Fridays With LMJ or Another One You Haven't Written?

There are forces that are pushing me to write a parenting book. My wife has suggested it. Cora Spondence wrote me a letter. And my second favorite sports writer, Bill Simmons, wrote an anecdote about how spending time with his son helped him get over the New England Patriots getting hammered by the Baltimore Ravens last weekend. He had a revelation that I had about a year ago and was reminded of today on my way to the zoo. Nothing is a bigger pain in the ass than a kid who wants your attention while you want to give your attention to something else. We were in the van and I was desperately trying to hear whatever wisdom Sam Kouvaris was imparting. LMJ was giving both play by play and color commentary on everything we passed: billboards, big trucks, small trucks, the river. I was really getting frustrated because I didn’t want to turn up the radio anymore, but I wanted to hear what Sam was saying. Then I remembered that nothing he said was going to be important. I turned off the radio and gave LMJ my undivided attention (I kept my eyes on the road so it wasn't really undivided), and as is always the case, the next two hours were two of the best hours of my life. I’d be willing to bet that the whole thing is evolutionary. It’s one of nature’s ways of helping parents raise successful children. It’s not possible to do this all the time, other aspects of survival get in the way, but giving her my full attention makes things so much easier and much less stressful. I don’t know if LMJ will be successful, she’s got a whole lot of bat-sh*t crazy genes on both sides. Hopefully, they’ll cancel each other out like lye and acid. I do know that however she turns out I will have given the best effort I possibly can. Maybe I should chronicle my Fridays with the baby girl and sell it. Having read the first page of two or three parenting books, I know that I have a unique perspective, at least as far as people who write parenting books. I’m not a psychologist trying to prove how smart I am, and I don’t pretend to have a clue as to what I’m doing. But I’m funny, I love my daughter with all my heart, and I’m not easily embarrassed. We’ll see how it goes.