On top of all that, I think I am also annoyed at myself for becoming competitive over something that absolutely does not matter. You see, when Alex was born, he was rather long - 21.5 inches. And, for his one-month, two-month, and four-month appointments, Alex was generally in the ninetieth percentile (or higher) for height. Today, he was only in the seventy-first percentile. Honestly, who cares? I care, that's who. The problem is that I hate that I care. This is one of the measurements that is notoriously inaccurate. Here I am being grumpy that I cannot brag about my tall baby anymore. I hope that I am not one of those ultra-competitive moms. Ugh. How do you find a good balance between being your kid's biggest fan and proudest supporter without pushing them to grow up before they have to? I want him to stay tiny and get bigger at the same time. No one told me that parenting is a constant battle in your own head!
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| My average-sized kid playing on the floor at the doctor's office. |
Been enjoying your posts the last few days. I don't think you can call your baby "average-sized" when he's still bigger than 3/4 of all the kids :) Mine's at around exactly 50% for all of his measurements (except head circumference, which is at 65%: he's got a big head, but I'm thinking that's normal for an Asian kid compared to US kids). If you don't feel qualified to brag about his height, you can brag about how he's already crawling. Mine doesn't feel like crawling yet, and would much rather sit still in one place and play with his toys (and simply give up on the ones that rolls out of his reach).
ReplyDeleteJayme I have the exact same problem. Our first few appointments we didn't get any "percentile" measurements, which was totally fine. And now I've actually thought about asking the doctor not to tell me percentiles because I don't want to feel like he's being compared to all the other babies out there (even if it's just in my own head). As long as he's happy and healthy and in a good range, why do I even need to know? The doctor will let me know if I have anything to be concerned about. I may have just talked myself into doing this.
ReplyDeleteHi! I didn't know you were a blogger (I am as well, though infrequent as of late). I had to comment after seeing your favorite books on the sidebar. The Historian and The Thirteenth Tale are two of my favorites as well, with The Historian topping my all-time list. That is the book that inspired me to want to honeymoon in Eastern Europe! It was awesome. I just rarely see someone who loves those books as much as I do! :)
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