Growing like a (very very skinny) weed

During a trip back to Michigan last weekend I had the opportunity to snuggle on my dear friend's 5 week old little girl. Miss M was born at 9lb 4oz, so she's not exactly a tiny baby, but let's face it, they all seem tiny when they're only a few weeks old.

As I sat there and held her, memories of Brennan at that age came flying back to me. It seems like just yesterday he was this tiny little person who didn't move much and was completely dependent on me. And now, he's moving into the little boy stage (OK, maybe he has moved. Just let me be in denial a little while longer, K?).

I took him in for his 18 month well-check yesterday. His stats: 34.5 inches tall (95th percentile) and 24lbs 5oz (25th percentile). This was not at all surprising to me as it's been increasingly difficult to find pants to fit him. 18mo fit him in the waist, but are high-waters. 24mo are long enough, but fall right off of him. And those "adjustable waist" pants? Yeah, they don't so much work either. Thank goodness we live in a place where he can wear shorts 99% of the time.

Clothing problems aside, I asked the ped if he was at all concerned with Brennan's weight. Since birth, he has consistently been in the 90-95th percentile for height. But for weight he started out around 50th percentile and has been steadily declining. We talked about nutrition and I said that he's becoming increasingly picky and will only eat fruit and dairy now, with the occasional piece of chicken and that some days I can barely get him to eat anything. The ped assured me that it's normal for toddlers to eat a lot one day and very little the next, and to become more picky than normal. However, he was a little concerned that he seems to be falling off the growth chart for weight. So, I'll be taking a few of his suggestions and doing my best to "fatten" Brennan up a bit and we'll head back for a weight check in 3 months. If he hasn't improved at that point, we might be headed for nutritional supplements or something like that. I never thought I'd have an UNDERWEIGHT kid! Still, he's almost 3 feet tall. Holy moly, he's growing quite literally like a weed ... very tall and very skinny.

I look at him running and climbing and listen to him babbling away in "real" words and I'm just amazed that a very short 18 months ago he was as tiny as Miss M. He was splashing and swimming like a fish in the tub last night and I commented to Brian that while it's so much fun to watch him grow, it's sad that he's not such a baby anymore. Then of course I was snapped back into reality when Brian reminded me that there currently plenty more "baby" where he came from. In fact, possibly more "baby" than we'll know what to do with!