You can’t compare one child to another, even if they are biological siblings or identical twins. However, there is certain standard of height and weight according to the age and sex of the child.
Growth charts are part of any checkup, and pediatricians use them to see how kids are growing compared with other kids of the same age and gender. They also allow them to see the pattern of kids’ height and weight gain over time, and whether they’re developing well.
Percentiles are measurements that show where a child is compared with others. On the growth charts, the percentiles are shown as lines drawn in curved patterns. The higher the percentile number, the bigger a child is compared with other kids of the same age and gender, whether it’s for height or weight; the lower the percentile number, the smaller the child is. For example, if a 3-year-old boy’s weight is in the 30th percentile, that means that 30% of boys that age weigh less than he does and 70% of 3-year-old boys weigh more.
The percentile per se is not that important, the most important thing is to look at the chart over time to see how well the child is growing.
For example, Dylan is very thin and not too tall, so he is usually around the 20th to 15th percentile in height and weight but his growth is adequate, it is only a matter of genes. Since neither Miguel nor me are “big” people, it is only logical to expect that he won’t be either.
When you adopt a child, sometimes you don’t really know anything about his/her family, so it’s hard to predict how tall he/she will be. The only thing you have is the percentile growth chart to make a guess depending on where in the curve they fall.
But children adopted from Ethiopia usually lack proper nutrition so they tend to be way low in the percentile chart, sometimes not even inside the “standard” curves. Any adoptive parent of an Ethiopian child can tell you how tiny their children were the first time they saw them and how over certain period of time they started to “catch up” and finally be within the “normal” curves of the growth chart.
Feromsa as well as Feven were very small kids for their ages. Feromsa specially was so small that we weren’t even sure about his real age and a bit worried at how he will develop over time.
We have been measuring him every month to see how he is doing and compared his height with Dylan at the same age. At the beginning the difference was quite big.
Now a year after he has come home his progress has been huge, from being totally off the chart (lower than the lowest) to now at almost 5 years-old being at the 50th percentile in height. Regarding his weight, he was in the 5th percentile at referral and now he is in the 75th. Quite a progress for the first year!!
Feven went from also being barely “touching” the lowest curve of the chart in height and weight, to now being around the 55th percentile for height and a little over 75th for weight.
Yes, they both are a bit chubby

Feromsa’s Growth Chart	Feven’s Growth Chart

We’ll see how they continue developing, but it seems that now they are reaching their real measures and the growth has slowed down and probably they will remain right in the middle, not too short, not too tall.
In Ethiopia they predicted us that Feromsa will be tall and thin, time will tell if that prediction comes true. Anyway, we are very pleased with the progress both of them made since coming home!

Health Charts
Growth Chart for Boys, Birth to 36 Months
Growth Chart for Boys, 2 to 20 Years
Growth Chart for Girls, Birth to 36 Months
Growth Chart for Girls, 2 to 20 Years

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