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Growth Charts
“My goodness, I can’t believe how BIG
she’s gotten!”
There is not a parent alive who hasn’t
heard that line. And what do we say to it?
When I’m being brutally honest, my response
is, “Really? I see her everyday and I
didn’t notice.”
Children’s growth, like the movement of the
earth, is a slow but constant thing. No one notices
how far away from the sun we are until one day we
wake up at our usual time and it is still dark
outside. The same applies to children growing up. I
know they are growing because I have a basic
understanding of biology and I feed them almost
every day. They eat, therefore, they grow. I
don’t notice how much taller or wider or
different they are because their daily increases
are too small. It’s the people who only see
them occasionally, like aunts, uncles, and
insurance agents who can compare where they are to
where they were.
Until you bring out the hand-me-downs. When you
dress one of your children in the clothes of her
older brother or sister, you get an
instant—and frankly, jarring—picture of
the relentless march of time.
Recently, we pulled out some of the clothes that
Noah (who is seven) and Clara (who is six) used to
wear to try on Natalie and Anna (who are three).
The clothes, of course, fit the twins
perfectly.
When did that happen? How had Natalie and Anna
grown up so fast that they can fit into the PJs
that Noah wore so recently? Wasn’t it just a
month or two ago when he slept in the fuzzy
Winnie-the-Pooh footed pajamas? And when did he get
too big for them? He really doesn’t fit into
clothes that are sized by the month anymore, does
he?
And, perhaps more importantly, how am I going to
remember that these PJs belong in the twins’
dresser and not Noah’s?
Hand-me-downs are the ultimate growth chart. I
can’t deny that my oldest baby is no longer a
baby when my youngest babies are wearing his 4T
clothing. Bringing an outfit out of storage brings
back memories of the tiny person who once wore them
so long ago. I can picture that little man
exploring his world, cuddling his Mommy, and
falling asleep with his hand in the yogurt cup
(I’ve got to find that picture).
At the same time, hand-me-downs show how far his
little sisters have come since being paper weights
in swaddling clothes. It’s their turn to be
the inquisitive ones, getting into everything they
can reach and asking all of those questions. Noah
still seeks answers, but he can look them up in his
own books, now. Natalie and Anna still fit on my
lap, but not in my hand anymore.
It’s a melancholy time, this handing down
of the fuzzy PJs. I am proud of what all of my
children have become, whether in cub scouts or
potty training. Our goal, after all, is to guide
them into adulthood to be good people. However, I
can’t help but miss that little boy, that
little girl, those tiny infants who brought so much
unadulterated joy into my life. I guess there is
only one thing to do now…
No, having another baby is not on the horizon. I
just have to sit back and really enjoy who my kids
are right now. And come up with a better response
when someone tells me how much they’ve
grown.
©2008, Mark
Phillips
* * *
Women, it's true, make human beings, but
only men can make men. - Margaret Mead
Mark
Phillips is a Stay-At-Home-Dad and freelance
writer. Along with raising his four children, he is
developing a franchise called “The Vacuum IS a
Power Tool.” It is designed to help SAHDs
maintain that which makes us men, instead of hairy
Mom-substitutes. He earned a B.S. in
Communication/Theatre Arts and teaching
certificates in English, public speaking, and
psychology from Eastern Michigan University. After
six years as a high school English teacher and
Director of Dramatic Arts at Powers Catholic High
School in Flint, Michigan, he changed careers and
became a Stay-At-Home-Dad. www.TheVacuumIsAPowerTool.com
or E-Mail
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