Uncle Ryan

We had the pleasure of spending last week with Uncle Ryan. Uncle Ryan is Adrienne's favorite. No offense to her other aunts and uncles, she absolutely adores you too. But Uncle Ryan is a bit larger-than-life to Adrienne. We are not really sure why this came to be. Of course we agree that Ryan is awesome and all that. Being in Singapore, however, meant that she didn't see Uncle Ryan on a daily basis or anything. But something about him really stuck with her. For example:

1. when she was going through that pretend talking-on-the-phone phase, every cup/shoe/remote that "called" was Uncle Ryan. Her conversations went like this: (put hairbrush to her ear) "Hewwo? Uncle Wyan? Ya. Ya. Ya. Bye." Over and over, it was always Uncle Ryan calling for her.

2. We didn't realize how big he was in her mind until Christmas morning rolled around. This was the first year that she could participate in Christmas traditions so she wasn't really sure what to expect. We had told her that Santa would probably come if she was a good girl. Then on Christmas morning, we asked her if she had been a good girl and if she thought someone had come to visit during the night. She jumped up on the bed and threw her arms in the air, "Uncle Wyan came!". So we had to lower her expectations and tell her, no, sorry, it was just Santa Claus.

3. Even just today while we were sitting outside enjoying the warm weather with a picnic, a small airplane flew overhead. I pointed it out to Adrienne. She immediately replied with, "Ooohhhh, Uncle Wyan is coming to visit me!!".

I remember when I announced my pregnancy to my family, my brother warned that he was going to be "Cool Uncle Ryan, who lets the kids watch scary movies and take sips from his beers." Between this sentiment and Adrienne's adoration, I was a little afraid that a week with Uncle Ryan was going to mean that I was stuck with a sugar-fed, over-tired, under-disciplined two year old. But these turned out to be baseless concerns. Uncle Ryan was great. From digging for worms to taking a million photos with the android to building campfires, Adrienne and Uncle Ryan were good buds. Plus I got a break since Uncle Ryan was always selected over me to do things such as put Adrienne down for nap or (mercifully) take her to do her "big poo poo". So, thanks, Ryan, for coming to visit. We will be looking forward to the next time and I'm sure in the meantime you will be getting credit for all sorts of things that you are not responsible for....enjoy that while it lasts!