Check-up round-up

Two weeks ago Isaac had his five-year-old check-up. He is healthy and developing well, for which we are grateful. (In fact, the doctor said Isaac speaks more like a seven-year-old, a recurring theme.)

And what about his measurements? His weight was 38.6 pounds, so he has gained four and a half pounds in the last year. (Don't you feel like you could easily gain that much yourself in a single holiday season?) That puts him in the 35th percentile for weight, which may seem low but is actually up from last year's all-time low of 25th percentile.

His height was 42 and a half inches, a mere inch and a half increase since last year. His height percentile was 5oth, which is very low for him and a bit of a surprise as he always used to be a tall boy. For his first three years his height percentile was in the 90s or high 80s; at age three, though, it dropped to 60th, at age four it was up a bit to 70th, and now another big drop.

So why are my children shrinking?! Is there something in the water? Am I not feeding them aggressively enough? Maybe they need less organic food and more hormones in their meat?

Speaking of my shrinking children, Laurel also had her weight checked at Isaac's appointment. In the three months between her 15 and 18 month well-baby appointments she had lost two ounces, which is why the doctor wanted to weigh her again so soon. In the ensuing five weeks she gained 12 ounces. This brought her up to 20 and a half pounds, still quite small for a 20-month-old child.

The doctor asked us some serious questions, trying to determine whether diabetes or hypothyroidism could be a factor in her slow rate of growth. He asked me if Laurel spoke at least a few words that at least I could understand, the implication being that other people wouldn't be able to understand. I replied that she was already speaking clearly in three-word phrases, and he seemed pleasantly surprised. An underactive thyroid causes overall slow development, including mental, so her level of language acquisition seems to rule out this problem. Also, as the doctor noted a moment or two later, she has already grown 16 baby teeth, a sign of healthy physical development. (And, happily, a urinalysis later ruled out diabetes.)

So what's wrong with her? Probably nothing, the doctor concluded; she's probably just petite. However, as her next well-baby exam won't be until her second birthday in January, he scheduled an additional appointment in November to check her weight.