'Splain me

Chaos is 5'6" and weighs 174 lbs. (<- linebacker)
Mayhem is 5'1" and weighs 78 lbs. (<-beanpole)
According to these charts both of my sons are in the 75th percentile in height compared to boys their age. Chaos, however is in the 90th percentile for weight and Mayhem is in the 5th.
90th. 5th.

I realize they are two years apart in age - but still...
I feed them the same things in roughly the same amounts! (In fact, if I had to say, I'd put Mayhem at being the one who eats more at table most every night.) They have roughly the same activity level. They both do karate, walk the dog together every day, and when they play outside - they usually play together.

They both have great self-images and often josh around with each other. Chaos will call Mayhem skinny and Mayhem will say, "No, that's SLEEK, bucko." Or Mayhem will try to steal Chaos' food saying he needs it more than Chaos and Chaos will snatch it back claiming he has achieved the exact right level of beefiness and needs to maintain. Luckily we have a whole range of body types in our family. (Wouldn't it suck to be the only chubby one in a whole family of willowy creatures? Or to be the only scrawny one in a family of buff types?) Chaos and Mayhem just happen to be our extremes. But I see them side by side a lot - and it makes me wonder.

How does this work? Same food+ same calorie burning activity = wildly different results. I know, I know. The answer is "different metabolisms" which if you think about it is a fancy way of saying - there's something mysterious going on inside my kids that takes the same external factors and produces different results. It means that what works one way for one kid, works a whole different way for another kid. It means that, as a parent, my goals of 'healthy' and 'consistent' are moving targets. There is no fixed position to shoot for. I have to fly by the seat of my pants. All. The. Time. (And? That I have to fix a lot of good food.)

Peace. Happy Halloween. And Merry meet, merry part. Have a good Samhain.