Peter, Peter, How Old Art Thou?

We have a dilema. Peter's birth certificate says he will be 9 years old around 2 weeks from now. We're not so convinced that this is correct.

We knew that he was small, so that alone isn't it. He is roughly in the 8th percentile for height and weight for 8 year olds. His head circumference doesn't actually even make the charts, but there are things that probably explain that. Interestingly, he actually weighs HALF as much as Luke who is just 6 months and 6 days older. Could the REALLY poor nutrition and utterly horrible homeless life he lived pre-orphanage explain his size... almost certainly. But still, something isn't quite right... particularly given that Kim, who had the same environment, is thin but fairly normally sized for her age (10 years old).

Peter's size is pretty comparable to a five year old or small six year old... but so is his behavior. Yes, orphanage kids are socially behind, but Peter really enjoys the things that six year olds enjoy. His mannerisms make you think of a kindergartener or young first grader. His voice is that of very young boy. He just doesn't "Feel" eight (almost nine).

We wonder if we might understand why he seems so far off when his sister does not. We think he might really be six and we have some reasons for thinking so. Kim and Peter lived in the orphanage for just over two years. According to their records, it looks like their ages were estimated at that time. Kim was declared to be eight and Peter six when they entered the orphanage. When we ask Peter if, when he was 5 if he knew he was 5, he says no. Kim says they never had a birthday when they lived with their mom.

When we asked the director of the orphanage about the ages of kids there, she said the home was for children aged SIX to 18 and they had 80 children there. SIX to 18! When Kim and Peter went to live at the orphanage, they would have been 8 and 6 respectively (assuming their "paperwork ages" are correct). The more that we think of it, it seems to us that Peter was probably FOUR and not six at that time. If he had been officially four, he would not have been able to live at the same childrens' home as his sister. Seeing how dependent he was on her, we think he probably would not have survived being apart from her. Hence, we believe that his age was listed as SIX and not four in order to keep them together in the same orphanage.

Is this too far fetched? Maybe not. As part of his medical exam, we asked for a wrist X-ray to be taken when they did his chest X-ray. A wrist X-ray allows for the estimation of age based on skeletal development. Peter's "bone age" came back as..... Six years and zero months. When we re-adopt the kids in a U.S. court in a few months, we'll ask that his birthdate be legally changed to make him two years younger than he is officially listed right now. We'll need to convince our physician to write a letter in support of this, but we think it's reasonable. So, in two weeks or so, we'll celebrate Peter's 7th birthday.

Of course, we have to be concerned that he might really be eight and about to turn nine. If that is the case, some good nutrition will help him catch up... like some of our friends have discovered with their adopted daughter.