JZ, true story.

Every time we took Ben for a well baby visit during his first year, the Physician's assistant would measure his head, then leave the room, come back in with someone else, and re-measure it. I never asked the percentile because I was afraid what I'd hear.

Julia's head was probably just as big, but it never seemed it at the time. I don't remember them double checking her.

Chris's head is IMPRESSIVE. Somewhere during that first year of life, I finally worked up the nerve to ask the doctor why they'd always seemed concerned about Ben's big head, but that no one ever measured twice with Chris, and his head seemed even bigger to me. All five of us were in the room at the time. He stopped, smiled, looked at us and said, "Well, y'all kind of have big heads."

I said, "Big heads mean big brains," silently noting Dr. Pinhead's noggin.

He said, "Actually, that's true."

Please don't worry about it. Matilda's all Matilda, all over, and perfectly Matilda, at that.

Love,
The Melons

P.S. We took them all for their check-ups this week. Julia and Ben are at the 95th percentile for height and 90th for weight. Chris is at the 75th percentile for weight and the doctor said he's 'between the 50th and 75th percentiles' for height.

Cookie cutters are not involved in the making of people. Love is.

The Melons

I love you so very dearly, Cindy, you and your entire beautiful melonhead clan! Breathing again now.

And we love you right back. Also, I was thinking about Matilda. Head size is probably not at all affected by either her prematurity or how much she's eating. It's pretty hard-coded, you know?

Honestly, JZ, I think Ben's head size was completely off the charts for his age. I told you I didn't ask before, but now that I'm thinking about it (it was a long time ago), I think they couldn't tell what percentile he was in, because he was so far off the charts.

His head is perfect for him, doesn't look outsized in any way, and he's all healthy. If there's ever a reason to worry about stuff like that, your doctor will let you know, right away.

I'm in Nashville for my cousin's son's wedding. Please to send bitch~ma that I don't scream at the whole racists, right-wing radio quoting bunch.

May the music be too loud to hear the ugliness. I hope it turns out better than you expect, Ginger.

Thinks back on all the pictures and videos of Matilda. Takes a moment to recover from the ded. She is beautiful, healthy, responsive, and as perfect as can be baby girl. Growth charts are goofy. Look around you at the adults you know and love. We certainly do come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Brendon has never made it on the chart. He was born 3 weeks early at 8lbs. By the time he was to his due date he was over the top of the chart and has never looked back. He is so thin at the moment that he has dipped to the 99%tile on weight at 183. His height has always been off the chart. Bobby has been pretty steady at 75. Yay for being able to buy clothes!

There is a long list of things we obsess about as parents. Really we can't help ourselves. But size is one of those things that just is. Among the adults in my life that I consider happy and successful are itty bitty people and huge people. Don't think size is a contributing factor.

{{Ginger}} Try and pretend that you are watching a badly written sitcom. Picture their grandchildren marrying same sex different race communists. And smile politely.

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I remember being very excited when I was in fourth grade and, for the first time since I could remember, I was actually on the height chart. At the fifth percentile. Every other year, the doctor had had to draw a few lines under the bottom of the chart to record my height. (I think the highest I got was something like 25th percentile after a growth spurt in sixth grade, then I pretty much stayed at that height -- grew maybe an inch or two more in high school.)

When my older sister was a baby, the doctor was concerned about her size. He asked my parents if there were any tall people in the family -- trying to figure out if she was just genetically small, or if there was a real problem. My mom thought for a second, then turned to my dad and said, "Your father's tall." Turned to the doctor and said, "He's about 5'8"." The doctor figured the baby was fine.

Once we become adults it seems that the biggest obstacle to being either very large or very small is finding clothes to fit properly.

Lillian's head is the only part of her on the charts, hitting average, even though she's short and skinny. No flipping required.

Ah, Nashville. The memories, the crazy memories... Ginger, I went to college there and lived there until I was ... 30-something. I haven't been there since they finished installing the Athena at the Parthenon. Go see it if you can - I want someone to tell me how gorgeous she is. (Im in ur trip, stealin ur free time)