Shrimpy McShrimp the Third?

So, Isaac was pretty much giant at his two month and four month appointments.  He'd doubled his birth weight before four months old -- as all of my kids have.  But then, just like his sisters, right around the time he hit the 'double' mark, he just stopped putting on weight.  To the tune of less than a half pound in the last two months.  Meaning his weight plummeted from 75 percent to the 34th percentile in about two months.  His sister's weight curves took similar nose dives at the same age.

The difference this time?  I have a pediatrician who isn't freaking out about it!  I can't tell you how happy this makes me!  She walked in with his chart in hand, laughed out loud and said, "Wow, this is interesting!  What happened to you, Chunk?"  We went on to discuss both of my girls growth curves taking similar dives at the exact same age, and the very nature of how breastfed babies grow, and she said, "Well, just take one look at him -- he's obviously not failure to thrive!  He's healthy and pudgy, and the kid put on SIX lbs in SIX weeks when he was younger, there's no way he could've kept up that growth!  He'd be huge!  As long as he's eating, you're not worried, and he doesn't start losing weight, I'm not worried."  Oh, be still my heart.  I cannot even put into words how great it felt to have a doctor not freak out at what is apparently my childrens' norms.  He put on another half inch, and his head is still growing (89th percentile, of course), so he's obviously growing and thriving.  To have a pediatrician who looked at the whole picture, actually looked at my son's chunky thighs (while squeezing them to make him giggle) and inspecting his buddha belly by tickling it -- a pediatrician who looked at my son, and not his chart -- it was the greatest feeling.  She had him standing on her lap, holding tight to her fingers, checking out his development simply by getting him into her arms and playing with him.  She jabbered back and forth with him.  She exclaimed how strong he was when he was pulling himself up.  She continued to win me over yet again when she was the first pediatrician I've had whose answer to our 'slow weight gain' situation wasn't "solids."  I mean, she wants him eating solids as he gets older, of course, but she warned, "You realize, as he begins to eat more and more solids, he will probably fall a little further on the growth charts.  Don't worry, that's normal."  With both Annie and Ellie I was told by their doctors that they needed to be eating more solids to put on more weight.  I remember being SO stumped by that!  Really?  So, if I replace the baby equivalent of straight cream in their diets with pureed green beans and squash they'll just pack on the pounds!?  I remember with Ellie in particular, arguing with the doctor, "So, you're telling me that if I replace half of a feeding with a couple tablespoons carrots, she'll suddenly start packing on the pounds?!"  His response was, "She just needs more food in her, than she'll gain."  So when our doctor yesterday said, "Baby food is basically diet food -- I mean vegetables and oatmeal, that's what I eat to lose weight!" I almost got up and hugged her. 

So, my big boy isn't quite so big anymore (he still seems big to me though . . . he is more than three pounds heavier than Ellie was at this age -- and he's my first kid to EVER be above 50% on the charts in height, at 66%).  I guess I should've seen this coming, as I'm now three for three on kids who basically stop gaining weight between four and six months.  I'm just glad I have a doctor this time who isn't trying to freak me out about it, and is looking at the whole picture that is my son, and not just a line on a chart.  "Don't worry, that's just his normal," has to be my new favorite phrase.  :-)

Last night Isaac tried squash -- probably like a whole 7 calories worth :-)

 Then right before I stripped him down and stuck his little squash covered self in the shower with his Dad . . .