Growing, Growing

I recently looked over our referral documents and thought I would compare her weight then, with her weight now.

On October 28, 2010, in Ethiopia she weighed 27.5 pounds and was 106cm tall.

On Monday, at her latest immunization appointment, we had her weighed and measured and she weighted 44 pounds and was 115cm tall.

That means she has gained 16.5 pounds in a year (an increase of 60%) and has grown 9cm (an increase of 8.5%).

Are the measurements in Ethiopia accurate? I have no reason to believe they are not, as she was quite malnourished when she was brought in and her pictures show how skinny she was. If they would be wrong at all, I would venture to guess they would estimate weight to be higher so that they would appear healthier. The measurements were completed by a doctor in a pediatric hospital and came with a variety of lab results so I would think they are accurate.

I have definitely noticed a difference...she now outweighs E, although she is also a lot more muscular. I understand it is quite common for kids who have previously been malnourished to go overboard when they are first brought to North America. It's something we're keeping an eye on - we want to make sure she knows that she will never go hungry, but we also don't want her to eat herself sick. :-)

In any case, she's thriving here and I'm so glad. We watched home videos from this summer last night and I just couldn't believe how far she's come. She's putting together more and more perfect English sentences now...and she hasn't even been here six months yet. Truly astounding and we are so thankful!