Age, Weight, and Time Continuum

James had his 15 month check-up yesterday, including two shots (which he only cried for 10 seconds!), a height and weight check, ear check, etc. All that fun stuff. And I happy to announce that...
JAMES IS ON THE CHARTS AGAIN! This is the first time since he was 2 months old that he's been above zero on the charts for weight-for-age! Granted it's only 5% but that is almost exactly where Bekah was at that age so we're doing just fine. Height-for-age is currently 50%. I guess that formula is really helping...or maybe he's just not burning so many calories, but that's hard to believe since he's starting to halfway run everywhere. He will be keeping me busy these next few years--if not longer. Anyhow, were to keep him on the formula for another few months to maintain things but we can start substituting for whole milk gradually. Yeah! $2 a gallon instead of $22--and I'm not exaggerating that. Formula is that expensive.

Details...
Height 2'7" (I guess he's tall enough now that they start listing it like that instead of in inches only.)
Weight 20 lbs 12 oz

Near the end of the visit, the doctor asked, "So have you started potty training yet?" Can you believe it! I said, "No...my daughter wasn't even trained until almost 4." Doc: "That's way too long. He should be trained during the day by age 2." (As if it was my fault for not making that happen sooner...goodness knows I tried!) I was quite shocked! Not that I was supposed to be thinking about it, but that it hadn't even entered my mind yet! It truly was a wake-up call that he's growing up, and I honestly had a hard time not saying out loud "He's my baby and I want to enjoy him just like this as long as I can. Don't tell me he's old enough for that."

With child #2 I've found it much easier to enjoy each stage as it comes and not seek for the next. But looking back I remember Bekah showed interest at 18 months. (It just didn't last. She decided once she had done it a couple times it wasn't fun anymore and nothing we could say or do would make her change her mind until preschool was coming and she decided she really wanted to go.) James is only 3 months away from that! And yet he seems so much younger than Bekah did at that age!

I'm realizing that maybe that's what makes a lot of the differences in placement in families (oldest, middle, youngest). Child #1 only gets compared to what we remember about being kids, or kids we babysat (which we said many times 'my kids won't act like that'), or even the adults we associate with. I found myself being so excited to see how grown up she was becoming and being excited about the new stages that soon expectations developed that made it seem like she should act more grown up because "look at all the new things she can do." Child #2 comes along and now you have a lot more recent benchmark...which there are both pros and cons that fallout from this, for both oldest and not oldest. Suddenly Child #2 can't be expected to do many things because it's obvious that "he's not as old as you" and "Child #1 you should know better." Then you find yourself at the doctor one day saying "no way, you're too demanding of my child" referring to Child #2 and then you think back and say, "wow, I was sure demanding of Child #1. Will she ever forgive me?"

Being the oldest myself, though, I feel comforted knowing yes, I saw it happened to me, but I think I still turned out okay. :) And there are other great benefits to being the oldest that make up for the hard parts. I'm hoping in the future I can remember this though so I can not be too hard on any of my kids. Yet at the same time remember to positively encourage new stages of development. So I guess that means potty-training here I come! Well...maybe.