Uncle James and Mini-James

While we were visiting with Uncle James, the topic of conversation was often about how much Sydney and her Uncle James are so very alike: they both like a physical challenge, they both have to experience something firsthand to believe its dangerous, they both like reggae music, they both eat impressive amounts while maintaining an ideal weight, and of course, we love them both dearly.

It seemed that the two of them felt a bit of a kinship as well. As a twenty-something single guy on leave from the Army, I didn't have much in the way of expectation of James interacting a lot with Sydney. How wrong I was! James played with Sydney the entire visit. During a three hour car trip, James spent at least an hour turned around playing with Sydney (the game, by the way involved James throwing Sydney's baby doll at her -- I have never heard my daughter laugh hysterically for more than twenty minutes before). While Sydney was playing in the baby pool, Uncle James would shoot her with the water gun. He would toss the water gun into the pool when it was empty and Sydney would hold it out to him, asking for more, apparently. Only when James stepped forward to get the water gun, Sydney would take the opportunity to splash wildly, getting her uncle soaking wet. Sucker.

I was also very impressed with the way James handled Sydney. Jeremy and I are very much into the idea of raising an independent daughter. We try to have her do for herself as much as possible. James, though, took the idea to a whole new level. Whatever physical thing they were doing, whether it was swimming or climbing the slide, James would assess how much Sydney could do for herself and then refused to help her beyond that point. He kept reassuring her that the task would be more fun if she did it herself, told her he knew she could do it, and when she accomplished the task, told her proudly, "that was all you, Sydney!"

When James went to put on his socks, Sydney immediately grabbed his shoes, brought them to him, and then tried to tie the shoes for him. I guess she thought her uncle needed her help.

Last weekend, James came up to our house to visit. He and Sydney played in the backyard quite a bit. I'm not sure which of them had more fun.

There's James teaching Sydney how to climb up to her slide. Notice that he is using a hand to steady her and is ready to catch her should she fall, but he is not actually lifting her up onto the platform.


Uncle James tried to push Sydney in her firetruck, but we've done such a fine job of helping her be independent that she wouldn't let him help!


Here James is trying to explain what the telescope is really for, but mostly Sydney just liked moving it around. Maybe next summer....


We know the Army needs Uncle James and all, but we can't wait until we get to see him again!