Exactly a year ago, we were confined inside our little apartment for a whole week because of Taiyo's chicken pox. Monday night he broke fever in the middle of the night, then I noticed blisteres on his hands and legs yesterday morning. In the doctor's office in the afternoon, the doctor announced it immediately when she saw blisters on his arm, "Coxsackie Virus." What??? It's not a new thing, but I've never heard of it. And what a name for a kids' disease. She said it's a common thing for a kid to get, and it got the name because this virus was discovered in Coxsackie, New York, 60 years ago. And no one objected to the name all this time? This was just so blogworthy. He was quite irritable and needy, clinging to me all day, and I had to close for the day mid-afternoon. Later at night remembering a year ago when we often took a late night walk with him on my back, we took a little walk around the quiet streets around East Broadway. For a few months he would not go in the backpack anymore, but yesterday he was happy to get on my back again. Rain shower cooled off the streets and the air was so refreshing. I'm sure next season I would miss these moments.

Maybe he knew that we had to go back to work, or he was simply tired from five days of just having fun; Taiyo couldn't get his funk out in the morning. He fussed and screamed over every little thing, milk, cereal, bagel, elmo, george, and so on. When we finally got out the sun was glaring above. We were out for a shopping routine, and Taiyo knew exactly where to score some bananas at Essex market. Three banans today! On the way back he used one of his winnings to make a 'banana call.' How his imagination is growing!

Back to work, meaning no eating out today. Taiyo devoured chicken katsu with curry for lunch. Fried food always works with a little one, although he refused to try sea eel tempura with soba yesterday.

We normally get a little rush after a break, and today was no exception. Lunch wasn't too hectic but we were pretty swamped in the evening. Today was Tanabata, a Japanese star festival. It's based on a very Japanese tale, although the originates in China, that two lover stars were separated across milky way because they were too busy having fun with each other and neglected their work. But the Sky King allowed them to meet with each other once a year on July 7th if they worked hard the rest of the year. Now we celebrate this festival decorating bamboo trees with our wishes written on paper. After hard day's work, I didn't have to write down any wishes when I saw peaceful sleeping face of Taiyo. My wish has come true.

Last year on 4th of July, Taiyo stood on his own for the first time. This year at 21-months, he's singing ABC's. I've been trying to start this new blog for a few months- Dining with Taiyo- because he just loves eating. He loves eating good food with other people. Is that because he's growing up in a restaurant? SOY blog has been pretty much Taiyo blog for two years now. I decided that I officially transform it into Taiyo blog. We'll be chronicling about our dining experiences in and out, just for the fun of it.

Today: Pulino's Bar & Pizzeria
282 Bowery at Houston
It was a dump day all day with drizzling rain. My plan was to walk up to Minca on 5th street for ramen noodle soup, but rain discouraged me and I pushed the stroller to the west along Houston because I had to pick up something at BestBuy on Broadway. We passed by a few places I was thinking about, but they seemed to be a little busy even though it was only 4pm in the afternoon on Sunday. We finally stopped at Pulino's at Bowery. This was our first visit there. Their sister restaurant Schiller's around the corner from us is fairy kid friendly- they will give Taiyo a set of crayons as we sit down, and there's always a very friendly waitress who would come around even if ours wasn't her table. Pulino's didn't have the crayons for Taiyo, but high-chair came right out for him, and access is nice and easy with the door wide open (thanks to the warm weather), plenty of room by the outside door to park the stroller, and Taiyo was happy looking around hipster interior with liquor bottles nicely decorating the walls. He also liked the view of the pizza oven behind him. Service was smooth and quick, and Taiyo liked their pizza very much- we had Bianca and he ate almost half of the pie. The table next to us, with older couple and their son, was quite amused with Taiyo. He really likes to entertain others. After he decided that he was through, Taiyo tried to run out to the street, but the staff there was quite aware of this little person and tried to stop him. That gave me more positive impression about this place. I say recommended. Sorry no pictures- Taiyo destroyed only a year old camera and I was on the way to pick up a new one.

Old blog is found here: http://archive.soyrosendale.com/weblog/