Blair Underwood: The Wisdom of Children

Nov. 17, 2005— -- One of the sexy lawyers from "L.A. Law" and one of several steamy flings on HBO's "Sex and the City" has transitioned into the role of author of an innocent children's book.

Blair Underwood's "Before I Got Here: The Wonderous Things We Hear When We Listen to the Souls of Our Children" was inspired by a conversation with his son, Paris, four years ago when Paris was 4.

"He was really fascinated by jokes, why a joke is funny, the mechanics of a joke," Underwood said. "And I was explaining to him ... In the best jokes there's a double entendre. Later on that evening he said to me, 'You know, daddy, I had a dream last night. Last night is a double entendre, it means last night, a few nights ago, and the last night before there are no more mornings and no more nights.'"

Underwood said he was impressed, but even more impressed by his son's answer to how he had figured that out.

"He said, 'Well, God told me when he made me, but I only had one ear at the time so I could only hear a little.'"

"Before I Got Here" reflects Underwood's belief that life does not begin and end on Earth.

"It's just really the simple things that they say that makes you realize that children and really elderly people are connected to another place," Underwood said.

To collect the stories printed in his book, Underwood launched a Web site where parents could talk about their children's mind-boggling wisdom. He said he wants adults to "appreciate the majesty that is our children" in the book.

"It is the beauty of our children that we so often forget," Underwood said. "It is those profound and insightful utterances that they say that just blow you away."

Underwood has three children -- Paris, 8, Brielle, 6, and Blake, 3.

"I have a tremendous fascination and love for my kids, [and] children in general," Underwood said. "This is, in a small way, trying to help us remember and help remind us how beautiful and how special and how unique these little miracles are that we call children."

Underwood is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated actor and the voice of the father on Nickelodeon's Nick at Night animated series "Fatherhood."