"Food of the Gods"

When asked what we do in Singapore, our first response is usually "Eat, eat, eat!!" Singaporean food includes a mix of Chinese, Malay, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian dishes that are about a million times more delicious than anything we have in Canada. We have indulged in many old favourites already including: Roti Prata, Murtabak, Hokien Mee, Pompiah, Curry, Chicken Rice, Nasi Lemak, Milo, Kaya, Ice Kachang, duck and other noodle dishes. While I beg off the really unusual dishes, my family definitely enjoys Josh's willing spirit to also try foods like Fish Maw (fish stomach), crab eggs (they all exclaim the inside of the crab is the BEST part!!) and of course... Durian fruit.

Now for those of you who have had the good fortune to yet encounter a durian, it is the most noxious smelling fruit you can imagine. Even those who love it must plug their noses when consuming. The fruit is made up of creamy, milky white, mango-textured pods (about 12+ per fruit) enclosed in a spiky, hard, beige shell you cleaver open. People who love it, LOVE it. Josh and I do not fall into this category and may therefore not be welcomed in heaven as my family insists, "This is the food of the Gods, it is the only food eaten in heaven!"

Silas, on the other hand, will be welcomed with open arms! He sucked on a pod without flinching... maybe it's soothing to his bottom 2 teeth that are coming through?

Congratulations Kelvin and Yvonne!

We celebrated the marriage of my cousin Kelvin and his sweetheart of eight years, Yvonne, yesterday. The celebration provided the biggest family gathering of our trip so far.

Early Saturday morning, Kelvin with his brothers (groosman) went to fetchYvonne from her parents' home. Upon arrival, Yvonne's sisters (bridesmaids) demanded Kelvin complete certain, slightly embarrasing, tasks (like eating foods he doesn't like, singing silly serenades, paying ransoms, reciting poetry) before being permitted to see his bride. (After the wedding day, traditionally, the wife may no longer tease her husband.) Having completed the required tasks, Kelvin and Yvonne paid a visit to their new flat, where they turned on their bedside lamps and ate some "prosperous" food dishes. We had Silas, Ezra and Timothy ready to play on their bed (to hopefully bless them with children, especially sons, in their marriage) but their services were not requested!

After visiting their new home, Kelvin and Yvonne came to his mother's house, my Auntie Siew Geok, for a traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony. They paid respects to their dead ancestors, ate some more prosperous food, then proceeded to serve each of the elder relatives present their cups of tea. As my Uncle Francis jokes, "it is expensive tea," because after being served, the relative will offer a blessing and place an Ang Pow (red packet) containing money or jewelery on the tea tray. Having served so much tea and thus being "thirsty" themselves, Kelvin and Yvonne sat down to be served cups of tea by their younger, single, relatives, gifting each of them with an Ang Pow too.

Once the tea ceremony was completed, we ate a buffet lunch while Yvonne changed out of her white wedding dress into a Chongsam (traditional Chinese dress) to return to her parents' home for a tea ceremony with her relatives.

At 7:00pm, (after a much anticipated Starbucks pit stop for Josh) we gathered at a downtown hotel for the fanciest wedding dinner we have ever attended. Kelvin and Yvonne chose a beautiful ballroom and showcased the coolest wedding photos and video around. The dinner included the servers and head chef parading out the food, a grand entrance by the wedding couple admist special lighting and dry ice and a rousing Yam Seng chorus (toast) to Kelvin and Yvonne. Just like at Christmas Silas, drank in all the festivities... but was too played out at the end to do little more than smile during our closing family photo.

In Singapore

After spending a relaxing weekend with the Stimpson's in Calgary, we embarked on a 26 day trip to Singapore. Having had Grandma and Opa Linemayr book us Business Class Singaporean Airline tickets through Aeroplan, Josh and I would normally have been quite excited about the flight over. For you see, the last time we flew to Singapore, we hung out in ariport lounges, Josh drank around12 cappucino's on the plane and we watched about 4 movies during the trip (when we weren't sleeping in 90% reclinable seats). This time though, with a 7 1/2 month old baby, we DREADED the 22 hour long flight. (And nearly regretted booking the trip before Silas was born, before we understood how a baby changes EVERYTHING.)


But as prayer has a wonderful way of doing, our little boy did AMAZING on the flight! Praise God! And thank you to everyone who remembered us in prayer on our journey. Silas napped and slept well in the airports and on the plane, enjoyed the little play area we made for him at our feet on the plane, loved all the new strangers he was seeing (loving how they were all quick to play peekaboo with him) during the travel and soaked up having 2 parents available to entertain him at all times. He tasted kiwi and mango and croissant for the first time and loved them all. He even vegged out to Ratatouille for 10 minutes a few times. We brought a bag full of toys for Silas, but as irony would have it, his favourite toys during the flight were a Singapore Airlines toothbrush and toothbrush holder. And like any man, Silas' favourite thing to look at were the beautiful Singapore Airline stewardesses. Not kidding at all. Silas stopped anything and everything when one walked by, smiled and cooed as soon when one came over and crawled after them, fast, when they walked away. He's already a ladies' man!

Another really fun memory came during our refuelling stop in Hong Kong. We exited the plane with Silas riding high on Josh's shoulders to the delight of the lined up (predominantly femlae) ground crew, who giggled and ooh-ed and ahh-ed as we walked past. Silas, of course, soaked all that up and smiled and and cooed and bounced around even more. He received the same reception through security and in the Hong Kong airport stores.

Arriving in Singapore, Silas still had lots of energy to be carried by and play with his Grand Uncle Stephen and Grand Uncle Francis and my cousin Eric who met us here. We are so thankful he never had a "What the heck am I still doing on this freakin' airplane?!?!?" freakout. We've been here a few days now, it's hot and humid, but our little guy continues to adjust well to the new place and the time change and the crowds. We admit that we've got a pretty happy baby (especially since he flew the whole way while cutting his (first) two bottom teeth!)

He's mobile!

Silas got up onto his feet with his palms on the ground Christmas Eve and looked ready to attack crawling. He didn't quite get the hang of it and had to settle for creeping commando style along the ground (but at least was now going forward instead of pushing backward like before). Since Christmas, he has continued to take stumbling crawls forward- not quite strong enough to support his weight or able to figure out the pattern of alternating hands and feet. But to his credit, he never got frustrated.


Yesterday morning though, Silas started crawling with a purpose! He zeroed in on my peanut butter toast and zoomed right across his playmat to my plate. I beamed and swelled with pride. Josh was so sad he missed it while at work, but thankfully Silas performed for his dad in the evening too. Silas now loves crawling up to the shelves in his room and emptying the toy baskets, as well as crawling into the kitchen after Grandma and Opa and crawling up to the laundry basket to pull up to standing. I am definitely thankful Silas didn't start crawling over Christmas- I know he would have enjoyed pulling at all the ornaments like he loved pulling the DVDs off the shelf today. Josh and I were hoping Silas wouldn't get the hang of crawling until after our long plane ride to Singapore next week, but we're both all smiles watching our little son motor around. It was pretty cute when instead of simply sitting in the living room bored and wanting to go to bed, he crawled around the couch (whining with every step) to tell me in person.


PS- I guess "Christmastime" was the closest right answer on the crawling survey. Maybe the next survey question should be "What's the first non-baby proof thing Silas will get into?"

Happy New Year!

We pray the year is starting off well for you all! Josh and I became parents in 2oo7 and I look forward to settling in to the role in 2008.

We rang in 2008 by first attending an "All Pink New Year's" party (hence Silas' outfit)and bonfire, then made our way to a second party with a fondue and rousing Cranium game.

Silas passed out before we got to the second party and spent the night in his clothes. Sigh, it's probably how he'll celebrate some of his future New Year's too...