Thoughts on being a stay at home dad

I have been staying at home with Carolyn for about 8 months now. She turned a year old yesterday and when I took on this adventure, I assumed I would be looking at going back to work by now. I thought this gig would be boring, that I'd have nothing to talk about but day-time TV, Oprah, and of course Carolyn. I imagined people quickly zoning out as I described how much fun I had recently playing peek-a-boo for twenty minutes with my daughter....and then my face re-appeared from behind the stuffed monkey....Carolyn laughed a lot...and then I hid my face behind the stuffed monkey...Carolyn got excited my face was soon to re-appear and guess what, it did...more laughing by Carolyn.
It turns out I'm hoping to ride this thing out until she turns eighteen as I consider many reasons to continue this lifestyle. For one, the paper isn't going to read itself. Secondly, I'm needed at YMCA noon basket ball to bring down the median age and also decrease the amount of back (and shoulder) hair per capita. Carolyn enjoys spending time with the other kids at the Y day-care and for the first time ever, we have a membership at a gym that doesn't appear monthly on the Quicken budget taunting me: "$99 is a lot of money to spend every month for something you never use." During her naps. I'm able to watch sporting events tivoed over the weekend and lately I've gone through Seasons one through three of "The Wire," in only a month.

It's Bub's
















Now I answer the phone with, "Yo."

Any comments about the benefits of being a stay-at-home dad?