PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

[Transcriber's Note: The ages were difficult to read and may not all be correct.]

Age in Months	Weight	Height	Circumference of head	Circumference of chest	Circumference of abdomen	Lat. Diameter of chest	Chest front to back	Length of arm	Length of leg
	lbs.	in.	in.	in.	in.	in.	in.	in.	in.
6	17	27	17-1/2	17-1/2	17-1/2	5	4-1/2	10	10
9	19	28	18	18	18	5	4-1/2	11	11
12	20	29	18-1/2	18-1/2	18-1/2	5	4-3/4	12	12-1/2
16	23	30	18-1/2	18-1/2	18-1/2	5-1/2	5	12-1/2	13-1/2
21	24	31	18-1/2	19-1/2	19-1/4	6	5	14	15
24	25	32	19	20	19-1/2	6	5	14-1/2	15-1/2
28	27	33-1/2	19	20	19-1/2	6	5	14-3/4	15-3/4
32	29	35	19-1/2	20-1/2	19-1/2	6-1/4	5-1/2	14-3/4	15-3/4
36	32	36-1/2	20	21	20	6-1/4	5-1/2	15	16-1/2

MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

Attention, facial expression, irritability and disposition should be considered.

Six Months

Child sits unsupported for a few minutes.... Balances head.... Eye follows a bright object.... Looks in direction of an unexpected sound.... Child seizes an object and holds it....

Twelve Months

Stands and walks with support.... Makes a few sounds, such as mam-mam, da-da, co-oo.... Plays with toys.... Attempts to use paper and pencil.... Shows interest in pictures.... Clings to mother....

Eighteen Months

Child walks and runs alone.... Says a few words, such as Mama, Papa, Baby.... Points to common objects in pictures.... Imitates a few simple movements, such as placing hands on head or clapping hands....

Two Years

Runs.... Repeats two or three words.... Knows features.... Obeys simple commands, such as "Throw me the ball".... Imitates movements....

Two and One-Half Years

Talks in short sentences.... Knows names of members of the family.... Roughly copies a circle.... Recognizes self in mirror.... Imitates more complex movements....

Three Years

Talks distinctly.... Repeats sentences of six simple words.... Repeats up to two numerals—meaning repeats first one numeral and then two numerals.... Enumerates objects in a complex picture and attempts to describe it....

Four Years

Knows its sex.... Names familiar objects, such as key, knife, etc..... Repeats three numerals.... Compares two sticks (can select the longer).... Distinguishes the longer of two lines....

Five Years

Compares weights and lengths.... Copies a square.... Counts four pennies.... Describes a picture....

Breakfast:—(7 to 8 o'clock) Oatmeal, hominy or cracked wheat (cooked three hours), served with milk, a little salt but very little sugar. A soft egg, boiled, poached, or coddled. Stale bread and butter. One glass of warm milk. At 10 o'clock, the juice of one orange.

Dinner:—(12 o'clock) Strained soup, four ounces. Chop, roast beef, steak, chicken, small quantity of any one. Baked potato and cooked rice, or spaghetti. A selection of green vegetables may be made from asparagus tips, string beans, peas, spinach, cauliflower, carrots; they should be cooked until very soft, and mashed or put through a sieve. For dessert, plain rice pudding or bread pudding, stewed prunes, baked or stewed apple, junket, custard or cornstarch. A glass of milk or water.

Supper:—(6 o'clock) Cereal; farina, arrowroot, cream of wheat, wheatena (each cooked two hours), with salt but no sugar. Give two or three tablespoonfuls. Drink of milk with stale bread and butter. Twice a week, a little plain ice cream, or junket, custard or cornstarch.

Three meals a day at this time are better than more frequent feedings. The child has a better appetite and much better digestion. It may be found necessary to give delicate children a luncheon at 3 o'clock. A glass of milk and a Graham wafer, or a cup of broth and a zwieback, will answer the purpose. Children recovering from serious illness will need more frequent nourishment. Up to the sixth year the diet may conform to the above schedule, increasing the individual quantities as circumstances may warrant.

THE DIET OF OLDER CHILDREN (FROM SIX TO TEN YEARS)

After the sixth year the diet will conform to the adult diet, with certain exceptions. The important exceptions are as follows: All meats are to be excluded except roast beef, steak, lamb chops, roast lamb, mutton chop; all meats should be cooked rare and either scraped or finely divided. They should be broiled or roasted, never fried, and never given oftener than once daily, and then only in small quantity. Pies, rich puddings, pastries of all kinds, gravies, sauces, all highly seasoned dishes; wine, beer, coffee, tea, should never be given to children. Ham, bacon, sausage, pork, liver, kidney, game, and all dried and salted meats, codfish, mackerel and halibut, are particularly bad.

The following articles are permissible: Broiled chicken, shad, bass. The "platter gravy" from a roast is very nourishing if given in small amounts. Milk should continue to form an important part of the dietary up to the tenth year. It should be clean and fresh but not too rich. Sometimes it is found advisable to dilute the milk with water that has been boiled and cooled. Some children will take it if a pinch of salt or bicarbonate of soda is put into it, and they will digest it easier and better. They should never be allowed to take more than one quart daily and frequently less will do more good. Cream is not good for children of this age. Eggs are valuable; they should never be given fried or in the form of omelets, they are best given boiled, poached or coddled and only slightly cooked. It is never necessary to give more than one egg at a meal. There are children with whom eggs do not agree; these children are disposed to "biliousness."

Vegetables.—Certain vegetables are objectionable at this age: Raw celery, radishes, raw onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, corn, lima beans, cabbage, egg plant. The following are good: White potatoes (never fried), spinach, peas, asparagus tips, string beans, celery, young beets, carrots, squash, turnips, boiled onions and cauliflower. It is important to remember that all vegetables should be thoroughly cooked; they cannot be cooked too much. After boiling for some time the water should be drained off and fresh water used to complete cooking. Vegetables should be fed in small quantities. From the third to the tenth year they form an important and essential part of the diet of all children. After the tenth year they can be eaten as served to adults, and other vegetables may then be added. As a rule salads of all kinds should be omitted until after the twelfth year.

Cereals.—Children should not be allowed to eat too much cereal at one meal,—never more than one small saucerful. Cereals should be properly cooked. It is not safe to adhere strictly to the directions on the package of any cereal. As a rule they require much longer cooking. They are best cooked in a double boiler. They may be served with milk, salt, and not more than one teaspoonful of sugar.

Bread.—Fresh bread is never allowable. Graham wafers, oatmeal crackers, Huntley and Palmer breakfast biscuits, bran muffins, rye bread, corn bread, stale rolls, are all suitable to growing children.

Hot bread, fresh rolls, buckwheat or griddle cakes, all sweet cakes, are objectionable.

Desserts.—The only permissible desserts for this age are junket, custards, plain rice, or sago; or bread pudding. The only safe rule to follow so far as "sweet things" are concerned, is not to give them at all. This applies to candy, ice cream, pies, pastries, jam, syrups, preserved fruits, nuts and dried fruits. The parent who indulges a child to "a taste," is guilty of a bad habit, and it can only lead to trouble.

Fruits.—These should always be fresh and selected with care. Fruit is the most important article of diet to a child of this age. Up to five years it is safest to use only cooked fruits and fresh fruit juices: of these the juice from sweet oranges, grape fruit, peaches, strawberries, and raspberries may be given. Stewed or baked apples, apple sauce, figs, prunes, peaches, apricots, pears are excellent because of their effect on the bowels. When the bowels are loose, and especially in hot weather, great care must be taken when fruit of any kind is used. The pulp of any fruit should never be used; cherries, bananas, pineapples, and berries are not to be given to children. Milk should never be allowed at the same meal when sour fruit is served.