Stair Master

Emma has never been super coordinated, which we think, is because she is always growing. It's hard to be comfortable in your own skin when it keeps changing. When she was just 2 and a half a great aunt (who happens to be a preschool teacher) gave us some tips and advice for encouraging Emma to climb down stairs like a big kid. Alternating feet as she steps down, only touching each stair once. In other words not doing the step, together, step together motion. It wasn't something that we worried about or even gave much thought to until recently.
Emma turned 4 and she was still going down the stairs with the step-together pattern. Every once in awhile I would say, let's go down the stairs like a ballerina. We would point our toes and reach for the next stair. She liked it but not enough to keep it up for non-ballerina descents. Two days ago I realized for the very first time that Emma was descending the stairs by alternating her feet!  Of course an accolade was out of my mouth before I could stop myself. Emma smiled and thankfully didn't go running away saying, "No! Don't look at me!" I wonder if she had been walking down the stairs like that for awhile before I noticed.