I love... stairs (and so do my kids!)

I grew up in a house with 2 flights of stairs. My sister and I had a room each at the top of the house. When we were younger, we would put mattresses on the stairs and slide down them. When we were older, the stairs were a great asset to a messy teenage girls (Mum wasn't bothered about the state of our rooms when guests came over).

Now that I have kids of my own, we also live in a house with stairs. This past week, Mr Fun (aka "Mr Not-so-Fun") has been a bit sick and cranky, so today I was amusing him by letting him play on the stairs, watching him crawl up and slide down.

I started thinking about how much I love having stairs:

* They are great entertainment for babies. Both boys have loved them!! They have spent hours and hours going up and down those stairs.

Mr Sociable proving that rails can't stop him (16 months & 14 months)

Mr Fun learning how to climb the stairs (8 months)

* They are great entertainment for older kids too - racing cars down them, lowering "rescue" ropes from upstairs to toy victims waiting below, dropping parachute men over the railing and watching them float down

Playing "rescue" on the stairs while we were on holidays (3 years old)

* Stairs are great exercise - the number of times I walk up and down those stairs every day (often carrying extra weight - children or washing baskets ;))

And my last reason is a bit reminiscent of my teenage years....
* I love being able to hide all our mess quickly when people come over! It's much more achievable to keep a tidy living area than an entirely tidy house ;)