As Tall as a Giraffe's Tail

Lately, Joey has become obsessed with getting bigger. He still takes naps under duress, but tells himself that at least he grows while he's sleeping. He'll chug two glasses of milk at dinner because it makes him "stronger and bigger," and he constantly (to our chagrin) points out that he's taller than other boys at the park. So to celebrate Joey's half birthday -- the Fourth of July -- we hung a new growth chart in the bathroom, so that he can see for himself how much he grows over the next few years.

For the record -- and the baby book, when I get around to filling it in -- at three and a half, he's almost exactly as tall as the giraffe's tail (he's slouching a little in the picture), and he's still tipping the scales with his weight. According to http://www.pediatrics.about.com/, Joey:

is 43 pounds, at the 97th percentile for weight
and is 40.25 inches, at the 78th percentile for height

On this downward slide to 4, he's leaving babyhood behind a little more each day. But even though he's wearing size 4T and 5T clothes and fills size 11.5 shoes, he still loves snuggling and almost every day reports, "I'm still a baby. Sometimes."