Size

Laurel was born at just over seven pounds, which put her in the 25th percentile for girl babies, and she remained in that percentile for at least her first two weeks. In fact, at her two-week well-baby appointment she was still a pound short of her brother's birth weight of eight and a half pounds. "Laurel small, Isaac big" was the narrative that seemed to present itself.

Isaac had a well-baby visit back when he was three and a half months old. Was he big? Well, he was in the 60th percentile for weight and in the 90th percentile for height. And today Laurel had a well-baby visit also at the age of three and a half months. Was she small? No, she was also in the 60th percentile for weight and in the 85th percentile for height.

Clearly we need to revise our narrative. Not only is it untrue, it's certainly not doing Laurel any good to be thought of as petite, with its overtones of delicate and fragile. (This really bothers Craig, so for weeks now he has been making a point of calling her his "big strong girl.")

Actually, even at Laurel's seven-week appointment she measured in the 50th percentile for weight and the 80th for height, so it was clear she was leaving the low percentiles behind and was on the fast track to growing bigger.

I could also tell Laurel wasn't smaller than average because she was growing out of her clothes right on schedule. She's three and a half months old, and about two weeks ago I had to set aside the teeny tiny 0-3 month size of clothes. She's wearing 3-6 month size now, and it is just a little sad to see the newborn stage pass.

My very first blog post was on a related topic, actually.

- - - - -

Today Laurel weighed almost 13 pounds and measured 25 inches long. At the same age Isaac weighed a pound and a half more and was an inch and a quarter taller. But their percentile measurements were nearly identical! Isn't it strange that boys and girls would already vary so much in size?

If you're actually interested in their growth, Laurel and Isaac have their measurements archived on their Trixie Tracker pages.

- - - - -

In the last nine weeks she has gained three pounds! That's a third of a pound a week! It's the power of milk!