Aquila Children's Magazine AQUILA Magazine Best Bits | Page 74

BIRTH AND ONWARDS
When you’d grown as much as you could
in the womb, you signalled to your mum
to help you out and you and your mum
worked together until you were born.
(Do you have a diff erent birth story?
Lots of people do.) You were born with
300 bones in your body, a patchwork
skull made of bone and cartilage and
no visible teeth, even though you were
born with all your teeth in your mouth!
Twenty baby teeth sat above 32 adult
teeth buds in your jaw, under your gums
still growing and forming until they were
ready to erupt.
At six months old, your lower front teeth
might have started erupting, your true
eye colour was probably established and
your nostrils had doubled in size, you
could probably roll over, and sit up, and
might have started to crawl.
At 5, your brain was very close to
adult size and volume, and all your
brain structures and functions were
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By 7, your brain was 90 per cent of its
adult size.
From age 8 through to age 10, you’ll
probably grow at a steady rate of around
5 cm per year. After that, you’ll need
to get ready for a major growth spurt!
During puberty, your body will start
preparing for adulthood and you will
experience many changes.
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i B RtH
– 90% Of aDu
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IzE
– 75% Of aDu
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Your 4-year-old belly started fl attening
out as your abdominal muscles formed
and your limbs lengthened, your head
was nearly adult-sized and your facial
features matured.
On your fi rst birthday you might have
had six teeth, your brain was 75 per cent
of its adult size and you had probably
grown around 25 cm since birth, from
then on, you continued to grow at an
average 7.6 cm per year until age 5.
You could probably walk and say a few
words.
By 3, your brain was 80 per cent of its
adult size, you had a thick abdomen and
your eyeballs had grown 7 mm since
birth (they’ll grow another 1 mm by
puberty).
established. Your height was double
your birth length. Your baby teeth may
have begun to fall out and started to
be gradually replaced by adult teeth – a
process usually fi nished by age 13. You
continued to grow a steady 5 cm per
year.
By the time you were one month old,
you’d grown rapidly and your brain was
25 per cent of its adult size. You were
learning to lift your head and smile.
Age 2, you may have had 16 teeth. By
two and a half years old, you probably
reached half your adult height and
grown a total of 20 baby teeth.
There you were, a tiny newborn baby,
all soft and noisy, fi ercely hungry and
keen to keep on growing. As well as
physical growth, your environment
outside the womb triggered growth
and development in your motor skills
(how you use your body), your senses
(how you experience the world), your
cognitive development (how you
understand the world) and your social
skills (how you interact with people).
You have not stopped growing since
your conception, and you will never stop
changing.