First week of 2012 zapped through us. We had some cold days, some warm days, and I had lots of catching up to do in the kitchen. A year ago I was jotting down new words Taiyo blurts out, and this year it's full phrases and sentences. Since he is only 27-months old, he still has good amount of unreasonable demands and tantrums. But he makes me laugh plenty to make up for everything. He's hilarious, sometimes unintentionally, often so clearly intentionally like above, and neverthless he's darn cute.

"What to do during cold months" is a concern to many mothers with little ones, but lately Taiyo like to be lazy and hang around the apartment, often naked. I work so much all week I totally don't mind. So we didn't do much over the break and that's one reason I'm slacking off on this blog. Plus I often fall asleep with Taiyo because he requirs a company going to bed. Today was another pretty lazy day, and we never did any of the activity options I've researched. I still like to keep my antenas up to make sure we won't miss some fabulous events. January is a mellow month- not much is going on. So we hang around the house for hours before heading out for a shopping trip to Chinatown. We stopped at the playground on Hester and Christie. This is one of the newer better designed playground in the area, but also the most loud and crowded. I was also saddened to see that it was so poorly maintained. Most of the musical things in the toddler area didn't work. The sandbox was full of garbage. But of course Taiyo wanted to go into the sandbox and play a while. I managed to get him out by suggesting some dumplings across the street. He agreed.

C&L Dumpling Houseis right next to the park, on Christie between Hester and Grand. It's one of those self-service dumpling joint with cheap and fast food. The plate of 10 dumplings for $2.50 was not bad at all. They are very greasy, but pretty tasty. They probably use very fatty ground pork. The skin is not so thick, which I liked. Taiyo kept chugging down the skins (he doesn't eat the filling- even with my gyoza!)until there was no more on the plate. He ate the skins of seven big dumplings. His appetite is often other mother's envy. I often don't have to feed him either. If he likes the food, he'd help himself and eat a regular adult serving. So, their dumplings were approved by Taiyo. They kept him at the table, and kept him busy. The noodle soups other people were ordering seemed good, also. Recommended.

We survived a dreadful holiday- Christmas! I don't believe in Jesus Christ, so I don't celebrate his birthday. But what am I supposed to tell my child- Santa doesn't come to our house because we're Buddhists? Taiyo obviously knows what Santa looks like, but he doesn't question about his functions yet. We only celebrate commercialized Christmas in Japan, so we'd support our economy by buying gifts, but somehow I learned of possible existence of Santa Claus at early age. My first impression was that he won't come to our house because we have no chimney. But then my best freind gave me a passage from Bible and she told me if I read it every day Santa Claus would come. He still didn't come. Many years later I learned that she was a Jehova's witness. I was almost recruited for some Christmas presents! Growing up, I didn't always get a presnet for Christmas, but that was ok. New Year was much more exciting when kids collect some cash from family. So anyway, I don't really do Christmas and I'm grateful of not having heavy gift obligations but do feel left out when the holiday actually comes around. We become holiday orphans! But we had nice mellow one gathering with other orphans around shabu shabu on Christmas Eve, and hanging out at a Jewish household on Christmas day. On Christmas day when Taiyo woke up from his nap, I gave him a present- two little remote-controlled robots. This was a big hit.

On Monday we went to see the Christmas Tree at the Rockefeller Center. The area was still super crowded with tourists. This is really a beautiful sight I hardly miss all these years. Windows at Sacks was disappointing, but decorations on some buildings along Fifth avenue, especially at Fendi, were stunning. After walking around in crowds, I was mentally exhausted and wanted to have a nice dinner. We came across Shinbashi on 48th street near Fifth Avenue. It seemed too chi-chi for us, but the restaurant was pretty empty and I was sick of walking around. This restaurant has been around for a long time, and seems to have a solid reputation for providing "better Japanese food." They probably attract more business customers on regular weekdays. They didn't seem too family friendly, but I was surprised to see two other tables with a baby and a toddler.

They were quite well prepared- offered us a high chair, which we should've taken because Taiyo toppled his seat twice. A waitress promptly brought him a paper cup with a cover and a straw, and a blue set of a plastic plate and utencils. Menu is pricey; most entrees are $20 - $40, but there was a great set menu as "pre-theater dinner." For $20, we got a tempura bowl, mini-chirashi sushi bowl, chawan-mushi(savory steamed custard), a salad, soup, and beer. Everything was delicious and just done right. We also had homemade crab shumai, but these ($3 a piece!) didn't impress us. Taiyo chugged down two shrimp tempura quickly, had some rice and soup then decided to go get acquainted with the staff, who were mostly young Japanese girls. Taiyo's favorite kind. So he went right into the server's station area and made some friends. Then he went running around screaming to embarass me and the maitre-d. Service was very nice and efficiant. Recommended if you're in for a treat.

A beautiful Wednesday- we made it to the Train Show at the New York Botanic Garden in Bronx. It was the first time for both of us- although I was aware of this famous holiday show, I just never thought about it as important thing to see until I had a boy. Even a girl would definitely enjoy it, but the boys and trains! They are just so inseparable. Anyway, the show is totally breathtaking and incredible it is truly worth seeing it with or without kids. All kinds of cool trains run around the beautiful garden and amazing rendition of New York landmarks constructed with twigs, barks, and leaves. There's bridges and waterfalls, and I would imagine it would be even more amazing in the evening. Taiyo was of course totally enchanted and ran back and forth chasing the trains, chanting "Chaka chaka choo choo!" I was also glad that we beat the crowd- I assume that they get really busy in the next two weeks during the holidays.

Back in the neighborhood, we dined at Frankies on Clinton. They are usually too busy and I know they have very small tables, so this is usually not among our choices to dine. But it was early enough and there weren't many other diners. Taiyo was somehow very enthusiastic entering this cozy restaurant. Although it was pretty empty, they offered us the tiny table in the middle. I preferred one against the wall or something bigger, but Taiyo decided to take it. We enjoyed a crostini with avocado and pesto, lentil soup, and homemade gnocchi with marinara and fresh ricotta. Oh, boy, we enjoyed them! After a crostini, Taiyo asked for more. Both lentil soup and gnocchi kept him in his seat quite a long time until we finished them all. Food-wise, this place really give you the best for the money. Everything is so simply but beautifully executed and they taste so fresh and honest. I would go back more often if it was set up a bit more kid-friendly. There aren't much room for strollers- fortunately it's walking distance for us. There's no high chairs and talbes are small and very close together. I won't go there unless it's less than half empty, which is very early in the evening. Still recommended- and service is wonderful.

Our Saturday starts with the most annoyingly edited kids show Doodlebops on CBS. Taiyo loves to watch the strange but catchy music show of two boys and a girl, who got outrageous hair-dues and crazy colors and big fingertips. Stories are childish and stupid, and it is so amazingly badly edited- almost every cut is about a second or two. But Taiyo would be bouncing around playing his instrument. Then we watch Busytown Mysteries, which I like. It's more classic looking cartoon of a town inhabited by all kinds of animals and other creatuares. It's cute. But since we normally only watch Channel 13 for kids shows, I'm always amazed by the commercials that plays on network. How many plush slippers and glittering sneakers kids need? What's the deal with that wobbling ugly bald dancing baby doll with a big belly button? Maybe I'd buy it for someone I don't like.

In the afternoon we went shopping at Pearl River on Broadway. This is one of the greatest store ever for Taiyo. Lots of little water fountain with sparkly balls turning, all kinds of windchimes to mess with, so many cool wind-up toys, cute little Japanese erasers of different shapes from fruits, animals, to cakes! We picked out the coolest wind-up toy with many legs- kind of a robotic insect? Then Taiyo picked up a postcard of Manhattan night skyscraper and said, "New York." I wasn't sure if he said it because he was familiar with the view or he read the print on the corner. Probably both. There was Santacon going, and we came across many Santas on the street heading to this strange and fun bar hopping event. Taiyo said "Hi Santa" to each one of them. We didn't actually run into the Santacon, unfortunately, but maybe it was better for Taiyo for his first impression of Santa is not to be of ones getting drunk everywhere.

We stopped for lunch at Thai Angel on Grand between Crosby and Lafayette. Entry was fairly easy with a stroller, and we were offered a bright table near the doorway. The place wasn't very busy, which is more comfortable for me. It was impossible to find not busy eatery a few blocks up near broadway earlier on the trip. Taiyo first got busy scooping up little ice cubes from his glass. His motor skills are getting refined he didn't spill much water. Service was very friendly and fast, and food was not amazing but quite decent. Price was good too. Taiyo happily enjoyed Ka Nom Jeeb dumplings, curry puffs and pad thai. Then he ran around the restaurant and amuzed the waiter and other diners. He also greeted people walking into the door. He really liked the place it was hard to get him to leave. Recommended.

We usually don't have horrible dining experience because my aim is to have the best dining experience ever than to fight the impossible beast. If the place was too crowded or the clothed tables with neat table settings were placed too closely together, I may avoid it. Fancy busy restaurants may not want to have a two-year-old hopping from one empty seat to another. This is why sometimes I would compromise and end up in a diner. Remedy Diner on Houston street, which I have written about in the past, is actually Taiyo's favorite. They would pretty much allow Taiyo to jump around on every empty booth, until I'm too embarrassed and have to stop him. But food is seriously bad.

This was their lasagna. It was surrounded by peach colored salty goo, and had two-inch-thick meat layer (have they not been selling enough burgers?) had pasta sheets with cruncy overbaked corners, and generous amount of cheese as if they wanted to cover the evidence. It was so thick and inside was cold. Taiyo ate some of it, and he thought crumbling saltine crackers into mushroom barley soup was the greatest idea ever. And waiters who are all latinos are usually quite enchanted with Taiyo. So we probably go back there again.

Saturday was another warm day, and I loved the mellowness of this holiday weekend. We took a bike ride down to the Imagination Playground at the South Street Seaport. I didn't notice before, but this time the air quality was so noticeably bad most likely from all the tour buses idling near by. But of course Taiyo didn't care. He got very focused in the sandbox scooping up sand into a bucket. I brought a bucket and a scoop just in case, but this is another very nice thing about this playground-there's always plenty of tools to play with in the sandbox. Older kids were building some very interesting structures on the other side with large form blocks. Later we met a boy about a year older also named Taiyo, also half Japanese with a Japanese mom. When I heard her calling his son Taiyo, I had to exclaim, "Your son is Taiyo? Mine, too!" His mom said she never met a boy with the same name. Well, I hadn't either. Taiyo followed the other Taiyo, calling, "Taiyo, Taiyo!" but he was pretty much ignored. On the way out we saw caroling older men by the tree. It's Christmas all over town already.

We stopped at Keg No. 229 on Front Street for lunch. Among the few establishments on Front Street, this was Taiyo's choice. It was like a stylish sports bar, that didn't look kid-friendly, but we were offered a high chair immediately, and Taiyo gladly settled in one. Bench with nice cushy pillows was comfy, too. It was three in the afternoon, but it had a small group of young people gathering at the bar. The ambiance was kind of loud, which wasn't a bad thing for a toddler who wants to scream for no reason from time to time. The bathroom was the darkest one Taiyo was ever been to, and he was a bit scared. It was also scary for me too since I really couldn't see how clean the bathroom was. The food was pretty good- crab cake eggs benedict with breakfast potatoes. Potatoes were seasoned enough but Taiyo carefully dipped some ketchup to eat them. Eggs benedit was tasty although I wished the crab cakes were thicker. They have nice list of beer and the staff were very nice and friendly to Taiyo. Recommended.

In the evening we went to the New Victory Theater in Times Square for "Untapped!" It was Taiyo's first real theater experience. In the elevator an old lady asked me, "Isn't it a bit late for him?" The show was on at 7pm. "Oh, no. He's up until midnight regularly." Oh, yes, he was so excited to be seated right by the stage. They offer a booster for little people in orchestra section. The show was actually recommended for age 6 and above, and we were the only stroller parked downstairs, but Taiyo was of course totally into it. He loves tap dancing himself! We watched five cute aussie boys tapping(too bad they are gay, I was thinking), mixed with beat-boxing and rock music, and Taiyo screamed here and there, which made the performers chuckle sometimes. First 30 minutes weren't too bad, but the next 30 minutes got a bit more stressful for me. Taiyo started jumping from his seat onto me, then climbed back onto his seat, and started all over again. He also turned around and tried to get attention of the boy behind him, who ignored him. I asked him if he wanted to leave, but he shook his head. He also kicked the man next to him numerous times, who didn't seem to mind too much- he got three kids next to him. Anyway, we survived the show and ushesr by the door said, "He was so cute!" Well, this was the theater for kids, and his behavior was all acceptable. We'll be back for more.

The restaurants around there were too crowded after the show, and some had only revolving doors indicating "no strollers." We weren't going to wait for a half hour for a table at Ruby Tuesday, so we went to Burger King instead. He was happy enough with the bourbon burger with sweet sauce. At least we got very fresh french fries, and of course Taiyo dipped them carefully into ketchup. I said we are taking a cab! after that, and Taiyo went yay! The traffic was everywhere and it wasn't easy trip. Taiyo was so hyper jumping around. We were stuck for a while on Houston and I realized that I should've told the driver not to take the Second avenue down to Houston- he doesn't live in the neighborhood! Taiyo was still jumping around when we got home and I was truly exhausted. So the next day spending most of the time at home wasn't so bad for me. You can't see it in this picture Taiyo took at the laundromat. Do I look kind of tired? Or I'm just getting old.

My Thanksgiving tradition started Wednesday, making a trip to Union Square greenmarket to pick up some fresh herbs and vebetables. Taiyo slept through the whole trip in comfy sports utility jogging stroller. Late afternoon, we met up with Lynne and headed uptown to see the balloon inflation for Macy's Thanksgiving parade. We saw Snoopy, Spiderman, Hello Kitty, and some other bunch. It was so crowded we had enough just going through one block, half of the event.

We stopped at Cafe Con Leche on Amsterdam between 80th and 81st. It's a cute small latin joint. We were offered a table in the back with a bench, which was of course great for Taiyo. They also offered us a high chair, but Taiyo was already stretched out on the bench to check its comfort level. Taiyo's mind was all set for rice and beans. They brought his water in a paper coffee cup with top with a straw, which gets high points for being a kid-friendly restaurant. I settled on pork stew. It tasted pretty good, but pork was too cruncy and chewy for stew- the lighting was too dark to decide it was actually grilled pork with sauce or meat was simply dry and tough. But otherwise, service was friendly and Taiyo was happy with his rice and beans. He also chugged down more than half the plate of plantains Lynne ordered. The restaurant is pretty small and tables are close together- strollers may have hard time manuevering or finding a spot, but over all nice place to dine with a kid. Fairly recommended.

So it was Thanksgiving day. My plan was to do much of the cooking while Taiyo takes nap- we walked out early afternoon to pick up a few more things from a store, and he seemed pretty much ready for a little napping. But after half an hour I realized I'd better get back first and put my turkey in the oven. Then Taiyo was super upset that we didn't stop at the supermarket. While I threw turkey into the oven, he sat in the stroller in the doorway and kept screaming "SOOOOPER MAAARKKEEETTTT!!!!" into the street. Finally we rolled out again but Taiyo was super upset and kept screaming. When we got to the Chinese market on Clinton, the guy at the fish deparment gave him some chocolate and finally Taiyo stopped screaming. He held two chocolate, one on each hand, and sobbed for a while then fell asleep. I ran back thinking that I got two hours to get most of cooking done. So I thought. But only one hour late Taiyo woke up, and he was very needy. He had to sit on my lap, and wouldn't let me get up and cook. So until Mark and Steve arrived to distract Taiyo I wasn't able to get much done and it was a bit stressful after that trying to get everything ready in two hours. But all was well in the end with roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, my famous stuffing with cashews and sausage, garlic mashed potato, caponata, roasted zucchini and turnips, pumpkin and corn salad, and yuzu-tuna wrap. Taiyo made a mistake stuffing himself too early with cheese and crackers, but he still enjoyed turkey and cranberry sauce. Then he went totally high after green tea cheesecake and went running outside, taking hands of my guests one by one.

We enjoyed sleeping late today. It was a beautiful warm day and I took him out to Guitar Center on 14th Street. This place is a heaven for him with all kinds of music instruments! He went crazy in drums department, then we picked up a new uklele (on sale for $30!). Last one was broken after being banged around in his rock'n roll action.

We lunched at Japonica on University and 12th St. The bench was confortable with a pillow and Taiyo immediately jumped on it for a while, but he decided to take a chair on the other side of the table. They brought him a plastic cup and a straw with a tiny pinwheel, which was of course a high point for a kid-friendly restaurant. It kept him in the seat for a while. There was too many things on the menu, but I settled on lunch special box with eel and avocado donburi and shrimp tempra roll, and steamed shumai appetizer. The box was not quite impressive with mixed green and pinapples, and I felt there should've been just a little something like hijiki instead of edamame, but overall it was a great value. Taiyo immediately cleared eel- he couldn't wait for his fork to arrive and started grabbing it by hand. Then he of course enjoyed nice big shumai and finished all the pinapple. Dining room is fairly spacious and strollers should be able to find a room to park. Recommended.

We finally made it to the 'Bring Your Own Kid concert' at TribecaY sunday morning. The place was packed with babies, toddlers, and mommies and daddies for Brady Rymer and The Little Band That Could. Their music was fun and rocking, and the little girls first occupied the floor. Taiyo was serious observing and studying the band. Then he was jumping around with the other kids for a while and then started snapping pictures of the band. Yes, the above picture was one of his shot. But because of not having enough lighting he wasn't able to snap good photos and he was frustrated and threw the camera on the floor. I took it away from him and he started screaming. The music was loud enough his loud scream wasn't that noticeable- also it was getting close to the end of the show there were other kids screaming here and there. So I just let him have his fit. I shook my head and said, no, I'm not giving you the camera. He was finally through by the time the band finished. We watched some artworks in the lobby before heading out. It was pretty cool beginning of the day.

We stopped for brunch at Josephine on Greenwich and Harrison. It was spacious and sure enough, almost every table had a kid or two or three. We were not offered one, but they had high chairs. The nice leather bench was comfy and easy to climb up for Taiyo. Immediately Taiyo took a picure of a little pumpkin on the table. We went for french toast (oh, yes, we were in a French cafe, oui, oui) and corn soup. French toast was of course big hit for Taiyo, and it turns out a perfect finger food despite of almond slices and powder suger on top. He ate pretty much ate the entire plate, and finally decided to try the soup, which was almost gone. "Yummy!" he exclaimed, and finished the rest. It was comfortable dining experience, and food was very nice. Recommended.

Just down the street we found this amazing playground in Washington Market Park. Three gyms with interesting designs, a wooden choo-choo train, and a tunnel. Taiyo ran around the park, made some friends, and truly enjoyed every corner of it. He protested when I finally grabbed him to head home after two hours. But within a few blocks he was sleeping in the bike seat.