This week marks my first ‘opportunity’ to perform solo as the stay-at-home-parent (SAHP). (I just noticed that SAHP, if you sound it out, sounds just like ‘SAP.’ I wonder if that’s a coincidence. It’s better than stay-at-home-dad, or SAHD.) Danielle has a summer class that runs from 9-to-5 all week. It’s like she has a regular job again! Yeesh.

Normally, we tag team the housework and the baby, just like in professional wrestling. The bell rings (i.e., the baby cries because he’s awake from his nap), and I jump into the ring, his room. I then grab him from his crib and take him over to the changing table to see what kind of surprise move he’s got for me. When he’s freshly diapered, I tag Danielle into the ring so she can feed him. At this point, I have to leave the room and go make coffee or fold laundry so Sean doesn’t get distracted. It wouldn’t be a fair fight, otherwise. Then, when Danielle has Sean completely subdued with a full belly, she tags me in and we double-team Sean, our opponent. Our next move is often a walk to the library or to Starbucks.

You get the idea.

So far, Sean has been pretty cooperative and hasn’t taken advantage of the fact that I’m in the ring by myself most of the day. It’s also a plus that Danielle can come home for lunch and feed Sean. He slept a lot on Monday and Danielle’s class finished early, so I didn’t have to give him a bottle even once.

Today was different. The morning was good, but, this afternoon, when he woke up from his nap and wanted to eat, he unleashed a new move on me: he looked at the bottle like it was an object from an alien planet. The look on his face said, ‘Seriously? What am I supposed to do with this?’

Admittedly, it’s been a while since he had to have a bottle. He gets frustrated with them, so we stopped using them. Now we’ve begun the transition to solid food, so I was hoping he’d be more open to food other than what comes from his mom’s boobs.

We’ve been in this situation only once before. Danielle had a work emergency and had to be gone for a day, and we didn’t have any breast milk secreted away. I had to resort to formula. Sean was not sure about this strange new drink I had to offer.

That is, he wasn’t sure about it till he got HUNGRY.

Today, Danielle got home shortly after I gave up on the bottle, but tomorrow he may just have to swallow his pride. Hunger is my secret weapon in tomorrow’s match.