skinny genes

Back at the end of June, when Garrett was given his end-of-year report card at school, the Physical Education section of the report indicated that my skin-and-bones boy was, according to his BMI, considered overweight. I was quickly reassured, by both my own eyes and my friends, that this was a bunch of baloney, and we continued on our merry way, trying, as usual, to get him to eat a full meal.

Today, at Caleb's four-year well check-up, the opposite happened. First, though, let me share the numbers of how he measured up:

Height: 44 inches (that's only 1 1/2 inches shorter than Garrett, who is more than two years his senior!)
Weight: 38 lbs

That's greater than the 95th percentile for height, 50th percentile for weight, which adds up to a BMI of less than the 3rd percentile. Super tall and super skinny, particularly when you account for his age. The doctor actually told me that it was okay for me to give him junk food just to fatten him up. I don't intend to go out of my way to give him lots of junk food; there are other ways to bulk him up a bit. But it can't hurt to throw the authority of the pediatrician at him when I need him to just eat his dinner already!

In the meantime, I think it's safest to chalk all this up to genetics. After all, his Uncle Riley (who he actually already resembles the most in his sly, roguish looks) is, what? a lean 6'4" or 6'5"? It looks like Caleb got the skinny genes. At least he wears them well.

By the way, the rest of his check-up was smooth sailing. He's a healthy, happy boy, which I already knew, but was glad to hear again.