Rite of Passage??

Ok I swear Dan and I are good parents... (and I will keep repeating this until I believe it!!) if anyone were to only read this post and the one just before it, I'm pretty sure Dyfus would be a-knockin' on our door! Last week ON DAN'S WATCH (just wanted that to be clear) Charlie fell down the stairs. Now this sounds terrible in itself, but just so you know the severity of it, we do not have carpeting and we live in a bi-level so that is 6 steps of hard, solid, wood that my poor girl fell down.  This is how it went down (no pun intended):

I walked in the door from work looking forward to hugging and kissing my babe like I haven't seen her in years (11 hours is a LONG time) Usually Dan has her waiting at the top of the stairs holding her has her arms are stretched forward, reaching for her mama... not that day. As soon as I rounded the corner Dan picked her up and turned her around. This is how the convo went:
Dan: I don't want to fight, maybe you should sit down

Me: Huh? (I was confused why Dan wouldn't give her up!!)

Dan: She fell down the stairs BUT she cried right away and I checked to make sure nothing was broken and her eyes are responding to light and her teeth are fine and she drank her bottle and she only cried for a minute and she is walking around her like nothing happened and.. (he just went on and on and on, mind you I was still on the 'she fell down the stairs part' so I heard none of this)

Me: Back up... how did this happen????

Dan: Well you told me I had to clean (sneaky-deeky trying to make it MY fault!), so the dogs and I went downstairs to get something and the next thing I heard was 'thump, thump, thump...'

My heart broke! Ooohhh the pangs of motherhood... I'm pretty sure I could have gotten sick over the visual. The guilt ridden thoughts were pouring in "I knew we should have put up the gate this weekend". "This would have never happened if I were home". "I should have told him to bring her downstairs if he went down" (i know this last one sounds ridiculous, but seriously any mother will attest to the craziness that goes on within your mind)

Dan: seeing the whirlwind that was undoubtedly going on in my head... "SHE'S FINE, SUSAN. SHE'S FINE, SUSAN. SHE'S FINE, SUSAN. SEE LOOK! SHE'S FINE.

I'm not sure if Dan was nervous because of what happened or if he was nervous to tell me... but Thank God Charlie is totally fine :) I didn't sleep a wink that night for fear she would fall into a coma or who knows what else my imagination was conjuring up! Needless to say, the VERY next day Dan's dad came over and installed the gate :)

Since this happened, it has come up a few times and it is amazing how many other kids fell down the stairs... 'So and so fell down the stairs as a baby and he/she is fine'... it's like it is a rite of passage! Haha well, I can joke now because with the exception of a little cute on her lip she was/is a-ok.