It snowed a little and rained a lot more. The winter seems to hang around a bit longer, and I hear people complaining about it every day. Well, winter is actually my favorite season and I really don't mind the cold. I always enjoyed running through winter. Only problem during cold months was that the water fountains were closed in the parks and I had to carry a bottle of water. Otherwise, I always loved long runs in winter. Anyway, I loved the sight of snow and rain, especially after the movie we saw yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon, a perfectly grim day for such mellow activity, we went to a screening of Japanese animated film "Wolf Children" as part of New York International Children's Film Festival. From their line-up, I picked this film because it was in Japanese and not dubbed. The story seemed also interesting, something we could even relate to; it was about a young Japanese woman, a single mother, raising two wolf children. They were named Yuki(snow) and Ame(rain), and their father was a wolf man, half human, half wolf. My only concern was that it was a long movie- almost two hours long. Although Taiyo has seen two-hour movies many times, this was going to be his first long movie in a theater. But since it was Children's Film Festival, there were enough small children like Taiyo in the audience. To my surprise, many of the small people were not Japanese. Are their parents going to read the subtitle for the kids? There was a three-year old next to us who wasn't really thrilled to sit down on his seat anyway before the show. So of course this little boy was so restless and fussy throughout the movie. So compared to his poor blond fellow who didn't understand Japanese, Taiyo was fine most of the time. But on and off Taiyo started asking so many questions why was this and that and I got a bit distracted and annoyed myself that I had to try to calm him down. Sometimes he was asking me things off the movie like, "why is it so dark here?" "why does this move?" moving the armrest up and down. I was surprised that he was acting like that, because the film was simply stunning, funny and touching, romantic and tragic. You'd laugh a lot and weep plenty. The audience was good mix of families and adults, anime fans, Japanese and all others, and remarkably wide age groups. Highly recommended if you can find it. I don't think they have theatrical release scheduled at this point.

After the film, we went across the 57th street to Angelo's Pizza. At 7 o'clock, we were tired. We got there before 4, so we were at the theater for three hours. Location was the winner, and Taiyo hardly says no to pizza. In the past two years, it feels like I've eaten more pizza than the rest of my life combined. Possibly. So we got to Angelo's and obviously many people after the film headed there and it was almost full house. Locations, locations. It seemed like overpriced and mediocre kind of place and it was. But location won. We were not going to walk another block to look for a restaurant, and there aren't many on 57th street anyway. So I had a glass of wine and we had a plain pie but they didn't even bake with basil but sprinkled a few pieces after, so it was easy to pick the greens off for Taiyo and there weren't too many anyway. It was ok, not terrible, not fabulous. I wished they put a little more sauce and cheese- the edges with no sauce and cheese were too wide. Crust was pretty thin and easy to eat. Service was pretty bad. Unfriendly in general. Taiyo ate half of the pie, and stayed in his seat quietly once it arrived. His review may be more favorable to them than mine.

Sun was not out this time at the garden. The camera couldn't capture it but we had flurries coming down. Unfortunately there were totally not enough snow for snow fight, but we spent nice time with the chickens. I can't believe they are leaving us already next month. There's one little chick who seems abused and isolated, and Charlie told me that she just came back from hatching 6 chicks in fall. Bald spots on her head, he told me, was actually from her chicks, he said. So this poor mother bird is so exhausted and abused by her own children, but her girlfriends didn't want anything to do with her when she came back to the group. Poor thing. Sometimes being a mother doesn't pay back so well.

So the wheels of stroller were busted again- perhaps because Taiyo's getting so big? I was hoping the three-and-a-half-year-old stroller would hold up through the summer before completely terminating its use by the time he starts school. I had to drop it off at the Maclaren store in Soho for repair, and they loaned us a bigger stroller. In this, he was not too big at all! After he fell asleep comfortably later afternoon, his feet were not dragging the streets! This loaner is going to spoil us this week.

Before he fell asleep, when we passed by Lure Fishbar at Prince and Mercer, Taiyo was totally fascinated with the view of the restaurant below the street level. "I want to go there," he announced. So I grabbed the stroller and we went downstairs. The place was busy, and it seemed somewhat family friendly to my surprise, since there were people with babies, toddler and above here and there. Otherwise, it looked like just another popular hipster joint. Yes, the food was mediocre as I expected, but Taiyo loved the overpriced french toast($14 for four piece of french toast), and 2 pieces of deviled eggs were $8 only because there were a little bits of caviar on top. Well, the bathroom was kept clean, the service was not extra special, maybe a bit snobbish but efficient, the floor was quite full but food came out rather fast. I probably never go there again but it was not totally bad over all.

Daylight Savings Time kicked in and the sun was out. It felt like spring at 50 degrees but it was still chilly in the shade. We had chicken duty then a meeting at the garden. The banner was up. Taiyo remembered coloring in the leaves around the flower. The meeting was about the possible future battle with a developer who wants to come into the garden and claim his piece of property. The garden has been there for 30 years and we are going to fight it in the name of "Children's Magical Garden." More iPad apps almost every night. "I'm going to sleep by myself because I want a new thing on my iPad," Taiyo says, as I turn off the light.

It was a place we passed by so many times, not only this location but many others around the city. I thought of checking it out but somehow never did until last week. When I asked Taiyo if he wanted to eat something at Le Pain Quotidien on Grand and Mercer on the way back from shopping at Sunrise Mart, he said yes. We settled at a large communal table in the roomy back room. There were many high chairs available, and they were surprisingly kid-friendly. Taiyo was equipped with a cup full of crayons and a coloring sheet even before his cup of water, and they had a kid's menu. We had roasted turkey and avocado tartines, which were beautifully done little open sandwiches. I appreciated fresh vegetables but Taiyo really didn't care for anything else but bread and some turkey. Mustard was a bit spicy for him but he still liked the sandwich. Food was fresh, pretty, and simply delicious. Service was quite efficient. It's probably more enjoyable off-peak hours, though. By the time we got our food the place was packed and a bit chaotic. I just wish a place like this would make Taiyo want to eat some vegetables. There was even a changing table in the spacious bathroom. Highly recommended.

This week we stopped at another place we passed so many times for the first time- Toby's Public House on Kenmare and Mulberry. Taiyo hardly says no to pizza. The roomy dining room had great natural light, although it was a gloomy day. And it was pretty empty. I wanted to sit by the window but Taiyo decided to settle at a big table near the bar. Well, there were TV's above the bar and we also had a view of their brick oven. The friendly waitress who knew just how to talk to little people brought him a cup full of crayons and some sheets of paper. Taiyo immediately got busy scribing. When the waitress came back he of course told her that the doodle on the paper was his poo. She had a blast and couldn't have enough of Taiyo. Thin crust Margherita pie was delicious and the service was so personal. They have high-chairs available. Only thing that I have to warn you is that the bathroom wall is decorated with vintag Playboy covers. Taiyo would've loved to see the breasts all over the bathroom, but crayons kept him safe at the table.