Wee Arts

Air was crisp and sky was blue. We headed to the west side to Children's Museum of the Arts at their new Charlton Street location. The bright room was full of great art activities for little people. Taiyo immediately got busy with markers and brushes. We enjoyed music time where Taiyo got a chance to practice some drumming. The place is beautiful, but it was way overcrowded. And probably because of the location the crowd was too Tribecca- so many pushy brats! Exhibit about Public Art was pretty cool but I felt I wanted a bit more out of this place. Even though it's a longer trip, we'd rather frequent Brooklyn Children's Museum where there's so much more than we can explore every time. We thought the coolest thing was the pedal operated water fountain (above) that was just a beautful piece of art. Taiyo marched out of the museum chanting for gyoza, but he fell asleep on bike again only a few blocks away.

Lynne joined us for Indian dinner at Raj Mahal on 6th Street Indian row. We picked this place for a Sitar player in the window. It's hard to get in with the stroller with steep stairway down to the half basement restaurant, and there was not much room inside. The hauler outside told us he'd watch the stroller under the awning. Upon entry, the waiter immediately placed Taiyo on the musician's lap but he was more scared than thrilled. "Help." He extended his little arms to Lynne to be rescued. We took a table right next to him, and Taiyo was soon enchanted with the music. He also enjoyed all the food, mixed vegetable pakora fritters, chicken tikka masala (although he wouldn't touch chicken), rice, daal, and fluffy poori bread. It was definitely the most food he ate in a restaurant in a while. In my opinion, the food was ok, not bad, but nothing special. But for the music and kind of funky decore including chili pepper lights on the ceiling and poster of Cuba beside our table, it's super recommended. We were having a great time until this older couple seated behind us and before they ordered the meal, the man said to Lynne who was sitting facing their table, "Are you staying?" Taiyo was sitting next to her at the time. "Are you talking to me?" she replied. "We'd rather be close to the music but if you're staying there we'd rather move to another table." Seriously? "We're staying," she replied, even though we were pretty much done with our meal. Oh, yes we were staying here for the long time! They stood up and moved to the far back of the restaurant. How rude those people were! Taiyo may have shrieked once or twice, but did they really have problem with this lovely child? Or did they think we were lesbian couple and they had a problem with that? Either way, that made our heads shake to know how hostile this world could be, even for Taiyo who gets picture taken by strangers everywhere we go. But otherwise we had a great time. Staff were very much amused by Taiyo, and the Sitar player encouraged Taiyo to sit next to him so he can watch closely, but Taiyo was still a bit scared maybe because of his beard and turban. At the end they brought us free dessert of bright orange goo with coconut. Taiyo spit it out. Yet this place is recommended overall.