West Virginia: We went to visit Beau’s friends the other day. It was a lovely day and perfect for spending on a secluded mountain farm. Jesse enjoyed his time playing with L&M’s grandkids and seeing cows and the “big fat dog.” I enjoyed girl chat. Beau enjoyed shooting up clay pigeons with his buddy. Molly got held by a lot of people who appreciated her snuggly cuteness.

The Stairs of Doom: It was while at the farm that Jesse had a slight mishap with what I call The Stairs of Doom. L&M’s farm house is a work in progress. The ground floor, which is more like a basement although it is above ground, is what you’d expect in a basement with a concrete floor. They have hardwood steps leading up to the main floor, but there is no side rail (yet) or banister. Until they had grandchildren, there was an open area at the top from their kitchen where a wall has since been added. Unfortunately the width from wall to wall at the top is just slightly off for the gate they have - it’s too wide for the gate to be tight enough to keep a child from knocking it down if they lean on it. To my mother’s eyes, those stairs are scary business and I keep a vigilant eye on Jesse when he’s near them.

He did well all day. He’s good on our stairs, to the point that we rarely put the gates up anymore - we really only use the gates to keep him corralled in the living room when we are occupied in the kitchen and/or upstairs and don’t want him underfoot. Knowing that L&M’s gate wasn’t as secure as Jesse would expect, I preferred that the gate stay down since he has a healthy respect for the stairs. And as I said, he did well all day.

Until ... It was about 30 minutes before we were planning to leave when it happened. My worst nightmare.

Jesse was playing with this rolling dog; pulling it behind him and watching it follow. He started to the hall area near those stairs and I could see that he was leaning in the direction. Just as I was calling out to him to watch the stairs he disappeared from view and I heard the thunks as he tumbled down. Four adults immediately leaped up, but I was holding Molly Ann and couldn’t get up fast enough.

I was sitting across from L, who saw the whole thing. He said that Jesse went down on his butt backwards, sitting upright until he went out of his view. M got there just as he started to turn and then roll sideways down the last third of the steps. She said he never hit his head once that she could see. Beau got to him just as he started to cry, which was almost immediately upon landing at the bottom. The other two adults were L&M’s daughter and son-in-law - I’m not sure where they ended up, although I think one of them was holding their 2 year old. I handed Molly Ann to L and went to see for myself, Beau got back to the top with Jesse as I got there and we took him to the bedroom to check him over. Amazingly, there wasn’t a mark on him that we could see and he had already started to stop crying. Later, we noticed a red mark on his upper back and the day after he had a small bruise on one elbow and on the outer sides of his feet (he had no shoes on and we figure they banged on the steps as he went down on his butt). Beau said he fell on his backside at the park today and seemed in a bit of pain, which isn’t surprising since he went down hardwood steps on his rear for a while.

Once we realized he was OK, I started to cry in relief. And then I had this thought that it was probably good for me that it happened - my fear was realized and he came out of it OK. I’m curious how paranoid I’ll be about those stairs the next time we visit, though.

The New Stroller: We bought a new stroller today, courtesy of Beau’s parents. We opted for a sit and stand type of double stroller. The truth is that since Beau is the primary parent, he won’t use the stroller as much as I might. He doesn’t prowl the mall, but he will find it handy when he does run errands with both kids. We got a good bargain on it with a 20% coupon. Beau took it on a test walk with the kids this afternoon and he seemed happy with it. Jesse likes his jump seat and Molly Ann’s carseat fits well. The nice thing about it, too, is that it isn’t too much bigger than the single stroller we have - it’s slightly longer, but it is narrower.

I read several reviews of it before we decided on this particular one. One reviewer said her front wheels wouldn’t turn at all. So when we looked at the floor model in the store, I mentioned that to Beau. He took a look at the wheels and noticed that they have individual locks on each one. If that mother never noticed those locks then she would never be able to turn the stroller! Another reviewer complained that it was impossible to stow anything in the basket, but another reviewer suggested unsnapping the basket on one of the sides to stow stuff. I checked that idea out and she’s right - you can easily get large items into that basket by unsnapping it. Another reviewer noted that the kid on the jump seat wouldn’t be able to nap if on a long outing. We debated the need for that option and thought that if we do take a day trip to a park or something that we would most likely be together and I could wear Molly Ann so that Jesse could sit in the front seat to nap. Once she’s too big to wear, then we probably won’t be using the stroller much anyway.

The Beach: We leave for our week at the Outer Banks with the R-clan (my parents and the Cooties) on Sunday. The girls have a spa day planned. I think the boys will take the kids to the aquarium on that day. Each couple will get a date night during the week. And we cap off the week with my cousin’s fabulous wedding. I’m excited about the week away.

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