Starting to wean? Mixed feelings and thoughts

I've been suffering from conjunctivitis the past few days. So to avoid infecting my toddler son, we've decided to forego our usual practice of co-sleeping, at least under I get well. For the past 3 nights, he has been sleeping beside grandma instead.

It was okay for the most part since he already sleeps through the night. When we were co-sleeping, he would usually just roll over and lift my shirt for some "self-service" breastmilk at around 6am, then go back to sleep until around 8am. So I was not really surprised when he would wake up at the break of dawn (like he usually does) and bawl his head off because he wants his usual mommy milk. I would then be summoned to take the little boy and breastfeed.

This morning, however, he still woke at around the same time but no longer cried. They still called me to breastfeed him and he still sucked as enthusiastically as ever.

Was it the start of the end of my breastfeeding era? We realized that this might be a good start to totally wean him off breastfeeding. He's already 1 year and 8 months old and is eating solids well. He also takes in soya milk.

While I'm happy that I have an added measure of freedom now that he can actually sleep without me AND that I can finally wean him off totally, a part of me mourns the fact that he is starting to be less mommy-dependent. I realize that there were be a lot of these moments while he is growing up, and I hope I will be prepared emotionally each time I have to let go just a little bit.