Shots and Percentiles

We brought our five-month-old son in for his four-month-old checkup. Oddly enough, this sounded kosher to people, so I didn't bring up the nuance.

Bringing kids to the doctor is never fun. Fortunately when their young they don't know the difference between grandma's house and the doctor's office. When kids get older, I'm guessing they recognize a lab coat and will give their opinion on being there.

Being our son is five-months-old he had a big smile on his face. That was until he got the first of four vaccinations. As a caring parent it breaks your heart to see your child smile up at you before the nurse inflicts them with the needle. This time was better than last, for all three of us that is.

Anyway, during a checkup they also take weight, height and head circumference. Our son is in the 90% percentile for weight, 92% for height and 100% for head size. in subtle terms, the doctor explained that if 100 kids lined up, our son would have the biggest head. He then looked and me and said "we can blame dad for that." I actually took it as a compliment.

The doctor then went on to say that these measurements really mean nothing when the kids are so young. He said their parents are better indicators of size than anything. So here you go son; look forward to being six foot one inch, just a shade overweight at 220 pounds, and a seven and three fourths cap size. Enjoy!