“I read it a few months ago myself, after the chair of my thesis committee asked if there were daddy memoirs out there as well as momoirs.I know that there have been some negative reviews, due to his candor (his opening line seems to have ruffled some feathers), but I loved the book. It takes a real man to admit that being a first time father is just as much a struggle as being a first time mom can be. (without the labor and delivery experience, of course).I too, wanted to move to Berkeley after reading this book. ;)”
“I haven't read this, but here's what the NYTimes had to say: New York TimesBOOKS OF STYLE; Daddy's Little Worldbeater And a Girl's Novice DaddyBy LIESL SCHILLINGERPublished: October 8, 2006CrawlingA Father's First YearBy Elisha Cooper.176 pp., Pantheon Books.$19.95.THE first months in the life of a future alpha girl named Zoë are recorded in ''Crawling: A Father's First Year,'' a bravely honest memoir of parenthood by the artist and children's book author Elisha Cooper.''I would sooner have been handed a bomb than a baby,'' Mr. Cooper admits early on. His love for not ''a baby,'' but his baby, overwhelms him. ''When I look at Zoë, she is so beautiful to me it makes me ache.''Nonetheless, at first, fatherhood made him feel like an impostor: ''Being Zoë's father seems defined by what I cannot do,'' he recalls. ''I can't soothe her. I can't nurse her. I can't put her to sleep well.'' He is unmanned by the way his wife, Elise, anticipates the baby's needs.''Parenting is not a competition I am having with Elise, but I do know that if it is one, it is one that I am losing,'' he writes. At the playground, other mothers unnerve him: ''They had something I didn't, they had assurance.''Over time, experience fills in for his missing intuition. He washes Zoë's onesies, carries her in a sling on his morning walk to the coffee shop, shows her animals, plays OutKast when he changes her diapers, introduces her to TV soccer, and takes notes all the while.If, on occasion, he accidentally spills soup on her or boots a soccer ball into her head, well that's the seasoning that puts the alpha in the girl. ''I kick balls with her, I read books to her, I let her play with my paints. If pressed I would admit that I'd like it if Zoë liked sports and writing and art. Once I admit that, I back off and say that all I care about is that she is happy.'' Just like dear old Dad.”
