my gentle giant

I took my son in for his 8 month check-up this morning. The first thing the doctor said when he walked in was, "Wow, he's huge!" After reading over his stats - 23.4 pounds, 30 1/4 inches - he declared, "He's not fat. His weight and height are in proportion to each other. He's just a big boy." He took another look at my son and asked, "What size clothing is he wearing?" "18 months," I answered with a mixure of pride and aprehension. "Good God, he IS huge. You'll have to write on his one year birthday party invitations that he wears a 2T." We both chuckled. I was still a little nervous. "How tall do you think he'll be?" I was hoping the doctor wouldn't give me a freakish measurement for an answer. "Well, we usually make an estimate on that when they are around two years old, but you can be pretty sure he'll be taller that his Dad." His Dad is 6'2".

The doctor also told me that he is not surprised that my son isn't sleeping through the night. He grew 3 inches and gained 3 pounds in 2 months. That rate of growth requires a high daily caloric intake. I can expect to continue the night feedings for a while. I have been advised to move to stage 2 solids like meat, yogurt, and cheerios. Once he starts eating those he may fill up better and stop waking up the milk factory at 2:30am.

Today was also a turning point for my gentle giant. He starting crawling on his hands and knees this morning. And, he fell asleep on his own 2 minutes after I put him in his crib at 6:50pm. This is the third time this week he has fallen asleep without a boob in his mouth. Progress. I am happy and a little sad. My baby is growing up.