went to prepare another jar of solids for the baby.
Big sister knew exactly what to do. She stuck the small plastic spoon in the cup, tasted the yogurt and looked at the baby flailing her arms to be fed.
She scooped out another overloaded spoonful, reached up to the high chair and shoved it helpfully in her sister’s face. The baby jumped at the food like a baby robin, spilling yogurt into her lap and onto the tray.
While she tried to pick up the spilled yogurt with her fingers, big sister helped herself to another spoonful before preparing another one for her little sister.
“You need to catch it before it falls off her chin,” I said.
She glanced at her sister, swiped at her face with the spoon, caught some of the yogurt and offered it to the baby who lunged for the spoon.
For the next minute or so, big sister ate at least one, sometimes two spoonfuls of yogurt for every scoop she thrust at her chair-bound sister.
Noticing me watching them, big sister scooped up another spoonful and offered me a bite. My “no thanks,” gave her permission to eat my share.
“I think that’s enough,” their mom said, sitting down with another jar of solid food. She laid bits of cereal on the tray and began feeding the baby her fruit.
The baby grabbed cereal between bites from her mom and motioned for yogurt. Her sister shook her head and proceeded to finish her yogurt by herself.
Later while the baby slept, I took big sister to one yard sale on the way to buy a few items for a goody bag. The pre-schooler carefully studied her options then picked out a toy for herself, her big brother and little sister … without my suggesting she do so.
At the store, she talked about the goody bags, selected candy and trinkets and declared we had enough for the children who would be coming to the Bible study that evening.
She stuffed a lei and a handful of candy in each bag, proud to be making up goody bags, let her brother write names on the plastic sacks and slid down with the satisfied look of a child who knew she no longer held the position as the youngest, did not need lessons in stair climbing, could feed her baby sister (and herself) and could help prepare for the evening’s visitors.