Your Kid is Fat

*I promise he has teeth, it just looks like they are missing*

Umm…what?  Okay and to be honest it was ‘your child is in the 90th percentile for BMI and that’s not so good’ but it might as well have been ‘fatty fatty two by four’ for me at first.  It was then explained to me that the charts/formulas being used right now are rather generic and they will be improving them soon.  She told me that looking at Nate you can see that he isn’t fat and he’s very active so she wanted me to not take it too much to heart, yet.

He’s 75-90th percentile for weight and 50-75% for height, I was actually ecstatic about it because even though he was over 9 pounds at birth he began to decline all the way down to the 20th percentile for a long time in weight.  Over the past year he has filled out and gained muscle and is a healthy boy.  It seems that nearly everyone in my family weighs more then they look, it’s genetics.

Obviously Nathaniel is predisposed to being overweight and possibly obese.  I can’t think of a person in my family except for my baby brother and my aunt’s boys who hasn’t struggled at some point with weight.  Several members of Chris’ family have minor weight issues.  My mom, brother, sister and I are the worst ‘offenders’ but being VERY aware of this means that I am already taking precautions.  Having him exercise, seeing me exercise and helping him pick good foods.  We try new things, we discuss healthy options and I make sure that he plays a lot outside and runs around with kids.  He eats a lot of veggies and fruits and loves to eat things that are good for him but like all three year olds (and adults) sometimes he just wants hot dogs and chicken fingers.  And not just the physical stuff, I make sure he is loved and knows that he is and he knows that no matter what I will always love him.  I give him confidence and self esteem and I’m hoping that all of these things combine into breaking the cycle of obesity.