More Terrifying Than Any Horror Movie

Today started out like a normal morning. Cordy was walking up and down the stairs, pulling every known toy from her room to clutter up the downstairs. Mira was on my lap in the living room, Aaron was on the couch.

I heard Cordy at the top of the stairs, knowing she was getting ready to come back down again. And then I heard the thump. The first of many. And a squeaky screech after the first thump.

The stairs. She’s falling. Oh God, she’s falling.

Aaron and I locked eyes very briefly and we both jumped up. I quickly set Mira back down in the chair and turned to the stairs, just in time to see Cordy tumbling down the last five or six steps. Tumbling head over heels, then barrel rolling, limbs tangled in each other, her little body finally hit bottom with a dull thud. That single second it took us to get to her felt like an eternity, as she didn’t make any noise in that moment.

Aaron immediately swept her up in his arms, asking, “Cordy, are you OK?” Finally, after what seemed like forever, she cried. Cries of fear more than cries of pain. She continued to cry hard for a few minutes, then switched from daddy’s arms to mommy’s arms.

I continued to ask her if she was OK, and then she said, in such a tiny voice, “Rocket…” I looked up the staircase to see her Rocket toy (from Little Einsteins) about 2/3 of the way up. Aaron retrieved Rocket for her, and she hugged the hard plastic toy tight. A little more time passed, and she stopped crying. Clearly still stunned, but she showed no signs of injury. At that point she tried to push her luck, “Cake? Ice cream?” We laughed a little at that point, realizing she was OK.

I’ve never been so scared in my life. In that one brief moment, hearing her hit each step on the way down, seeing those last few tumbles, I worried I had lost my Cordy, less than a week before her third birthday. Holding her tight at the bottom of the stairs, I couldn’t help but cry. I was shaking uncontrollably. My hands moved all over her, checking for any bumps, running my hands through her mass of curls and wiping away her tears.

She’s fine. Even though she fell down 13 stairs, she doesn’t show any signs of the fall. I don’t know if she’s been paying attention to her daddy’s stage combat falls and rolls training, or if she just got lucky. I can’t begin to say how thankful I am that she wasn’t hurt. We had no reason to suspect that this would happen. Cordy has been going up and down those stairs for months. We’ve gone over stair safety over and over. Sometimes I can hear her chanting our manta as she walks down the stairs: “slow….careful…” She knows to hold the rail.

I don’t know what went wrong today. Maybe she forgot the rules for just a moment. But a moment is all it takes. It’s amazing how fragile life seems in those moments. I hope it never happens again, and we’ll be revisiting the topic of stair safety, too. Because I never want to feel that sickening, frightening, heart-in-my-throat feeling again.

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Comments

  1. Corey – I’ve also fallen down stairs more often than I can count. My mom is sure she has inherited her ability to fall down stairs from me. But while I’ve fallen down them, I’ve never seen anyone fall down head over heels like that without a scratch.

    Kids are resilient, aren’t they?

  2. Oh, how terrifying. I’m so glad this story had a happy ending.

  3. Yikes, I can’t believe how terrifying that must have been. Glad she seems to be taking after daddy in this respect.

  4. Both of my kids have fallen down at least some, if not all, of the steps before. It is very scary. My kids know to pay attention, hold the rail, etc. It’s just one of those things that happens. Heck, I’ve fallen down steps before – lost in thought, not paying attention, carrying too many things… I’m glad that she’s ok.

  5. Yes. It really is amazing. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure that both of mine have fallen head over heals and you are right. Neither of them had a cut, bump or bruise. Maybe it’s the fact that they still don’t weight very much? Or that they don’t tense up like we do, knowing how bad it really is to fall like that?

  6. Corey – You’re actually dead on about that. Kids don’t tense up – they haven’t developed the anxiety about falling that adults have. Most of the damage we take from falling (short falls – obviously a severe enough fall will hurt no matter what you do) comes from that tensing up of the body.

    One of the first things we do when teaching falls/rolls in stage combat is trying to make it fun – when it’s fun, you can do it and it doesn’t hurt.

  7. Wow, it sounds like such a harrowing experience for all of you. But I’m stealing her “Cake? Ice cream?” line and using it for myself the next time I have a neck flare-up. Only I’ll be asking for “Diamonds? Gold?”

  8. I am so glad that she’s okay! That must have been so terrifying for you. I remember my older one fell down the stairs when he was about two and my heart stopped. I also loved her cake and ice cream line! Kids are so great like that. If that were me, I would be moaning and groaning about my fall all day.

  9. So scary! But don’t beat yourself up. I’m thirty-five and I’m still falling down stairs.

    Glad Cordy’s okay!

  10. I fell down the stairs while carrying my then-2-year-year-old daughter.

    I tripped, and and as I pitched forward, she flew out my arms. Just before I started falling, I could see her tumbling all the way down that staircase.

    It was the most horrifying moment I’ve experience as a parent. Not only was she falling, but it was MY FAULT.

    Believe me, I understand how your heart just stops.

  11. how scary! glad she’s ok. as parents, though, we’re never ok, unless the kids are sleeping and we just checked to make sure they’re still breathing. and even then….

  12. Oh how I feel your paint. My baby just had a similar experience last week. He’s fine and I’m still not. It’s true kids are built like bowling balls.

  13. Mrs. Chicken says

    Oh my God, Christina, how scary! I am so glad Cordy is OK. I know exactly what you mean about not thinking any accident like that can happen on the stairs. I’m so glad everything turned out OK.

    What a fright!

  14. Dana J. Tuszke says

    When Dawson was nine months old he fell off the bed. I thought he was sleeping and I got up to answer the phone. I heard the thud and I freaked out. I thought for sure my child had brain damage. And what made me feel worse is that I knew better. I can’t believe I let that happen.

    I’m so glad Cordy is okay.

  15. Scary, scary! So glad that it turned out okay, even if your heart was beating faster the rest of the day.

  16. You poor thing, how scary! And how scary for Cordy too! Thank God she’s OK.

    I remember feeling the same sickening feeling when Paige got bit by my Mom’s dog. Needless to say the never before aggressive dog is now crated for our visits, just in case. She accidentally ran him over with a push toy when she was 16 months old and I think he snapped out of fear. However that snap led to 27 stitches in her ear by a plastic surgeon to re-attach her earlobe (which was hanging by a thread of skin. Except for the thin silvery scar she bears on her earlobe now, her ear looks perfectly normail. I owe a lot to that plastic surgeon!!!

  17. I’m glad Cordy’s OK, but I have to say, I really admire her for asking for cake? ice cream? What a great little kid. I know I shouldn’t but I love the moments when you can see kids’ minds working to exploit adults.

  18. I’m so glad she’s okay! We’ve recently been leaving the gate off of our stairs, as Squeaks knows that she’s not allowed to go anywhere near them without one of us present. However, your story coupled with the fact that we are starting the Terrible Twos means that I’m going home and putting that thing back up!

  19. Wow, you have given me flashbacks. It is so scary — that slow motion time when you wish you could catch them but know that you can’t. And that period that feels so long when they make no sound before they start to cry. It is so scary — for both the parent and the kid.

  20. MamaMichelsBabies says

    If only we could wrap them in plastic bubbles huh?

    All of mine have taken the tumble, and it remains one of the scariest things ever, no matter how many come out uninjured. Even Clutch managed to take the tumble before he was even born (dang cat)

    I’m glad the only damage done was a good scare all around. Geez.. it’s amazing we all don’t have heart attacks at young ages with the little monkeys around.

  21. Motherhood Uncensored says

    I’m soooo glad she’s okay.

    Check it off on the list of crazy things she’ll do in her life, right?

    Just another reason why they should send you home with tequila from the hospital.

  22. Momma_Phoenix says

    Our house has split levels, so instead of one staircase with 13 steps, its 2 going different directions, one with 8 one with 7. My son fell down the set of 7, which ends with a linoelum covered cement floor. Single most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ll never forget the image of him literally straight up on his head, then watching his neck bend at an awful angle…

    I’m glad she is okay!!! My son was okay too, he got a nasty bruise under his top lip and a tooth totally bent out of shape, but he was okay. SCARY!

  23. YIKES! So glad she’s fine. My hubby and mother-in-law are so laid back about that sort of thing, telling me, “well, now she’ll know to be more careful next time.” But they’re never there to have to watch it and react.

    It is amazing to me, too, how quickly kids get over things like that. I often worry that I am making Sweet Pea focus on the fright or pain more than I should – maybe if I don’t teach her to dwell on it, she won’t grow up doing that – ?

    LOVE Cordy’s reaction when she recovered – LOL!

  24. Nick fell last month. In sharing that story, I learned that pretty much every kid has fallen down some form of a step. This made me feel somewhat better. But Nick then told the story to everyone: “Stairs! Slow! Fall down! Boom! Crash! Ow!”

    Ah, kids.

  25. Oh my God. I’m so glad she’s ok. Scary, scary day. I’ll bet that she has been paying attention to Aaron’s lessons!

  26. Not Afraid to Use It says

    OMG I wanted to puke just reading your post. I am terrified that my kids will fall on the stairs, and we have tile on the landing. Ours have slipped a few times, and I cannot even imagine the terror you felt as you ran. I am SO glad your little one was okay. DEF a reason to celebrate this weekend.