Madeline was at the pediatrician today for the first time since she was about a month old. We had been anxiously awaiting the weighing and measuring component of the visit and Madeline was unawares of the horrors with pointy needles that awaited her with labels like DTaP. But the verdict is in. Madeline is in the 95% percentile for height and head circumference and weighs 17 lbs and 12 oz. Unfortunately the pediatrician was unable to gauge her percentile for weight because she was beyond the normal measuring sticks for calculating such things. This places her in an elite group of babies known casually as big babies. We had suspected as much given the trouble it has been lately trying to lug her car seat around but given the effect of the bell curve to congregate the majority of folks generally in the middle at 50% we expected her to be closer to the 75-80% mark for her age.

Based on some mild entertainment that I was providing her while Sarah was working in the kitchen I also got a second surprise for today. I was holding her up in her baby poppasan chair at my waist and playing the “Baby’s for sale, get your fresh babies!” concession game when I stopped at the washing machine to switch games to the “buuuurrppp, grunt, aaaooooopp” game. She was entertained more than usual by a fantastic belch that I sung out with a huge expanding smile. Then she couldn’t control the smile and she started to make a hiccupping, laughing, smile. And then she started giggling because I enhanced and morphed the burps into a beautiful symphony of humorous guttural noises. I had to stop for a few seconds just to hear her giggle and laugh.

What a great moment.