Sunday, April 09, 2006

Federally Inappropriate

Luke had his 18 month check on Friday, his official 18 month birthday. When did I get old enough to have an 18 month old?! Anyway, he did really great. Checked out fine, had his first reflex text (hit your knee with a hammer and such), which he found rather funny. He also got two shots (his last until he turns 4, which is a rather difficult concept for me to grasp at the moment (him turning 4, not the shots)), and he didn't cry AT ALL! Not even DH does that well with shots.

We got all of his measurements, which I will report in just a second, but the amazing thing is that he is *literally* off the charts in height (he grew another two inches). He is above the 95% line, so she guestimated him at around the 98th percentile (which means he is taller than 98% of other 18 month olds, and based on personal observations, I believe it). They put his weight at 65% (he actually *lost* two ounces from his 15 month check, but if they aren't worried about it, then I won't either), and his head circumference at 50% (yay, he is finally *up* to being average in head circ!). Using an online Children's Growth Calculator, I decided I wanted to see his "actual" percentages. I nearly died laughing at the height result. See for yourself:

Head Circumference = 18.75 inches, 44 percentile

Weight = 26.5 lbs, 57 percentile

Length/Height = 35 inches, above the 97th percentile; According to the most recent federal guidelines, the height range appropriate for this age group is 30.1 - 34.9 inches.

So, according to the federal government, Luke is now at an "inappropriate" height for his age. LOL!

To put those numbers in perspective, they are average (the 50th percentile) for a 26 month old. You know, 8 months older than he is now. Even if he doesn't grow *at all* between now and his next appointment at 24 months, he will still be above average at 63%. And somehow, I just don't see that happening. Sheesh! At least *someone* in my family is getting to benefit from all of the "tall genes" we have running around. I just hope it keeps up. I'm not sure I want him to get to be 7 feet or something (I certainly can't afford to *feed* him enough to grow that tall), though DH says he'd love Luke to be that tall, but I think 6'2" or so would be quite respectable.

Currently feeling: astonished

2 comments:

  1. Now you see, it's all about the law of averages.

    Marcus is only just over the 5th percentile, so Luke is just doing his part of maintain the average.

    Seriously, that's a big boy you've got there. I'm so glad he had such a good checkup and did so well with the shots.

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  2. That's a tall boy :)

    Mehul didn't have any shots yesterday at his 18m checkup. We're good till his 4th b'day.

    He's finally doing good weight-wise (average is good) He used to be 5th percentile in weight since he started daycare, 50th in height.But now after 6 months of me staying home and taking care of him, he's 40th in weight, 50th in height. Yay!

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