And now it is mid-February.

I"m half way through the run of "After School Specials" over at ACME, and very much enjoying playing the villainous Nancy DePaula. Besides the performance, her "PTA mom" haircut and spiffy white sneakers have been getting the most comments from audiences members after the show. I love evoking memories like that for people.

Dexter is finally starting to ingest actual foodstuffs. I can usually get a small but reasonable amount of baby cereal and apple sauce into him in the morning, with soft fresh mozzarella cheese, bits of cooked meat, rice cakes, yogurt, and random spoonfuls of baby fruits and veggies sort of rounding it out. Not enough to live on alone, but pretty good in combo with his formula. Considering where I was two weeks ago with him, I'll take it.

He would still much rather eat paper, as evidenced by the large piece of the paperback cover of "Ping the Duck" I found in his diaper last week. He didn't put it there, it took the long road. And yesterday, my darling boy was found trying to eat cat barf. Not sure if it made it in his mouth, but he certainly enjoyed smearing it around on the floor.

We came home yesterday to a puddle of cat barf in the middle of the living room floor. I cleaned it right up, but did not see the smaller satellite puddle a few feet away. Eagle Eye Johnson was up to the task though. Our neighbor Ben said it was a comment on my cooking that the child prefers paper and barf. Ha ha.

In the annual Time to Do My Taxes Procrastination Projects file, I have borrowed Ben's amazing Dyson vacuum cleaner to do a gigantic house cleaning, which then prompted me to move the two bookcases from behind the couch to the dining room. They fit perfectly in the dead space that has never been properly utilized, and it opens up the living room so much.

I was contacted by Dress My Nest last week, and the idea that my house could be a candidate for a makeover show is just the motivation I needed to fix it up myself. After talking it over with Steve, Ben and Helen, I might still submit to get the free furniture, but Ben's concern that the front steps are an insurance risk outweighs it all. Helen said we should still try.