The 39 Steps

This past weekend marked an exciting milestone in the life of our youngest daughter.  She turned 9 months old...and more importantly discovered that she can climb stairs.  Yes indeed, she can climb from the bottom right to the very top (of course I was there spotting her).  Exciting and terrifying...now there's no rest for poor ol' ma and pop.  Well, actually it just means we have to deal with the nuisance of a baby gate - but the peace of mind it brings is worth it.

You should have seen her face the first time she got to the top - pure delight.  But as she performed her new skill again and again (it seems to be her new favorite thing), I observed something interesting.  The more comfortable she got climbing the stairs, the more easily distracted she became.  The first time she was intent on each step, her focus rarely moving from the top stair.  By the fifth time however, every little dust bunny (nothing like a baby to point out all the spots you've missed in your cleaning) or tiny shiny sparkle that fell off one of the girls' dresses was reason enough to pause and explore.  She even took time to try to eat one of the stairs.

It kind of reminded me of me I guess...and a lot of other grown up types I know.  How often do we start a new initiative all gun-ho ready to go only to be distracted and pulled off-course by some meaningless diversion?  Of course there are times when things arise that are deserving of further attention.  I guess the trick is to discern which diversions could yield something special (like a sparkle from a dress) and which are merely dust-bunnies.