Bye Bye Mama and Papa

Saturday, after the "two header" (that's what he called his double header), Tank was invited over to play at a friend's house with some of the other boys.  We were elated as our boy sometimes struggles with his peer relationships and making friends.  I picked him up a couple of hours later and he was quiet in the car on the way home.  Suddenly he said to me "I'm going to start calling you Mom and Papa, Dad." After a beat, I said, "Okay, you call us whatever you like, that's fine...why the change?" "Because Mama and Papa are more babyish and I'm older now so I'm going to start calling you Mom and Dad."

Cue a little piece of my heart cracking.

I don't think anyone made fun of him; I think he just observed the other boys referring to their parents...

I have no idea why, but Tank and Big Red have always called us "Mama" and "Papa".  I'm sure that if I heard this in another family I would think it was totally gay and stupid, but since they've always done it, it feels completely natural to me.

I guess my big boy is growing up...what's next?  No holding hands with me in public? No blowing me kisses at school dropoff? No coming to tell me what position he's playing every inning?

It seems like I've always been in a hurry for my boys to grow up and now...well, I'm not so sure I'm ready.  But I guess he is.  You go from this:

To this:

In a heartbeat.