Tuesday, February 13, 2007

No Basketball Stars in This Family!

Back from Paris, one thing jumped out at me. Gatito's friend Javier grew about 3 cm while I was gone. Gatito did not. He is even more dwarfed by every single one of his classmates. This isn't a little dwarfing. What's an already obsessive mother to do? Start worrying. Call the retired pediatrician grandfather. Email Dr. Bell, read up on the internet, finally buy a tape measure.

I mean, Gatito's always been small. Born average, he fell off the average curve and dropped to 10% and sort of stayed there (except for the times he's dipped into 3%). I'm getting projected final heights of 5.4.
Dr. Lou says, "Short parents; short kid". Bone scan at age 3 was normal. I don't want to fall into the appearances trap....looks ain't or shouldn't be everything, but still, a man of 5.3 or 5.4 just simply has a tougher time of it.
The good news. He is growing (2 cm since October). More important: He's happy, smart, healthy, not bothered by size.

Dr. Jenny to the rescue. She says it's just too early to know. And, if need be, therapy looks like a good option. "Safer than a lot of what we do," but in any case, it's too early to "do" anything. So, we're supposed to sit back, relax and wait.
Tomorrow: rollerblading!

4 comments:

Clint Gardner said...

Ah your genes have the different problem from mine: I and my siblings (and indeed most of their children) were always much taller and larger than our classmates. Is that a disadvantage? Perhaps not, but it certainly caused from some problems. My niece (who is now a happy 6'4" mother herself) was not allowed to ride the kiddie rides at amusement parks at five. Five!

Nik said...

Well, at least Gatito is all words. Zoe Z knows every word in the world if we say it. But does a single one pass her lips in any understandable English? I think not. Perhaps we should come visit hotel Sylv & Don, bunk in comfort, dine in heaven and see if it's Spanish (or possibly French) that the Z-boat is speaking.

Lisa B. said...

Also, I have always felt that the best soccer players are built low to the ground and not too tall. Quick and strong. My son is like that and he played soccer on a scholarship! (Um, we were talking about sports here, right? how did I become that person?)

Dr. Write said...

I agree with Lisa B. Soccer is the answer! But also...there are things besides sports. Like being bilingual, for example!