The first week: Day 1

January 3 was the first day of something completely different for me: being a stay-at-home dad to my six-month-old daughter.

During the holidays, my wife has been giving me a crash course in child-rearing. Let's just say the last few weeks have offered plenty of teachable moments, most of which boil down to this fundamental axiom of new parenthood: "Who comes first? Baby comes first."

So, with that in mind but not having any real idea of what it means—until now, baby has only come first for about two hours a night, from the time I get home from work until she goes beddy-bye at around eight—I embark on my six-month journey of daddy discovery.

I'll try to write about the experience as much as I can over these next months, but no promises. I'm actually a bit hesitant to write about it, for a few reasons:

• Most writing about parenthood is either trite or treacly. Or both, as in the case of Chicken Soup for the Parent's Soul. But at least now I realize why that is: when something is this deeply rooted in feeling, it's impossible to express without sounding hopelessly sentimental.
• Parenthood happens in the real world. Fresh craploads in diapers are no mere concepts to be debated, and baby girls are stranger things than are dreamt of in my philosophy. I'm looking forward to having my head forced down out of the clouds, into this practical, mundane world of daily routine with a person who can't string together a two-syllable word, let alone argue with me about politics or religion. Writing about it always carries the risk of analyzing, critiquing, interpreting it until it no more resembles that real life than some sit-com version. Or worse, the risk of becoming more an observer of my baby's first year than a participant in it.
• I'm lazy. I admit it: I'd rather be spending this hour cruising Facebook, playing chess or eating Toffifee. (OK, so I'm doing that last one right now anyway.) Besides, this blog already has enough false starts at running themes, strewn about among the other sporadic posts.

But those reasons were clearly not enough to stop me, so here goes.

DAY 1

Today's mission: Keep baby alive for nine hours.

Mission accomplished? Yes! And not just alive, either; she was lively and happy all day. Fed on schedule, slept on schedule and got a "new bum" whenever she needed it. Mind you, I didn't shower, shave, change my clothes from the day before or leave the house. But who comes first? Baby comes first!

Things learned: This kid finds something about dogs uproariously funny. By moving her little stuffed Clifford around my lap and barking, I was able to get some quality belly laughs. Lesson learned: making girls laugh is a high point of a guy's day no matter how old they are!