Swinging Away

We took Silas to the park for his first swing ride yesterday.




He's been a pretty fearless boy- loves being carried upside down and getting thrown up high and being "zoomed" around like an airplane then crash landing onto the bed or couch. He definitely loved the thrill of a swing too, underducks and all.

He likes posing

A couple weeks ago, Josh had Silas for the evening. To distract him long enough to finish doing dishes, Josh opened up the fridge for Silas to go at it. At first Silas seemed stunned, not quite believing this usually off limit area was his to explore.



(He had triumphed over Josh in the diaper change department too, hence the no pants and undone onesie.)

As Silas reached into the refrigerator, he was miffed to hear Josh behind him. That is until he heard the click of the camera... and turned around all smiles to strike a few poses.

Christ Has Risen!

Happy Easter everyone! We hope you had a nice weekend celebrating the death and resurrection of our Saviour.

Last Easter James, Karen and Morgan visited us. We had some relaxing dinners and lazy mornings and anticipated Smalls' upcoming debut... Quite different from the 6:30am starts to the day and busy mornings filled with diaper changes (usually 2), pancake making while carrying a refusing-to-be-put-down 10 month old in one arm, baths to make up for the missed ones from the night before, packing enough food and toys and clothes for a morning and afternoon out, dashing off to church, spending half the service in the nursery admist the organized chaos of 15 other playing toddlers and teaching Silas the difference between touching versus eating sand at a picnic lunch that now make up life with Silas.

But as we reflect back on how different the Easter's were, we are reminded about how much more we have learned about God's love over the past 10 months.

Silas has confirmed how intricately and lovingly God created us. I marvel at what Silas can now do and what more he will be able to do (soon we'll see him walk, run, jump and by the time he's 3 or 4 he'll be able to tell us zebras live in Africa!) And God has worked out these achievements in such perfect timing... so both the baby and parents could be ready for it! And it seems so smiles, coos, hugs, kisses and saying "Dad" come at just the times when parents might need the encouragement.

We thank you God for the grace and patience that you, our perfect Father, have with us as parents. We pray that one day Silas and the other young ones in our life, Ella, Malachi, Evan, Lexa, Zoey, Jasper, Naomi and Tessa, will rejoice in the gift of your Son too.

The day Josh has been Waiting for

Our friend Becky spoiled Silas with 2 pairs of Baby Vans shoes- definitely some of Josh's ultimate favourite baby gifts.







Silas can fit into the first pair now!



Thanks again, Becky!

9 months old

Silas is 9 months old today. Like other things mom have said (that are mostly always true), the past nine months have just flown by!! With pregnancy usually considered 9 months long, it's like Silas has now lived outside the womb for as long as he was inside it. (And it's also kinda neat that Silas is also 39 weeks and 3 days old today and he was 39 weeks and 3 days "old" when he was born.)

Wow, we spent our first night together nine months ago... so much has changed since then! Thankfully, I'm not as scared or apprehensive as then and we definitely understand each other a lot better now, but you're still as special as you were May 28, 2007.

We love you everyday, Silas.

Breaking Bad Habits

We have been back home in Vernon for two weeks now. Once again Silas travelled extremely well on the long flights home. Unfortunately, the transition back to life here has not been as smooth as adjusting to life in Singapore was. It took about a week for Silas to recover from his jet lag. Now we are finding the bigger issue is teaching our little guy to sleep by himself. The three of us shared a room in Singapore and Silas got very used to us being there every time he stirred or fussed during the night. He sometimes wakes up every hour now looking for us, wanting his soother, needing to be patted back to sleep. Although we understand why it's happening, it's taking its toll. We spent about a month in Singapore, so maybe it will take a month to break the habit?! We welcome any suggestions you may have...

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day!

(Yes we arrived back to Canada four days ago, but we'll update on that later.)

Thank you to Grandma Meow Meow for being Silas' Valentine's date and watching him while we went out for dinner! Especially since the end of the evening got a bit exhausting for both of you.

PS- It's blurry in the picture, but Silas somehow got a heart-shaped scratch on his forehead today.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy (Chinese) New Year everyone!

Today is the first day of this year's Chinese lunar calendar. All the festivities surrounding this time of year are quite like the Christmas time celebrations back home.

Twenty four of our family members gathered for a traditional New Year's Eve "Reunion Dinner" at Uncle Francis' house last night. We feasted on a steamboat dinner, with claypot "New Year" fish and noodle dishes to savour as well, that took Auntie Julie and her team of helpers (including Grandma Doris and our very own Joshuah Langner) about 10 hours to prepare. Auntie Julie also treated us to homemade almond and pineapple cookies and some layered cakes that took 6 hours to bake. And just like at Christmas for us, snacks also litter the coffee tables here- dried fruit, barbecued pork, dried cuttlefish, chocolates, candies and nuts are all available to ensure we gain the traditional 5kg of holiday weight.

After dinner, we watched the Singapore Chinatown countdown to midnight and fireworks display on TV and left Uncle Francis' shortly after, leaving him and a few other uncles to play and gamble at mahjong and cards until 3:00am.

This morning we awoke, dressed Silas in his New Year duds and began our visiting. (Everyone gets the first two days of Chinese New Year off work.) We stopped in at Eric's parents' flat (Uncle Stephen and Auntie Annie) where my mom is staying while in Singapore. As we will do throughout the new year season, we exchanged 2 oranges (for prosperity), with best wishes and blessings for the new year, with each elder present. And as we are married, Josh and I gave "Ang Bao" (red envelopes with money inside) to Eric's younger brothers. It was a chance for Silas to receive his first Chinese New Year ang bao's too.

Because my grandparents are no longer living, we then travelled to Uncle Thiam Hock's flat (he is my eldest uncle). We met up with my Uncle Francis and his family there. After exchanging oranges, giving (to our younger relatives) and receiving (Silas is starting to become quite interested in the red packets) ang pow's and indulging in more goodies, Josh, Silas and I headed back home for a nap and quiet time.

Tonight, my Auntie Siew Geok will welcome about 50(!) of us relatives to her house for dinner and, of course, more mahjong and cards.

Chinese New Year celebrations will continue for the next two weeks, so for Josh, Silas and I our final days in Singapore will end as they began- with lots more fun visiting and eating!

PS- Thank you to Eric and Priscilla for teaching us about the new year customs. And thank you to everyone else for being patient with us as we blundered our way through them!

A Shameless Flirt

Our little guy is still not a fan of carseats or car trips. He also tires of the MRT after about 15 minutes, but a definite plus about riding the subway is all the strangers Silas gets to interacts with. He continues to love to look at and play with other kids and babies, and now young, pretty, Asian girls too. He will shamelessly lock his eyes on a girl, let a smile creep across his face and coo as if to say "Hee-lll-ooo. I'm Silas. What do you say we ditch these two companions of mine and go somewhere together?" If takes a bit to get a girl's attention, Silas doesn't mind, he'll just start yelling at her or reach for her hand or pull at her skirt.

When we're out walking and Silas tires of his stroller, Josh will hoist him up onto his shoulders. Silas, of course, loves the attention and giggles this pose draws. He will flash smiles and even do a sort of leg pumping/jumping dance on his perch up there for any and all who glance his way.

He enjoys playing with all his relatives too, but definitely the aunties and girl cousins most it seems. Especially my cousin Eric's wife Priscilla (the couple we're staying with). One day at the table, Silas was babbling away at and playing with Priscilla. When Eric put his arm around her, Silas actually yelled at him as if to say "Hey man, back off, she's mine!"

He loves women so much already, it's just going to get worse isn't it?

A family Surf Trip

Besides his first trip to Asia and all the other "firsts" that that encompasses, this trip to Singapore has also brought about Silas' first trip on a bus, first ride on a subway, first spin on a bicycle... and now his first dip in the ocean and first ride on a surfboard!

We just returned from a 5 day mini-break to Desaru, Malaysia. As it is currently monsoon season, the ocean was too rough to really swim in, but just fun enough to catch some (small for Josh, but just perfect for Karen sized) waves to surf. Being monsoon season, the resort we stayed at was also deserted during the week, which was nice as there was nobody to mind the mess or noise Silas made in the dining room!

Thank you to Uncle Francis and Auntie Julie for treating us to the stay at the resort! And to Grandma Doris, Auntie Sock Hong, cousins Wilfred, Emma, Matthew, Patria and little Timothy for joining us on the weekend. Thank you for baby sitting Silas while Josh and I snuck away for some surf sessions together- Silas didn't mind hanging with Josh or I on the shore while the other surfed, he smiled seeing us "stand" on the water and liked having water splash against his legs and loved crawling around on the beach, but trying to keep sand out of his mouth was always a losing battle. We just feel bad we had monsoon rains while you were there and not the sunny skies like our first 3 days in Desaru.

A Day in the Life of the Langner's in Singapore...

Silas' bedtime is a bit later here and so he usually wakes up around 9:00am. He nurses, and then is ecstatic to be out of his "cage" to attack the bedroom- climbing over the mattresses, digging through the suitcases, attempting to scale the bed and, of course, mouthing anything he comes across. He's recently started throwing tantrums if we disagree with and remove something that crosses his lips! He is able to crawl from the bedroom to the kitchen where we prepare his (solid) food breakfast, as he plays with a basket of plastic clothes pins. When he's had enough of the basket, he typically attempts to access the kitchen drawers or the adjacent bathroom.

To work off breakfast, Silas cruises around the living room couches and coffee table, half-heartedly playing with toys while trying to pounce on the real objects of his affection: the wastepaper basket and the DVD player shelf. As Josh watches Silas (becoming ever more familiar with the phrase "No Silas, you can't touch that...") and gets him dressed, I pack up our day's supplies of snacks, meals, water, toys, clothes, diapers, wipes. If we're lucky, we get out the door before Silas needs his morning nap.

And where do we go? Often either to meet up with a relative for lunch or to the local pool for some laps and splashes. Unlike most Singaporeans, we try to walk as much as we can. The heat and humidity and high heeled shoes all the women wear are definitely good excuses not to walk, but we did laugh when we asked for directions to the pool and MRT (subway) station and were told the 10 minute walks were "much too far" and taking a bus was necessary.

Some afternoon stops have included a trip to the skateboard park. Silas LOVES his dad's board and enjoys going for spins on it too.

In the evenings, we usually meet up with family to eat and visit.

So while there definitely hasn't been as many sightseeing stops or little backpacking excursions this trip to Singapore (will we ever remember a baby changes everything?!), we treasure getting to spend everyday hanging out the 3 of us as a family.

"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.