Ingrid came home today with a chart of her height and weight development, from the school nurse. The girl who used to be shortest in her class, always at least one standard deviation below the average for her age, has now caught up with her peers and hit the average line. 163.5 cm and counting.

The points on that curve are sparse so it’s hard to say anything about the slope, but since she’s grown 10 cm in each of the last two years (according to my home measurements) she’s likely not done growing yet.

I’ve always expected this to happen, and always told her so. I was a late grower myself. Always among the shortest in my class. The militarily inspired gym classes in Soviet Estonia did their best to rub it in by lining kids up at the beginning of each lesson, first by gender, then by height. I caught up later than Ingrid, some time in high school I think.

Ingrid was never too worried, I think, but still very conscious about her height, or rather the lack of it. Now she is very conscious and very pleased to be as tall as she is. She often shows off how she can touch the door lintels – without even being on her toes! – and how she is almost as tall as me.