Danville Raised Author and Comedian Tells Parents What Their Toddlers Really Think

Life with a toddler is at times hilarious and sometimes horrifying.

Watching their antics in action, you can’t help but wonder, “What are they thinking,” and “Are they crazy?”

Jeremy Greenberg, a Danville-raised comedian, daily blogger for MSN’s The Family Room blog, author and father to twins sheds some light on those questions in his new book, “Sorry I Peed on You: (and Other Heartwarming Letters to Mommy).”

Greenberg, who now lives in San Diego, returns to Danville on Tuesday, April 19, for a book signing at Books, at 7 p.m.

Parents of toddlers will tell you the brief period before they can talk but when they are fully mobile, curious and often chaos-causing mini-humans, yields some of the biggest laughs and some of the biggest headaches of parenthood. 

Greenberg’s book captures these fleeting and sometimes frustrating moments in a collection of 50 photographs of infants and toddlers. Each photo is accompanied by a letter written from the child's perspective as humorously imagined by Greenberg.

The results are laugh-out-loud funny, due to both the slightly off-kilter and endearing humor that captures how uniquely children view situations as opposed to their parents. Most parents can also relate to the situations, behaviors and antics in the book.

Greenberg’s research subjects, his twin 3-year-old boys, Ben and Seth, whom he raises with his wife, Barbara, provided a wealth of source material, he says.

It was watching them “drive his wife crazy” that inspired the book.

“Their reactions to things, versus a parent's were so different, that I thought it would be fun to give children a humorous point of view to describe these crazy things,” Greenberg says.

“I wanted to create a book that my wife would love,” he says, acknowledging the hard work she does as a stay-at-home mom to their twin tornados while he often travels around the country performing as a stand-up comedian.

Greenberg also wanted to share a good laugh with those parents everywhere who struggle to get their kids to eat their meals by resorting to silly names for foods, such as “Godzilla noses,” who have worried their child will never stop barking like a dog or who have ever had to deal with the dreaded “bathtub floater.”

The book also has a special Danville connection because the children in the photos mostly belong to his childhood friends he grew up with in Danville.

Greenburg attended ,  and , from which he graduated in 1992.

“I should have thanked Facebook in my book,” says Greenberg. “Many of the photos come from those that my friends I went to school with posted on Facebook."

Greenberg says the reaction to the book so far has been just as he wanted — it’s giving people a good laugh.

He hopes the book will be given to moms on Mother’s Day and at baby showers to remind moms not to worry and to laugh their way through a time that goes by so quickly.

Jeffrey Greenberg will sign copies of his book on April 19 at 7 p.m. at Rakestraw Books, located at 522 Hartz Ave., in Danville. Cost is free, but reservations are recommended by calling (925) 837-7337.

Greenberg also has two other books due out later this year: For canine parents, “Sorry I Pooped in Your Shoe: (and Other Heartwarming Letters from Doggie)” and for fellow men, “ManWords Real Words for Real Men.”

You can also get a nearly daily dose of Greenberg’s offbeat take on current events and imperfect parenting at MSN’s The Family Room blog.

For more information about Jeremy Greenberg, visit his website: http://www.jeremygreenberg.com/.