I hate to admit it, but I didn't look. On average, like most four-year-olds, Louie's look-at-me requests come in at a rate of three a minute these days. I know am a bad mother for doing this (and, worse, admitting it!), but increasingly I don't actually look and then mumble a "Looking good," or "Cool" to assuage his need for my riveted attention.

"But, Mom," he pressed one night last...