Fear

Ka-thunk! Ka-thunk!
Boy child: "Wah!!!"

Ka-thunk!
Girl child: "No!!"

Ka-thunk!

Instinct has you on your feet and running before your brain has formed the thought....stairs....NO!

Ka-thunk...ka-thunk...ka-thunk!

You see them, somersaulting over each other in a horrible parody of The Three Stooges, except it isn't remotely funny.

Ka-thunk.
Boy child: "Wah!"
Girl child: "Help!"

You're there, but the railing is in your way...they're falling too fast....don't hit the wall, don't hit the wall...

Ka-thunk.

Your girl grabs the railing with one hand and holds her brother, with his head hanging over the bottom stair, inches from the floor, just long enough for you to reach them.

Your boy is crying and you pull him up into your arms, trying to check every inch of him as you reach out a hand for your girl. Your boy is struggling to get out of your arms, you sit down and he picks a book off the floor. Stops crying. Hands it to you. Settles into your lap. Roars. (It's his favourite Dinosaur book)

Despite the fact that your heart is threatening to beat its way right out of your chest you let a tiny laugh escape. You wrap one arm around each child. You read.

The scary part is that there will be a hundred, a thousand, of these moments before they're grown. And then? The fears will be greater, and the hurts less easily soothed.