Charlie and I ventured out into the frozen tundra to see the pediatrician for a one month check up. Charlie now weighs 10 lbs. 2 oz., and he’s 21 ¼ inches long. (The hospital said he was 21” at birth, but the doctor’s office has always measured him an inch shorter than that…go figure.) The nurse gave me all of the percentiles for his measurements, but really what is the point of all that? I know the doctor wants to track the pattern of his growth, but it seems like a source of unnecessary worry to me. So what if your child is shorter than most, or his head is enormous? There’s nothing you as a parent can do about it, so does it really help to know that information? It just seems like parents are bombarded with facts, statistics, tips, milestones, and all kinds of other information, and not all of it meaningful or helpful. Anyway, the doctor declared him perfect, which of course I already knew.
I think it’s the developments that can’t be measured that I’m most interested in. For example, I have noticed in the last week that Charlie is starting to focus more closely and really track objects with his eyes. When he looks at me now, I get the feeling that he’s really seeing me, not just staring blankly. Also, he’s holding up his head for several seconds at a time. He continues to turn his head easily from side to side. His noises also sound more human now. He is starting to coo a little more, and he grunts a lot. He has even developed different cries to use against us. (Or maybe we are just better at differentiating them now…) He has a really whiney cry that he uses when you interrupt his feeding to burp him. He also has a fake-sounding cry that he uses when he’s sleepy. We’ll figure him out yet!
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