(In a totally good way)

He decided to start a blog, and just emailed me that it's up and running. I didn't want to link to it because of the promotional policy, but I'm hoping it's OK to copy this post in here, because it totally made me cry!

All the raging hormones of the past few weeks have really made me lay into him, and then I read something like this and I'm like, wow. I had no idea he had all that stuff going on in his head.

I love him so -- and also can't wait to see what little Derek will be like. He's almost here!

DH's post:

"Derek’s room is down our hallway and the last one on the left.

I can’t wait until it’s teeming with life.

I look at the changing table where I plan on butchering many a diaper. I look at the books lining three white shelves and wonder which one I’ll read to him first.

(Smart money is on Casey At The Bat.)

I look at the blue miniature New York Yankees bat and wonder if he’ll love baseball as much as I do.

Because that’s what I am looking forward to the most: Watching Derek discovering what makes him happy.

Part of me hopes he spends his summers living and dying with the Yankees while quoting Quentin Tarantino flicks and memorizing Born To Run‘s every word and grunt.

That’s the stuff I like. And I think what I like is pretty cool.

But all of me wants Derek to find out what he’s passionate about.

Maybe he’ll become addicted to Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Maybe his bedroom floor will be buried under a sea of comic books. Maybe he’ll wake up at 5 a.m. every day to jog around the neighborhood en route to becoming one of the best cross country runners in the state.

Maybe he’ll be an expert pianist. Or he’ll love our dog, Rosie, so much that he becomes a vet. Or maybe he’ll become a gearhead who won’t mind peeking under the hood whenever dad’s check engine light brightens the dashboard.

If there is one thing I’ve learned all these years from covering youth and prep sports is there is nothing worse than a pushy parent. Most mean well, but the only thing pushy parents raise is a burnt-out, unhappy kid.

If Derek loves baseball, great. Baseball is one of the common bonds my dad and I share, and I would love to pass it down to my son.

But if not, that’s OK, too. There is a great big world out there far beyond the confines of his bedroom and far beyond my influences and experiences.

I’ll be here for him always. Mom will be here, too. But Derek will have the freedom to carve his own path, to find out what he wants to do and what he doesn’t want to do.

Christina and I are about to give our boy the gift of life.

It’s not our job to tell him how to live it."