Dadditude: How a Real Man Became a Real Dad

The strength of print and television reporter Lerman's funny and insightful look at full-time parenthood has almost nothing to do with being a "real" man and everything to do with being an older dad. At 44, Lerman hits his self-imposed age deadline for fatherhood and being able to attend a child's marriage "without the aid of a portable oxygen tent." His account of what older parents-to-be go through to get pregnant will be immediately familiar to any couple who has experienced what Lerman correctly calls "the promising, terrifying, and enormously embarrassing world of Baby Science"—including Clomid fertility treatments, sperm tests and in vitro fertilization—and it adds a sweet and thoughtful edge to the many adventures over four years after his son, Max, is born. While Lerman's Dave Barry–style humor doesn't always work, he is far more successful—and funny—recounting his struggles with lack of sleep, changing diapers and "full-fledged neurosis" about forgetting Max somewhere. More important, he captures the many ways fathers work hard at establishing their "own special relationship" with babies and toddlers, concluding with a beautiful definition of "Dadditude" as "being in the moment" and experiencing the "closeness beyond words and before words" that can be felt between parent and child. (June)