One of my greatest fears

...is that Christopher will fall down the stairs. Sure, sure, we have all done it, especially as children. Guess we are all over protective parents, or maybe it's just me.

Then, it happened!

Late Sunday morning, he had gone upstairs to his room to play. I was in the living room when I heard the "Aaahhh!!!" ba-bump-bump-bump Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!! bump-bump-bump-bump AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Of course, all of this happened in a split second, so when I got there, he was all crumpled up at the bottom step, more stunned than anything. All the feelings of dread came rushing to the forefront as I scanned the situation to see if he was bleeding or if he could still move, had broken anything, or worse.

He was fine! Oh, thank goodness! It was his first time slipping on the stairs, and he did lose one of his shoes on the way down, but he survived intact! I know we have all done it at one time or another. My most recent time was just a few years ago, when Christopher was just a small babe and when we often made the trek upstairs in the "fishbowl" townhouse on campus in California with the baby in our arms. Fortunately he wasn't with me that time.

So, now I can relax a little, knowing that he's had the stair slipping experience, and that he'll better know what to do the next time. There's "always" a next time.....