An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

GirlsGoneChild — Sun, 31 May 2009 04:52:00 GMT

I just realized I have yet to divulge the information gathered at Fable's "head-check" last week during which she was weighed, measured and re-measured my make sure she didn't need further tests for having an abnormally large head. It turns out that because her length and weight were equally as off the charts as her head size she was well-proportioned and no cause for concern, which "duh" of course she was but it left me wondering what would have happened if it wasn't? Tests? Cat-scans? Helmets? Me being worried for (most likely) no reason?

Fable Luella: 8 months and 23 pounds of pure gorgeous perfection.

The various charts and graphs and "this is normal" vs. "this is abnormal" make me feel poopy in the tummy. Anxious. Annoyed. Uncomfortable. Worried. Even angry. I realize the importance of taking measurements and weighing our babies but the whole "off the charts," "below average," "you should worry because your child is too small or too big or too this or too that etc" can be enough to give a parent a complex for life.

With Archer it had little to do with physical attributes (he was always tall but never off the charts). He was a late bloomer from the get. Crawling at 13 months and walking at 17 months, which was "slightly worrisome" to the pediatrician. It wasn't until we went in for his two-year-check-up that our doctor handed us red flags and told us to start waving them. He wasn't talking yet. Not even a little bit. He was late. He needed help. It was time to have him tested. So we did. Specialists and therapists and early interventionists OH MY!

Archer was fine, of course. He was just late to talk. Late to walk. Late to everything. He was a late bloomer who blossomed beautifully on his own in due time and yet two of his four years of life were spent under the eyes and ears of doctors and family members who "worried" about him.

Fable's already "ahead of schedule" re: many of her milestones. But also "behind" on others. She's been waving "hi" and "bye" for several weeks but isn't crawling yet. She can mimic sounds including "Hi" but won't take a sippy cup. And she's huge. Off the charts now with weight and height to match her giant head. She's the size of most children twice her age and that's the way she is. She's her own girl just like Archer was his own boy, God bless 'em.

Being "below average" or "less than" or "different than" is difficult for many parents if not all of us and at some point every parent deals with "it" in some form because no child is average and that's the beauty of life, of being a parent and being a child and being a human being. And yet the system is set up for "normal" and "average" to be words that relieve us, even excite us because status quo = an 82% success rate according to 92% of charts and 89% of graphs or whatever blah blah blah.

The thing is? Some children are "ahead of schedule" while some children are "behind what is average." Some kids must be tested for being "too big" while others cause worry because they're "too small" but no matter who says what, and no matter the matter, every child is juuuuust right.

Right?

Right.

***

Straight from the Bottle : behind schedule

An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09