The picture to the right is me w/ baby (I'm shielded, though it seems everyone--Lord Voldemort, Telluride Asset Management--who wants to sue me already knows my real identity). My wife had a baby today, which implies with high probability that I had a baby today too. I blame this completely on Bryan Caplan, who noted that people tend to overestimate the costs of kids when they can make them because that is precisely the time they are bearing most of the costs (childrearing toddlers). In contrast, spunky breeders underestimate the long-run benefits of progeny precisely because most of them occur well after childbearing is an option, such as creating people who will give a crap about you in 50 years. I then mindlessly applied the implication and here we are.

I already have two boys, ages 6 and 7. They are at times very boring (Ever play Candyland? Ever play tennis with a 6 year old?), but increasingly very, very funny. For example, my younger son says we are going to pretend to battle: "I'm George Washington, you are the Cat-in-the-Hat"--that observation has made me smile for a week. My older son and I enjoy the same subtleties of cartoons such as Adult Swim, and there's nothing more fun than laughing at something with someone.

But I've read and experienced that girls are much better at keeping up with their folks as they get older than than boys, so I figure one more girl, to call and say hi to her demented pop in 50 years, is good insurance. As Steven Pinker says, the main reason you should be nice to your kids because you want them to like you when they grow up. I take that as good advice. I have great advice too, though mainly as to how to be a better me, and as it is unlikely they have my inclinations, I should merely give them good general guidance (take statistics!), let them choose their paths, and hope they want to laugh with their old dad when they are middle aged.