Results for Summer Growth

At the beginning of the summer I did a growth chart to record the kids' height, weight, and BMI so that I could see if all the activity over the summer made much of a difference.  This morning I measured everyone again.  These are the results:

Brielle:

Height in May= 46.75"  (73rd percentile)
Current Height= 47.5"   (73rd percentile)

Weight in May= 45 lb.  (49th percentile)
Current Weight= 45 lb. (41th percentile)

BMI in May= 14.5  (29th percentile)
Current BMI= 14  (16th percentile)

Ashton:

Height in May= 39.25"  (68th percentile)
Current Height= 41.0"  (87th percentile)

Weight in May= 34.5 lb.  (65th percentile)
Current Weight= 35 lb.  (59th percentile)

BMI in May= 15.8  (47th percentile)
Current BMI= 14.7  (14th percentile)

Lainey:

Height in May= 29.6"  (57th percentile)
Current Height= 31.5" (52nd percentile)

Weight in May= 20 lb.  (28th percentile)
Current Weight= 21 lb. (9th percentile)

BMI in May= 16 (No percentile calculators for baby BMI's)
Current BMI= 14.8

These are the web sites I used.  The first was for baby percentiles, the second for kids, the third was the BMI calculator to find Lainey's BMI since child sites don't offer that info.

http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/usefultools/l/bl_percentiles.htm

http://www.blubberbuster.com/height_weight.html

http://www.us-webmasters.com/Body-Mass-Index-Calculator-BMI

So everyone grew quite a bit taller, but leaned out with all the summer exercise and activity.  They hardly gained any weight- Brielle not gaining any.  But measuring growth shocked me to see how quickly kids grow in height!  Ashton and Lainey both grew almost 2 inches!  I can tell the height difference most in Lainey.  Just yesterday she was in my bathroom with me while I got ready and I noticed her looking in the drawers to pick what to snitch out of them.  In May she was reaching up on her tippy toes and feeling around the drawers with her finger tips because she was too short to see in them!  She's my baby!  She can't grow!  She won't be a baby much longer at this rate.  :-(

Ashton really thinned out.  Wow.  His BMI percentile went from the 47th to the 14th!  Out of the three of them, he definitely has exerted the most steam this summer.  And also is the most visibly leaner to me.  He's played hard, and runs around all hours of the day.  As I speak he and Todd are doing a tension chord workout and having a blast.  He almost beat Brielle in the children's triathlon!  Of course, she did really take her time on parts of it which I mentioned in that post :-).  Ashton is all about being "strong" lately.  He likes to help me in with the groceries and show me how much he can carry.  He always has to point out how strong he is with random chores or activities.

Brielle was even more toned than she is now in the middle of the summer when she was training so much and doing gymnastics.  I noticed that all the fast food of vacation and taking the month of August off from gymnastics and swimming has softened her toned muscles as much as it did mine.  She's normally very health-conscious with food.  It really interests her to know how much healthier one lunch option is to another, etc.  She seems to really enjoy talking about it.  It helps me to feel the pressure to be a good example to her when I have a weak moment and just want to splurge.  But even at this point, she weighs the same as she did 3 months ago yet grew almost an inch taller.  So she is still more fit than she was at the start of summer.  Her BMI dropped considerably as well- 29th percentile to the 16th. 

This was a fun experiment to document the changes over the summer.  I think I'll do it again each year.  It's nice to see how healthy it really is for kids to be out of school and playing hard for a few months.  Now to figure out how to keep them active in the colder busier months.  Brielle will be back in gymnastics and swimming again soon.  Ashton will probalby start those too.  But we'll see how he handles it.  I don't want to get him too busy yet- being in pre-school this year.  Although, he really does like all the activities.  I can tell it makes him feel important to have his own apts. and places to go.