The Second Gate

We had been using our vacuum cleaner to keep Elliot from climbing the stairs. He is quite frightened of the vacuum when it is running. That fear continued to exist inbetween cleanings as well, and if he showed some sign of overcoming his fear while the vacuum was off, we only had to make vacuum noises ourselves to remind him of the horrors of the Dirt Devil. However, one day while his mother was out and he was home with his dad, he began to poke and prod the vacuum cleaner as it sat on the first stair. Having discovered that it wasn't going to attack him at that stage he progressed to climbing beside the vacuum onto the stairs. He stopped for a second, looking at the vacuum in fear. Then his fearful face was replaced with a sly smile and he galloped up the stairs, me following disbelievingly.
At that point it became impossible for me to reinstill that fear, either by making scary noises myself or even running the vacuum again for real.
So we moved some stuff around and now we use our second gate on the stairs going up.