How Tall Are You?

Vicbowin went in for her yearly doctor's appointment yesterday. The nurse did the usual weighing, measuring, temperaturing (is that a word?) and then took us to a room to wait for the doctor.

*side note-- it was me and 4 children in the space the size of a laundry room.*

So the doctor came in and immediately started asking me questions about her eating and nutrition. Then he asked how tall I was.

"5'10"." I say.

"And your husband?"

"Six foot, but his sisters are pretty average height for women, 5'4"s and stuff."

He wrote it all down and then in a very professional manner informed me that Vicbowin was in the 10% range for her age and height. (this means in a group of 100 kids she would have 90 kids taller than her).

"Really!?" I was fairly surprised.

Dr. K went on. "Plotting out her height growth--at this rate your daughter is going to be around 5'1" or 5'2", but it's also dependent on what age she starts puberty"

I was floored. A million thoughts ran through my mind before I remembered something...

"She's started having body odor issues." I said.

"Hmm." He jotted that down.

"Well that doesn't necessarily mean she's beginning puberty but it could mean she will be sooner than later."

"What's that mean?"

"Once a girl hits puberty she has about 2-3 years of growth left. The later your daughter hits adolescence the taller she will be. If she begins to show genuine signs of puberty then I think we should talk about putting her on growth hormones."

Floored again. I have a tall family. My brother is 6'5" the shortest girl is 5'8" (Jen are you shorter than that?) This has to be coming from Ralexwin's family.

*grumble* Him and his strong Wingenes. His incredibly strong Wingenes that drown my genes in little genetic pools and walk away laughing maniacally.

This is his fault.

Now I get to spend the next year watching every minute change in her body. I get to hover over her like a hawk lest she off and pubertize without me noticing.

The doctor said it would not be good for her height for her to become a woman early. He also said this sort of thing generally comes down from female to female. *grumble* Generally doesn't allot for those dang sadistic Wingenes.

By the time I got home I was looking at my little Remewin and my wonderful Vicbowin and depressing myself with the notion of never being able to look up to my children.

I don't know when I got that idea in my head but I guess it's been there a while. The image of my children being taller than I am.

I'm feeling pretty dazed by this.

Albowin goes in for his 7 year old checkup today. I'm going to ask the doctor about him--since he's the same height as her (and a year younger).

It just never ever crossed my mind that my children would have issues with being short. Never in my wildest dreams.

Comments

Jennifer said…
5'10", thank you very much, and don't pay any attention to my doctor who insists that it's half an inch less. Her measuring is obviously off!
Cari Hislop said…
I find the whole genetic height thing rather fascinating. I'm 5'3 and my mother is about 5'10. She hated being tall so she prayed she'd have short daughters (as if God would make someone short because one's parent had an issue with being tall - my mother has mental health issues). All my brothers are taller than average. The shortest is 5ft11' the tallest 6ft 3".

Frankly I don't see what's wrong with being 5ft 1". It seems really odd to me that a doctor would even suggest that, that was too short or that the child would need hormone pills. Where did that mentality come from? Since when did 5ft 1" become too short? Or is your doctor trying to earn more money by ensuring people come in to have their children given hormone injections? Do I sound like a cynic?
Amy said…
Is being short now a medical problem? And here I though it was just a trick of fate. :-)
Cannwin said…
in all honesty the first thought that ran through my mind was, "Oh, she'll be able to find dates." (Yes, I'm an angry tall woman who never dated anyone because they were always busy dating the short cute girls-- short being what they were after... not cute).

I'm glad to hear some other perspectives. It's hard for me (and my sisters) to process this because it is so out of what we know. I can't even imagine being that short... I thought 5'5" was short... and so all I see is a life of foot stools and hard pregnancies. I need a different point of view.

:)
Jennifer said…
Honestly, my first reaction when Cannwin told me this was not, "Oh, no, she's going to be short," but, "Oh, no, what's wrong with the poor kid?" OK, maybe she's a statistical outlier, and in that case, heck, let the kid be the height God meant her to be, but if this is as unusual for her father's side of the family as it is for her mother's side of the family, then I think it's normal to want things checked out to make sure there isn't anything hormonal getting messed up somehow.

I like being tall - now. When I was younger I was very self-conscious about it. I remember one time when I was at a string quartet concert and a cute guy sat down next to me. We had a nice little flirtation going - until we both stood up during the intermission and it became obvious that I was taller than him. He looked at me kind of goggle-eyed and that was that. He didn't say another word to me. Experiences like that are why I took to calling myself the Jolly Green Giantess - it took some of the sting away if I made the jokes first.

(Now, however, my husband calls me his Amazon and says he loves that I'm nearly as tall as him. And he never objects when I wear heels.) :)

I am very careful in what I say to my daughters about being tall. They are probably both going to be about my height, and I don't ever want them to get the idea that being tall is anything other than beautiful. I don't ever want them to think that they have to be ashamed when some guy doesn't have the (this word has been censored for family reading) to handle dating a tall woman.

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