The air was dump from early morning's rain when we left the house Sunday morning. The sun was getting strong, but we head out on our impulsive bike trip. Taiyo was letting out his funk reserve this morning after a week of excellent behavior. He cried and screamed that he couldn't wear his shoes (and he would not let you help), screamed as if I left him in the middle of a desert when I had to put him down to open the gate of the store downstairs, and fussed around that I wasn't putting him in the bike seat immediately when we walked into the store. So I was fine slowing down a little when he decided to just stomp around in a rain puddle making his little footprints at the Seaport. It's so beautifully fascinating how this little person can discover and enjoy simple activities. He jumped around a while, then of course complained that his feet were wet. So we got on the bike again and I let him go bearfoot. We continued to the West side but the air was getting really hot. We decided to take a refuge in the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center. Oh, yes, this is like the greatest indoor playground with shiny floor and big trees and so much space above and all the stairs to climb up and down and escalators to get on and off. This time he also tested the echo by shouting some amazing baby prophesies into the air. (No, I didn't understand what he was saying.) He ran around, danced around, and got some more pictures taken by strangers.

We enjoyed viewing the drawings of Jules Feiffer at the Couryard Gallery. The spacial gallery was pretty empty, and the drawings of dancers inspired Taiyo to do some more dancing around. After 15 minutes of dancing around, Taiyo go to the corner and poo. Fortuantely the gallery was empty, and we found a changing table right downstairs in the restroom. However, it was a real baby size-one and Taiyo's head laid uncomfortably on the edge. After cleaned up Taiyo danced around the restroom some more.

Next door, we stopped at Yushi for lunch. This was just another overpriced fast-food sushi takeout kid of a joint. They also offered hot food, but I just felt like grabbing a quick bite, so settled for a maki-sampler, sitting ready in the refrigerator. The rolls looked pretty, but rather tasteless. After just a little bite, Taiyo decided that looking around the ceiling was more of interest to him. The booth was clean and comfortable, and food was nothing impressive, but edible. It's not the best choice but not the worst. Having so many chopsticks to mess with is a plus.

Before we left we had to have a treat from Ciao Bella. A bunch of indecisive tourists hovered around the showcase that contained douzens of colorful gelato choices, but I quickly made my aim and called out, "Green Apple!" The heat was much more bearable with a little cup of gelato outside. To my surprise Taiyo let me finish half of it. What's wrong with this gelato, Taiyo? He fell asleep on the bike seat just as we left the Battery Park City. I was hoping for a few hours of downtime, but my day was doomed to be the long one. When we got home and put Taiyo down on the bed, he opened his eyes. I told him I had to go take a shower, and he quickly decided to go into a tantrum, so I offered him beautiful golden yellow watermelon I just picked up at New Amsterdam market on the way home. He happily accepted the bribe. It was amazingly refreshing fruit. Just sweet enough.
Two hours later, we were back out in the heat. This time I was ambitious heading to 'MoonDance' at Piar 84- this was the last one of the season already! Taiyo fell asleep before we hit Union Square. My plan was to have a bite before the dance, but I decided to keep on riding in the heat. Because he was asleep, I took my bike helmet off. It was just too hot. I went past Intrepid, Trump Place, and wanted to stop and relax a few minutes myself, but realized stopping was even hotter and uncomfortable. Eventually reached Riverside Park. I was tired. I was sweaty. Taiyo was finally kind of waking up. We headed down back to the MoonDance by Intrepid. When I took Taiyo down from the bike seat, he was just in the funkiest mood. He decided to fuss, whine and cry, not wanting to watch the dance lesson that was just starting, not wanting to get down on his feet, not wanting to sit on my lap on the lawn. He twisted around on the lawn crying for 10 minutes. I had to give up. I put him back on the bike, and he calmed down. Just at the end of the Pier, he began chanting, "Gohan(food)!" And right there, it was PD O'Hurleys.

No, I didn't think we would find decent food there, but it was just too conveniently located with outdoor seating and even an entertainment- a guy with a guitar! Of course Taiyo wanted to take a seat and I ordered $13 cheeseburger. When my beer arrived, Taiyo proposed a toast with his water. The singer was not horrible, doing John Denver, Eagles, Tom Petty, and such, and I liked it when a kid shouted out, "Star Wars!" when he asked the audience what he should play. Taiyo rocked to the music and made him happy. The burger that arrived 10 minutes later was just as sad as I expected. A slice of cheese was kid of dried not melted on the also quite dried out piece of meat. Did they just recover this sad item that was sitting under the heat lamp for 30 minutes? At least the fries were done to the right crispness, and Taiyo did eat some of the burger. He was totally out of the funk at the end of the meal, we went back to the MoonDance and he enjoyed seeing and listening some more music. The ride back home was still too hot and long and heavy. I realized we didn't see fireflies anymore. Only three more weekends left in August.

After we through our laundry into the washer, we headed to Gaia Italian Cafe around the corner on Houston Street. When we walked into this little cafe for the first time a few months ago, I immediately felt a strong comradery- an Italian proprietor was busy cooking and running the place. Like me, she was doing everything. She takes orders, gives instruction to her employee, cleans the tables, packs your food. Simple good food is her motto. Today she was uttering to her help, "Make your life easier," which I often tell my workers. Inside the cafe is clean and spacious, and Taiyo got busy with magazines at the table. Unfortunately stroller access is not very easy, since the place is downstairs from the street. Taiyo was so comfortable in the space, probably feeling that this place is just like ours, but we had to take the food back to the laundromat. We settled for a Panini sandwich, Sano, with pesto, frittata, parmesan, tomato and arugula. Back at the laundromat, as soon as I open the package Taiyo was so excited poiting at the panini. It was just simply delicious with crisp homemade panini bread. It was fresh and so perfectly balanced. Taiyo could not stop taking a bite even before he could finish chewing what's in his mouth. He was really loving the flavor, and I was truly impressed he dug this food! It's an amazing bargain at $5, too. Highly recommended.

After his recovery Taiyo totally bounced back as a happiest baby on the block, being super cute and fun all the time. He seems to have grown so much all of a sudden too. Now he can put his crocs on, kicks on his scooter, counts one to ten in both Japanese and English, and climbs up on the bar stool. He enjoys playing music daily on the sidewalk, and his drumming skill's improving too. Are we ready to show up at the open mike up the block? He's suddenly been doing very short naps some days this week, too. I'm fearful of no nap days that seems to be around the corner.

After super short nap on Wednesday, we had late lunch at One More Thai on Clinton Street near Houston. Yes, exactly, one more Thai in this Thai saturated city. Thai food is like Duane Reade of restaurants- you can find it anywhere, and usually provide a pretty good value. This little restaurant has comfortable decor, with easy to climb benches for Taiyo, enough room for strollers and an energetic one to run around. It was empty at 3pm, and big open windows felt nice but this stretch of Clinton always have lots of car traffic and there was serious construction noise from Houston Street. The waitress immediately brought Taiyo a plastic cup of water with a straw which is always a good sign of a kid-friendly restaurant. Lunch special was good value with an appetizer and an entree- we went for curry puff and fried rice- $6.95! Food was pretty tasty- although first he had to step away to the front door to poo. But then he ran back to the table and loved the curry puff, then some fried rice. "Chicken - yummy!" This week he's enjoying meat very much.

What a week it had been! Nine out of ten people I told about 'coxsackie' virus laughed, chuckled, rolled their eyes. But the virus with a funny name wasn't funny at all. For three days Taiyo couldn't eat or nap, had very had time going to sleep at night or staying asleep, was extremely cranky and needy, crying and screaming a lot of times. I really wanted to shoot myself in the head for hundred times a day. Then finally he started eating on Friday and took a record-breaking five-hour nap. Since Saturday he's been extremely happy and pleasant to make up for the sick days.

On Sunday we were back on our bike to enjoy the world again! Taiyo strapped himself in the bike seat, put his helmet on with his kitty in his arm, and we were off! It was warm but fairly dry and pleasant, so after picking up a bread at the New Amsterdam Market we headed to the Governor's Island. I just totally love this little island that makes me feel that we are vacationing somewhere far away. Colonial empty buildings always reminds me of Cuba. It seemed crowded around the ferry ride, but as soon as we landed and headed out to the Picnic Point, it was not so crowded at all.

Taiyo enjoyed his favorite rice and beans from the Jamaican food truck. Then of course Blue Marble ice cream. Outdoor eating is such a blessing to a mommy because we don't have to clean up as much. After some more leisurely biking along the scenic waterfront, Taiyo fell asleep on the ferry ride back.

After a short nap and hanging around a bit in the apartment, it was already time for dinner! I said, "How about pizza?" Taiyo is an American kid, of course he would not object to pizza! We headed to Two Boots on Avenue B and 3rd St. At 6pm it was empty and Taiyo immediately got comfortable on the spacious booths. Yes, this is a super kid-friendly place with easy entry, easy to climb booth, some funky art works along the window and even a TV monitor to stare at! Although I think their pizza used to better than now, they have nice selection of pies with fun names- we went for a slice of Tompkins Square, which was topped with organic seasonal vegetables and nothing to do with homeless people who used to camp out in the park year around, and Tony Clifton with wild mushrooms (which weren't very wild), red pepper pesto, onions and mozzarella. Taiyo also liked Fizzy Lizzy, sparkling fruit drink that wansn't sweet but fruity. He was busier climbing up and down all the booths in the place than eating, but it was totally easy dining experience for me. Very much recommended. By the way I got some peaches at New Amsterdam market on the way back from the Governor's Island, and they turned out to be a killer. They weren't ripe yesterday, but today they were just amazing and sweet Taiyo kept asking for more.

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.

Sunday morning, the heat finally subsided and we went out for our usual aimless bike ride. I was thinking of heading to Governor's Island, but when we passed by New Amsterdam Market at the old Fulton Fish Market by the Seaport, Taiyo urged me to stop.
It's a nice little Sunday market where you can find local produce and artisanal food products. We went around and sampled cheese and bread, but this week the market seemed a bit smaller than usual, maybe because of the heat, or we are in the middle of the summer at high vacation time. We couldn't find his favorite focaccia, so we settled for a crabcake slider by National Crab.

The cute little slider was whopping $10, but it was solid crab meat with no filler. Quite tasty. But Taiyo only had a slice of tomato and bread. Then he kept asking for more bread. So we went around looking for more bread. This market is another wonderful outdoor eating option for the summer, but there's no place to sit! Last year they had benches but this year they decided to have only high tables, which Taiyo enjoyed to climb. But it was impossible to eat at this table with him. We sat on the divider around the lot, which I would not recommend to any other little people. Other option would be to just walk out and sit by the water, although right now there's construction along the path and not very appealing surrounding anyway.

There's a few more options for street food across the street at Fulton Stall Market. But there's no bathrooms at these markets. I guess you can go to the pier at the Seaport. Later Taiyo led me to Gap where I ended up making unplanned purchase of his shirts and pants. Then we went just another block down to the beautiful Imagination Playground.

This fabulous little playground has great blocks, cool fountains, large sandbox, fun slope to run around and a tower to overlook everything. And even a spacious bathroom with a changing table. We always love hanging out there.

The heatwave seems to have no effect on Taiyo's appetite. Yesterday as we walked into SOY he asked for gyoza. After chugging on two plates of gyoza, he asked for a bowl of rice, which he enjoyed with his favorite takuan pickles. His favorite watermelon is also in high season. He ate a big bowlful after dinner.

Taiyo is such a city kid- lately he's often up until midnight. He still asks for Dora or Elmo, but I tell him it's mommy's time to watch television. Then he asks for Conan. We watch Conan if it's on, and he points at TV saying, "Conan," or "Andy." Other moms envy me when I tell them Taiyo usually sleeps until 9am. Today we didn't get up until 11am! He was in great mood, and had great appetite. Milk, a bowl of yogurt, handful of cereal- he prefers my cereal Honey Bunches of Oats with Strawberries over Cheerios - then of course asked for my bagel in between. For lunch we stopped at Roots & Vines on Grand Street near Clinton. This is one of the places we pass by all the time on the way to the supermarket or library, but hardly make a stop. It's known to be a local mom's hangout during the week, but on Saturday, there was no sight of a stroller beside ours. Entry is easy, with a wide doorway, and inside is fairy roomy for strollers also. Air conditioning wasn't working well today, and it was warm inside- perhaps that's why it wasn't as busy as they usually are. While I went to order our food at the counter, Taiyo quickly situated himself in the middle of the bench at the long table. Our sandwich, Mexcan style "Torta" with carne asada came pretty quickly, and it was nicely presented on a wooden square plate with a little thing of pink coleslaw. Taiyo didn't like coleslaw- he may immediately reject certain flavor, which I still can't predict. The sandwich wasn't great- the meat was super dry and the roll was stale, but he ate some of the bread and a slice of tomato. They had a bucket full of children's books by the window, which helped to keep him at the table. Later our long-time customer Seth walked in and congratulated us on Japan's women's world cup victory. Taiyo ran around a little making some old people smile, before getting his first lesson on the game of chess by Seth.

Today's sandwich was not a hit, but I've had pretty good food there in the past. They also serves brunch on weekends. This is a child-friendly neighborhood cafe and it's recommended.