Both kids are doing fine, growing well; Kit really is gaining weight quickly—at two months, she's up 5 lbs 2 oz from her birthweight! She's currently in the 25th percentile for height, 75th for weight; Little Bear is between 10th and 25th in both, as he has been for a while now. I'm pretty sure he was up between 50th and 75th in weight when he was Kit's age, though; he was in 12mo clothes by seven months old for sure. They just gain a whole bunch at the beginning, and it evens out as they get older.
We hadn't seen this particular pediatrician before (we go to a big practice with a whole bunch of practitioners), but I really liked her and how she interacted with Little Bear, who has not been willing to answer questions for most of the doctors we've seen previously. She was also great because she really listened to my report of how each of them was doing, and answered my questions and concerns in a way that showed that she considered me capable of understanding what was going on and why certain things might or might not help.
As the pediatrician laid Kit on her stomach on the exam table, I told her that while I doubted that she really knew how she was doing it yet, Kit had been rolling over occasionally for the last three weeks. The pediatrician's response was surprised but positive, something along the lines of "she does look strong for her age," but I caught the attending med student's raised eyebrow... right before Kit pushed herself up and flipped over onto her back. Good job, little girl!
I know that the books say that two-month-olds can't roll over, so I don't entirely fault the med student for doubting me; it takes either personal experience or willingness to listen to someone else with personal experience to learn that while the book is a great guideline, each kid is unique, and they aren't always going to conform to the schedule or limitations dictated by the book. It's really frustrating to have a doctor tell you that you're wrong about something when you aren't, though, so hopefully Kit helped remind him of that!
My son was rolling front to back by 8 weeks, and he was born at 37 weeks so you'd think he'd be a little later for those early milestones. He wasn't rolling back to front until 4 months, though.
ReplyDeleteMy theory is that both milestones were influenced by his giant head. (During the time period in question he was something like 10th percentile for height, 25th for weight, and 80th for head circumference. He was basically a little bobble-head doll.) When he rolled front to back, he basically just had to turn his head and the rest of his body would follow inevitably. But rolling the other way involved getting enough core strength in his tiny body to lift his giant noggin.
I have no idea why I am telling this story; I suppose I have the maternal compulsion to brag about my genius offspring whenever possible. :)