Target runs just aren't the same anymore...

Every time I take the kids out somewhere alone, I vow to myself that I will never ever do it again. Today was one of those days where the urge to go to Target (a.k.a. my Heaven on Earth) was greater than my fear of taking the kids out alone. Well, the car ride to Target went well and finding a dry, warm cart (here in Minnesota, the carts are either cold from sitting outside in the thirty below weather, or wet if it's snowing) went well also. After that I figured we were off to a pretty good start.

Five minutes after being at Target, Skogen was asleep in his car seat in the cart and Maida was walking between me and the cart, "helping" me push. Well, just when I thought everything was going fine, a Target worker came up to me and told me that I was violating some sort of safety liability code. What?! I just stared at her while she explained to me that Maida was in a dangerous position because if I turned a sharp corner, Maida could fly out and get hurt. What?! First of all, I was walking slower than a turtle could run and, second of all, I really just didn't understand what was so dangerous about the whole thing. I was speechless and I just stared at her some more and she said, "Sorry, ma'am, your daughter is going to have to move." Irritated, I talked Maida into walking beside the cart and "helping" me push from there.

Shortly after I turned down the baby isle to buy some pacifiers, my phone rang. It was my mom telling me that she found the car keys of mine that Maida lost at her house when we were there last weekend. While I was on the phone, Maida snuck away from me and was halfway up the second shelf of the bouncer seats and exersaucers! I quick hung up the phone and grabbed Maida before she was too high for me to grab and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the safety code liability lady staring at us. I quickly put Maida into the cart and told her if she sat there the rest of the time, she could have an Icee at the end.

My bribery worked and so before leaving, we stopped to get an Icee. Of course while I was ordering, the cart wasn't moving, so Skogen woke up and wanted to eat. We sat down in a booth so that I could nurse and Maida could drink her Icee. Well, the table was too far away for Maida to reach her Icee, so she stood up to reach it, while also trying to show off to a lovely Chinese lady sitting at the next table, and fell! She landed right on her head, under the table, super hard. I felt so bad! I was sitting there with a baby hanging off my chest, unable to disconnect and rescue my little safety code violator from pain. The lovely Chinese lady jumped up and ran to help Maida. By this time Maida was crying so hard that she was holding her breath and the lovely Chinese lady thought she was choking, so she started pushing on Maida's tummy. I freaked out saying, "She's not choking, stop pushing on her!" just as Maida screamed, "MOOOOMMMMMYYYYYYYY!!!!" I instructed the lovely Chinese lady to put Maida beside me on the bench so that I could check her out. When I finally got Maida calmed down, I realized that not only was the crazy liability code lady watching us again, there was blood coming out of Maida's ear, which I was sure wasn't a good sign. I called Erik at school and after we all got home, Erik took her in to get checked out for a concussion or skull fracture of some sort.

The bad news is that our doctor wasn't in the clinic and our clinic had no openings with any other doctor to fit Maida in today. The good news is that Erik is in medical school and has great resources at school, so he brought her up for Dr. Johns to look at. Dr. Johns thought that she checked out okay and just told us to keep an eye on her. So, at around 4:30 this afternoon, I vowed to myself that I would never ever go anywhere alone with the kids ever ever again... however, I have already promised to take Maida to ECFE in the morning and we're out of milk, so looks like I'll be going to the grocery store tomorrow also. The adventures never end...