Abby, Age 2

Today was Abby's two-year health assessment. I've been looking forward to it, not least because I've been planning to request her growth charts so that I finally have a record (since I failed to keep one) of her size through the months to put down in her baby book some day. Also, because I've recently learned that you can pretty accurately predict your child's height at 18 years of age based on their height at two years of age, and I've been genuinely curious about what Abby's measurements were going to say about her future.

She weighed in at 34 lbs, 3.2 oz. Her height measurement, however, was a bit problematic. She stood up nice and tall until the nurse started lowering the sliding marker, and this so amused Abby that she kept crouching and turning her head upward to see just what was coming towards her from above. In the meantime, I was having trouble keeping her knees from bending, and between trying to get her to face forward and keep her legs straight, I think I failed at one task or the other. The nurse measured 36", but when her pediatrician looked at the chart, he suspected that we perhaps got the wrong number, since it didn't quite fit the predicted curve. Then, he theorized that maybe it was because she was standing up (rather than lying flat, as babies do when they are younger). However, she was measured standing up at her 18-month appointment, so I knew that wasn't the problem. When I reported to her doctor the troubles we'd had with measuring her, he predicted that she probably had another inch on her, but he wasn't concerned, so he didn't think it worth re-taking the measurement.

I, however, very much wanted an accurate number. So, this afternoon, I marked Abby's height on the pole in our basement (something I'd been wanting to do anyway, as the previous owners had, for posterity) and then measured the distance.

 
Final result: 37" (and 3/8ths, if you want to get really technical).

So, Abby is not only above the 95th percentile in both height and weight, Baby Center's Height Predictor indicates that she will be around (are you ready for this?) 5' 11" by age 18 (give or take 0.7 inches)!

Pretty impressive, no?

I have mixed feelings about it, personally. Standing at almost 5' 8", I've always felt a little awkward about my own height. I can't imagine being even taller! Still, I know that the grass always seems greener on the other side, and there are pros and cons to being tall, short, or somewhere in-between.

My Abigail Rose will always be my baby girl, even when the day comes that I'll have to look up at her, and she'll always be beautiful to me. I just pray that she will feel the same about herself. I know that the world does not always make it so easy. Certainly, it's not a skill that I've ever mastered, though I hope that by some miracle, I'll still be able to help her find her own way to it. Maybe I'll even get there myself, in the process.