If this doesn’t brighten your day, then whoops, you have no soul.

This, my friends, is why having a child is a worthwhile endeavor: yes, it’s hard, and it’s smelly, and you miss all that sleep you used to get. And then the years pass, and you have to deal with grades, and heartaches, and driving tests. But then! (Stay with me, here.) Then one day you wake up, and your behemoth of a man-child has left a CD for you, and you listen to this song that he wrote. And you realize that however big you thought your boy’s heart is, it’s actually ten times bigger. (Metaphorically speaking.)

If you’re even luckier, though, you get your reward early—say, when your child is three and a half, and you hear the song that your nephew wrote for your little boy.

(Incidentally, I have two nephews, both of whom are too amazing to be true—I think they may in fact be holograms—but, ahem, only one of them wrote a song for Henry. So, Dave, if you want equal airtime, may I suggest an oil portrait? Or how about a little interpretative dance? Just a thought.)

Here, without further ado, is “Underwater Batman (Song for Henry).”

(EDITED TO ADD: Hey, do you see the link up at the upper right? The one that casually suggests that you might want to take a survey? This is from the people at Blogads, and will help me get more money in the future, so I won't whine as much about my lack of money. If you could take it, that would be nice. Okay. Thank you.)

Comments

[tortoiseshelly]

make that "how MUCH I love him."

[schmutzie]

If I wasn't already married and probably way too old for Paul, I'd be stalking him at college right now.

[melissa]

That is one of the sweetest things I've ever heard. Thank you for sharing it.

[summer]

I would totally buy a cd with 10 songs by that guy.

[Mimimom]

So sweet! It's true, moments like those cancel out all those nasty, nasty diapers, crying spells, tantrums and general pain-in-the-ass behavior. Today on my way in to work my 10 month old son started clapping along with "you dropped the bomb on me" - I almost cried it was so cute!

[zhanae]

Your nephew is really talented. Such a great voice. I listened to it twice and would gladly buy his album.

[Nothing But Bonfires]

Dude, your nephew sounds HOT.

My favorite part is when Henry says "he's my friend that I want to go underwater with him some day..." The whole talking-over-the-guitar-playing thing is reminiscent of Sublime....surely you must have a record label exec among your readers somewhere? Sign these boys! They're magic!

[zhanae]

I'm now obsessed with the song. I've listened to it six times. Love the melody.

Does your nephew post his songs anywhere where we can buy an MP3? I know. He's in college, so probably doesn't have time.

[heather m]

well gosh darn it if my baby clock didn't start ticking right then...i nearly cried!

[AMG]

That is too cute for words. Can I borrow your son for a few weeks?

And tell your nephew to update his blog!!

[Wendy Mac]

Alice!!! Wow! I think my ovaries just exploded.

That is the most frickin' adorable thing ever. Your nephew rocks, but you knew that.

[finnmichigan]

13 months of PPD meds when all I really needed was to hear this song - it is just the happiest, cutest thing.How does Paul feel about having a fan club of middle-aged mommies hot for him?

[Sarah]

I'll be his Mrs. Robinson any day.

[Deb]

Seriously, we clearly all have come undone to the sound of your nephew's very sexy deep voice in contrast to the absolute sweetness of Henry's voice. It shows such sweetness and sentiment when you listen to the words of his song with Henry in it.

This is so awesome, thanks for sharing it!

[patti]

You are so talented.

Your nephew is so talented.

And my friend Sarah, who is here with me and is now a fan, too, said what I wanted to say.

[Em]

My neck hurts from bending over my laptop to get closer to my speakers to hear the song.

But, that was great. The pain is totally worth it.

[leigh]

That totally made my afternoon. Thanks for sharing it!

[candace]

Awesome.

We have a poet friend who wrote a poem about Christopher when he was born. I still cry every time I read it.

[Lin]

Beautiful and you probably should pretty much tell the other nephew now (a gesture of auntly kindness) there's really nothing he could do to equal this gift to Henry.

[Aj]

Dude, that's so up there with "Peter, Paul, and Mommy" and John Denver and the Muppets "Rocky Mountain Holiday." Sweet.

[eileen]

Toddler rap meets adult folksy alternative rock. Love it. (And seriously agreeing with other people here who say nephew sounds hot. I never realized how hot someone could SOUND.)

[European]

I am currently tapping my foot and humming and considering getting my nephew a guitar when he turns 10 in November. I was also wondering: Did Henry say something about his METACOGNITION? Because, holy COW!

[alice]

I was waiting for someone else to hear that! Scott and I have been wondering where he got "metacognition" from. Because it sure as hell wasn't from us.

[dd]

that's just painfully sweet. How can you stand such wonderfulness in one family?

[Carrie]

OH MY GOODNESS, how sweet is this??? WOW!! What a great nephew you have there!