The Number Field

At the doctor's appointment for Elena yesterday, they gave us current official measurements. Her length * is now 26 inches, and her weight is 16 pounds, 8 ounces. In each category, she's above the 95th percentile. She got two more immunization shots, which she weathered well, although Christine reported that during the afternoon Elena was more groggy and fussy than usual.

The doctor told us that we should wait until six months before trying solid foods, but said that if Elena goes through a growth spurt and all of a sudden wants to eat a lot more than we're giving her now, we can try them earlier. She tested Elena's ability to stabilize herself and remain upright while sitting, which she can't do yet. Per doctor's instructions, we will give her opportunities to practice that and expect that her sitting will improve in the near future.

I apologize in advance for the math-geekiness that follows. In classes that I teach, students sometimes ask about real-world applications of principles from class. I wouldn't call this an application, but infant growth curves are approximated well by logarithms . Babies grow explosively at first, but with time the growth moderates. This idea carries over to other aspects of life--I once started to read an economics paper about production and distribution. I didn't get far, but on the very first page, the author included the assumption that consumption increases according to a logarithmic model.

* Does it only become a height when she can stand on her own?