First fall down the stairs

Oh. My. Gawd.

I just had complete heart failure.

I left the gate open and Owen headed upstairs, which is actually fine because he can go up with ease. But I didn’t want him up there, so I caught him about 3/4 the way up and took his hand to lead him down. He knows how to come down by himself and has done it a few times, though I usually still hold his hand (or stand in front of him to watch him and/or catch him if he should fall).

But today I decided to let the dog out (in her crate in the room at the top of the stairs, which I can reach from the stairs) and in the three seconds it took me to finish the last 1/4 of the stairs and unlatch her gate, he fell. I watched him slide down, head over heels, about three steps. It all happened in s…l…o…w motion, I swear. But it happened so fast I couldn’t even get to him to stop him. I just kept watching him slide…and tumble…

It’s a curved stairwell with a big wood platform about halfway down, and he bonked into that as well, before sliding down another few stairs.

He was in shock, I think. Mostly like “What the hell was that?” Then he started crying…but it wasn’t a horrible cry (as we heard before when a 4×4 dropped on his toe) so I didn’t think it was too bad. Within a minute (or less) of me cuddling him on the steps (making sure he wasn’t bleeding anywhere), he was off down the rest of the stairs, apparently no worse for the wear. He grabbed a burpie from the couch and was off to the living room. It was a good 10 minutes before my heart stopped racing and I calmed down.

I guess he’s not quite ready to go the stairs alone.

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