Hello, I must be going

In the pediatrician's office today, I held the Monkey while he got two vaccination shots -- polio and Hep A, I think.

I had a thought: I have finally arrived as a parent. Even though the Monkey Mama was not only available, but in the same room, and with a superpower that I lack (viz. lactation), the job still fell to me to comfort him during and after the needle sticks. It's not his Mama's job to comfort him when he gets a shot, it's his parents' job to comfort him. And I'm a parent.

He cried, but then he got over it. Then he was grumpy. Then I fed him and bathed him. The Monkey Mama came home with take-out just in time, and she nursed him to sleep.

The bittersweet part is that just as I have arrived as a parent, it's time for me to return to the workforce in less than two weeks. (Hello, I must be going.)

But even at work, I'll still be a parent.