My Little Giant Baby

I've been aware for months now that Katie is a bigger baby than her older sisters.  Madeline was a tiny little peanut who barely weighed 20lbs when she hit a year.  Ellie was bigger than Madeline, but not by a lot.  Katie apparently is just blowing her petite and average sized sisters away in the height and weight department.

This morning while the older girls went to the opthamologist to get their eyes checked, I took Katie to the pediatrician for her 6 month well visit.  I honestly couldn't recall how heavy she was at her last appointment, but I figured Katie was a solid 16+lbs.  Of course, now that I think about it, I think she was about that heavy at her four month visit.  I just know she was around the 80-90th percentile for height and weight at that last visit.  I was a bit stunned when they weighed and measured her this morning.  Katie is now 28 inches long and 18lbs 2.8oz.  How is this little baby that big already?  Our pediatrician tells me she's 97th percentile for height and 90th for weight.  I'm so used to being told that my girls are in the 25-50th percentile that I can't believe I have such a big baby.  I suppose this explains why even some of the 12 month sized clothes are a bit snug lengthwise.

While we were there the doctor pointed out to me that some of the things Katie is doing are actually very good developmental milestones.  Ever since she had bronchiolitis back in December/January she's been doing this fake cough when she wants attention.  It started about a week or so after she was fully recovered.  Turns out that's a sign that she understands cause and effect.  Her recent night waking/nursing are also signs that she understands cause and effect, too.  She had been sleeping through the night for a few months and has begun waking one to two times a night over the past month.  Bryan is usually unaware of what time it is, so he just changes her and brings her to me to be fed.  So now she's developed a habit of nursing at night when she really doesn't need to.  Her doctor suggested that we ditch the baby monitor at night to stop her from playing Bryan.  We'll have to see how this goes.

Last week I finally got Katie up to eating two meals a day, and today I was told we should be aiming for three meals a day at this point.  I'm not sure I agree with that.  I think we'll try to aim towards her eating three meals a day sometime in the next month or so.  I need to ease into these sorts of things.

I thought Katie was a little behind since she can only roll from front to back, but the doctor assured me that she's doing just fine since she's able sit on her own and transfer things from one hand to the next.  I know Ellie was much older when she finally agreed to sit unsupported, but she was rolling all over at a much earlier age.  I guess it just goes to show that they all do things in their own time.

*Note: In the above picture Katie was attempting to take over Ellie's bed and claim it in the name of Kitty Katkin-land.  She has great plans to take over her big sisters' bedrooms in the near future and has suggested that they consider moving to the basement.  At the present time, the older girls humor her and laugh at her silly conquests.  They do however acquiesce to her demands that they address her as Super Mighty Fine Princess.