Post by oldbaylover1024 on Feb 5, 2015 9:22:02 GMT -5
Alright, I need some advice. J is 21 months old and goes up the stairs perfectly fine. She'll also scoot on her bottom and go down about 3-4 stairs at a time. She doesn't whine, complain, or have trouble with this method. She also has no problem getting on and off the couch. She gets off the couch/chairs by flipping over and sliding down on her belly, or sometimes she'll slowly slide down facing forward. She's a furniture climbing pro at this point.
Here's my question. How the heck do I get this girl to go down the stairs?! She won't scoot with an adult in front of her - I think it scares her. And she won't flip and do the backwards crawl down the steps either - I don't think she likes going down blind, not seeing what's in front of her. She's also pretty petite for her age at about 24 lbs. and 31 inches tall. Basically, she's about the size of an 18 month old, which makes sense since H and I are vertically challenged. The pedi has never been concerned with her growth/size.
I've tried showing her how to go down both methods, H has tried demonstrating, we've tried getting her to do 3-4 steps at the bottom first... She literally screams and holds her arms out for us to carry her down the stairs. I'm at a loss. Everything I'm seeing online says she's about the age to start learning to go down alone, but my MIL and SIL are saying I'm behind the game.
Are we behind? Should she be going down alone already? Is there a method we haven't tried? How did you get your kids to learn to go down the steps?
Obviously, I'm feeling like an inadequate mother at this point... Here's some healthy morning grub for listening (and your advice 
)
J can do 2-3, even 4 broad steps by scooting on her bottom. It's the tall, regular staircase she isn't handling well. Even chairs and stepstools she's fine if we hold her hand. At this point, I feel like she can handle the every day sidewalks and stuff.