Climbing stairs, etc

I have a question or two about Anthony. He's hit all of his milestones when he was supposed to as an infant, etc. Now, he's on the short side. And I was wondering if these gross motor things I am seeing are in relation to his height, or is there something else going on?

He doesn't alternate feet going up/down stairs. I've held his hand going up the stairs to have him do so. However, he seems very unsteady on his left leg vs right(right leg is what he goes up with). He is very shaky and needs to always be holding on.

If we are going down say, steps from a store, or the curb, he won't budge until someone holds his hand. Now, none of this bothers me. I'm more than willing to help him down the stairs, etc. But I was wondering if there were any other kids who maybe had issues of this sort? Or if it's something I should talk to the pedi about? We are going back at the end of March for a weight/height recheck, so I can definitely ask then. He's almost 3 years and 5 months, and he is *just* fitting into 2T pants. I could still put him in 18 month pants.

Any ideas? Or am I over-analyzing things? Plus, he's the less active of the two. Nicholas bounces around the house like a nut. Anthony seems to really need to concentrate on jumping, etc. He definitely didn't get an athletic gene! But his cuteness more than makes up for it!

 

My son is small for his age too - and he has especially short legs, so I have trouble with pants fitting him too. He doesn't alternate feet when doing stairs either. I'm pretty confident that it's just because his legs are short. He's also much more cautious and careful than his sister, which I think is just a personality thing. So he holds on more and goes slower. And he might be more cautious about jumping down from higher things, again I think related to his size and personality. My daughter is very tall for her age and is also much more athletic than my son, so it's hard not to compare.

 

My girls are slightly delayed with gross motor and I don't know if it is because of their size or their prematurity. Maybe it's both. They are 3 years, two months (I know, I need to change my ticker) and still have trouble alternating feet on steps. But I pointed out to the PT that the step comes nearly to their knee. I would have trouble getting up steps if they were that steep for me too. They are just now starting to be able to jump and get both feet off the ground. I wouldn't panic about it, but keep working on it. Talk to your ped to see if he/she thinks he should be evaluated further. My girls don't qualify for PT now that they are 3, so we're just working on gross motor at home.

 

It's a 36 months skill, so it's not really a huge delay to have. My kids both alternate feet but are more comfortable holding the steps than the railing (they look like monkeys). I think it's much easier to alternate feet this way. I can see how it would be harder for shorter kids too, DS seems to have more issues with it than DD too (he's never alternated feet holding the rail at all, while DD has), he has short legs too and is 10% for height.