Trouble with a Capital "T"

Clara, the baby, is 8 months old and she is bad news!  She was a perfect little angel.  She slept through the night at 2 months old, and I mean 12 hours straight, not this 6 hours a night crap, she never cried unless she was overly tired or hungry and she was always happy.  Then she hit about 6 months old.  They told me the second one develops faster than the first one, they told me that girls develop faster than boys.  The result of this, is Clara being about 3 months ahead of schedule in EVERYTHING.  She has been crawling since 6 months old and is close to walking.  She has said "mama", "dada" and I swear I hear her say "kitty" a few time.  She waves and is almost clapping her hands.  She gets into everything, puts EVERYTHING in her mouth and climbs on everything.  JJ was never like this.  It is scary and so amazing to watch all at the same time.

So, yesterday was like any other day.  I came home from work and playing with the kids.  JJ decided he wanted a drink so I went into the kitchen to get him one.  When I returned I looked around.  Where's the baby?  She's not under the chair eating a month old Cheerio or in a corner somewhere chewing on a chord (like normal)... I then realized that I forgot to put the safety gate up at the bottom of the stairs.  My heart skips a beat.  I look up and she has proceeded to climb the 15 stairs to the top.  She was standing, holding on with one hand to the closed gate and smiling at me.  I have never run up the stairs so fast in my life.  I grabbed her and held her tight.  She was fine, of course,  but you can't help thinking of what COULD have happened.  I will never forget the safety gate at the bottom of the stairs again.  If she doesn't give me a heart attack before her 13th birthday, it will be a miracle.

But, my little maniac CLIMBED THE STAIRS!  You can't ignore that feat!  So proud!   Like I said, amazing and scary all at the same time.