our baby is gone

There have been a lot of milestones in these first eight months and eleven days and for the most part each can be traced to a single moment, like the first time he rotated his head from side to side or his realization that the toys overhead would move in response to the wild swinging of his arms. When he recognized "up", when he crawled, or when he stood. But this latest milestone was so sudden and so undeniable that it took me by surprise:

Dylan's not a baby anymore.

Of course, he's still incredibly dependent on his mommy and daddy, and may not meet the full requirements for toddlerhood just yet, but he quite literally is his own boy. He sits and plays with his toys, yammering to himself about quantum mechanics and various other undecipherables. When he wants to move, he moves. When he wants something, he tells you. He expresses himself in a hundred different ways. He is engaged with his environment.

I had no expectations for this milestone, in fact it was completely uncharted. Maybe that's why it seems more of a milestone for me than for The Boy. I suddenly realized that I'm no longer The Parent of a Baby (kinda like when I turned 22 and realized "wow, it's a long way up from here") and this identity I had gotten comfortable with was gone in a flash of realization, followed quickly by a new and vague understanding that this is likely the rule, not the exception, and the sooner I get used to it the better.

Father of a Regular Person