Mother & newborn sleeping

In last week’s speedlink, we learned how you could roll a soiled baby layette down to avoid smearing the mess on her poor little head. This week, we learn another useful parenting tip, this time from Mummie Erin. One of the challenges is helping the baby get a good night’s rest, so Erin explains the science of 90 minute sleep cycles. The acronym N.A.P.S. can allow parents and their babies to finally enjoy some sweet dreams.

Taking care of a baby is one matter; raising children into respectful teens and responsible adults is another matter altogether. Moving a little further up the development scale, Damien Riley describes his experience of watching over his 7 and 9-year-old daughters when their mom is not around. And he does so with a cute poem he calls “When Daddy’s in Charge.” From getting in makeup to getting into chocolate, the girls get into all sorts of harmless trouble.

Municipal elections were held recently in Metro Vancouver and Kirk LaPointe had big dreams for what he wanted to accomplish as Vancouver’s mayor. He ultimately lost to incumbent Gregor Robertson and, in looking back, LaPointe has ten thoughts about the election and politics in the city. Several of these musings have to do with the public disclosure of campaign contributions. LaPointe also dreams of the day when there are more than six mayoralty debates to facilitate better engagement between candidates.

For many people, the definitive xiaolongbao can only be found at Din Tai Fung in Taipei. Here in the the Vancouver area, Phoenix Lam-Phipps may have found another good XLB source at Shanghai Lu on West Broadway. Her mother even explains the proper technique for picking up an XLB dumpling. As Eddie Huang once said, people who pop the top and suck out the soup are “hooligans.”

And finally, self-proclaimed “migratory nerd” Duane Storey is on the road again. Or rather, he’s on the plane again as he heads back to Brazil today for a five-week-long adventure. His plans include eating some fancy cachorro quente (hot dogs), indulging in some amazing Brazilian barbecue at a Churrascaria, and visiting a new brew pub in Sao Paulo called BrewDog.