The Apple of Uncle Markus's Eye

My brother is unabashedly in love with his niece. He is in grad school in Las Vegas, but he has managed to develop a relationship with Lydia via Skype and the occasional visit to Austin.

I am a bit in awe of the fact that Lydia knows how to Skype. She stands and interacts with the person on the screen; today she played peek-a-boo with Markus and would point to her tummy when he asked her to, etc.

I knew that their Skype-relationship was legit when Markus managed to get her to stop crying through the computer. She went from tears to laughter in under a minute--pretty impressive without a computer, and factor in the distance and you've got a winner. He sealed the deal when Lydia became fussy on another occasion, and he said, "I think she has a poopy diaper." He was right. Markus identified the dirty diaper from Las Vegas before Robin or I did. Pretty impressive!

Uncle Markus loves Lydia, and Lydia loves Uncle Markus!