18 Month Checkup

THE Twins went in for their 18 month checkup on 12/17.

They both measured 33" in length. Dad remeasured when they came home and measured them both at 31 3/4". He believes his measurement to be more precise. He had them stand up barefoot against the wall and carefully placed a pencil mark even with the crown on their head. The lay-down-and measure-from-head-to-toe method is error prone.

At 33", a full inch and a quarter longer than  Dad's measurement, she is in the 83rd percentile and he in the 66th. According to growth charts available on the web, he is actually between 25 and 50% while she is between 50 and 75%.

He weighs in at 23 lbs. 5 oz. (38%).

She weighs in at exactly 21 lbs. (28%).

Dr. Pedia asked a littany of questions about their development. Embarassingly most of the answers were "no."

"Do they use between 7 and 20 words?"

"No."

"Do they climb stairs?"

"Um, we don't let them."

"Do they use utensils?"

"Well she holds a spork and stabs food with it. But mostly she picks food up with her hand and puts it into her mouth."

But the New Family Parents were largely unconcerned. Dad knows that anytime he makes a declarative sentence about the Twins, they take it as a cue to prove him wrong. Sure enough they are now doing all of those things.

Except climb stairs. Those are still off limits. But they climb everything else.

At their 24 month visit, should Dad encounter any question about their development to which the answer would be "no," he will instead reply, "(S)he will by this afternoon!"