Robert Irwin captures the joys of 'uncle life' in an adorable selfie with his niece Grace Warrior

Being an uncle or aunt to your niece or nephew sounds like a great deal. You get to be the cool one, play with them and click loads of pictures of their adorable little faces. You don't have to be the stern one or clean up after them. Robert Irwin seems to be fitting into this role perfectly well. Being an uncle to his niece Grace Warrior, daughter of his sister Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell, seems to suit him well. His love for her seems to be evident in most of his Instagram posts. 

Irwin shared the most recent of these adorable niece shout-outs on Instagram earlier this month. The proud uncle can be seen carrying a smiling Grace on his shoulders in a sweet mirror selfie while holding her safely in place with his hand on her back. The heartwarming image received over 265,000 likes and some encouraging comments. The image, simply captioned "Uncle life," says it all, though comedian Rove McManus came up with a better caption: "Correction: FUNCLE life."

Since his niece's birth, Irwin appears to spend most of his free time with her. Their first photo together was posted a day after Grace was born, and it shows the infant in the arms of her loving uncle. "Let the uncle adventures begin! Love you so much, Grace," he wrote at the time. He also mentioned that Grace picked one of the best parents in the world - an incredibly strong and caring mom, and a funny and kind dad. "Love you three so much - I can't wait for this exciting journey ahead!" he wrote.

And, true to his word, they've had plenty of adventures. Grace couldn't have asked for a better guide to the natural world, from hanging out in the camp to playing guitar and looking for seashells. Irwin even contributed to her first magazine cover as the photographer of a PEOPLE magazine photoshoot featuring the adorable toddler and her mother, Bindi.

Grace's initial outings are an indication of how the uncle-niece duo will grow stronger and probably take over the wildlife world. It wouldn't be surprising to see her spend her time with all the flora and fauna around her. In a chat with PEOPLE at a gala dinner held at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, honoring her late father Steve Irwin, Bindi mentioned about Grace, "She just loves wildlife, and she gets so excited to learn more."

"She knows so many animal names. It is unreal. I mean, I guess it runs in the family," the doting mother added. Noting how Grace loves dinosaurs, Bindi revealed that the youngster talks about all the different dinosaurs and their names at such lengths that even her family doesn't know how she knows so much. She added, "It's really remarkable to see how passionate she is about the natural world."