Monday, May 26, 2008

Growth!

When you are around your children all of the time you sometimes don't notice things that appear tremendously different to people that only see the kids once a week or once a month. I remember when the boys had turned one and we went down to visit Nana and Pop. At Nana's and Pop's house there are lever handles on most of the doors. During our Memorial Day weekend visit the boys could just barely touch the door handles. Then we went back for a visit a month later, for July 4th, and all of a sudden both Doug & Andy could get their little hands all the way around the lever door handles and I knew that we had grown.
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I notice today that Josie has had a growth spurt. We have been trying to do more snacks since the doctor commented on her weight, but she was a good eater before the doctor started trying to double up her calories. We have a refrigerator that has the freezer on the bottom. Even as of a day or two ago Josie could stand at the fridge and you could swing the door above her head and it would just glide right over her. Well...today she had to tilt her head for Jim to close the fridge door. I guess we are growing.
It really makes me wonder, however, when we go in for our "weight check" if they will also check her length. They will be happy if her weight has gone up...but what if her length also has gone up and she still has the same discrepancy ....hmmmmm.

1 comment:

Jill in MA said...

Here's a weird growth story:
Yesterday, we were babysitting for some friends' kids for most of the day. Their son is 5 months old. When they returned to pick him up, they both looked at him and said, "He looks bigger! Did he grow today??"

As for Jo's weight, if you think she's a good eater and seems healthy, don't worry. All kids will eat what they need and grow at their own pace when left to their own devices. The key is letting them set the pace. If you start to try to control what they eat, then, for them, eating can become not just about what they need, but about battling you and having control. Then you have problems. If you can get your hands on the book "How to Get Your Kid to Eat... But Not Too Much" by Ellyn Satter, you might find it helpful. (Thanks, Julia, for this recommendation.) Basically, the book says, in a lot more words, your job is to provide the healthy food and your child's job is to eat it.