it's been awhile since we've ventured out to a local big box store with odin and today we decided to go on a little field trip to our local target to do a little christmas shopping.

you might remember that small enclosed places with children, snot, and people that like to run up and touch the cute babies are bad because they put odin at increased risk for catching a cold. and since his lungs are still underdeveloped , a bout with the cold or flu could send him quickly back to the hospital with pneumonia. or worse.

but we try not to let our fears get the best of us and brief outings to big open areas are relatively safe as long as we keep lots of antiseptic lotion close at hand. i often wonder what people must think when we go out in public and all they see is a couple who obsessively cleans their hands after touching anything while the dad is snapping pictures of seemingly mundane objects of no importance.

the pictures do absolutely no justice to the craziness of the entire ordeal. there were the normal legions of uptight, pushy holiday shoppers and these days i've developed an alarm bell of sorts that starts to go off when people start to invade too far into our personal space; i have fun daydreaming about tackling the personal space invaders and blaming it on needing to keep odin safe and sound.

moments after taking the picture of odin in the shopping cart he decided that it was a fine time to to unload the motherlode in his pants. so, after dealing with the vagaries of the untidy and uncleanly bathroom it was then, of course, time to eat. it was with no small degree of self restraint that i refrained from taking the picture of kris attempting to nonchalantly nurse odin while discretly walking amongst the fake christmas trees that were marked down 50%.

after we got back from the shopping extravaganza, kris was getting ready to put odin in his swing when she watched in horror as the "storm window" fell out and smashed right onto poor mauja's head. although knocks to the head are about the last thing he needs right now, other than being very, very startled he's relatively fine. his thick fur saved him from getting any cuts or abrasions, which is lucky for him since his head smashed right through the window.

even scarier - the cradle swing is typically positioned precisely where he was laying. it's probably best not to think about what would have happened had kris put odin in the swing 5 minutes earlier than she planned and the swing had been sitting in it's normal position - directly under the fallen window. even spookier, we moved the cradle swing yesterday to give mauja a little more room to lay next to odin while he was in the swing.

and the big unanswered question is how did the "storm window" fall out of the sash? we live in an old victorian home and it's tough to tell but the "real" windows are antique custom jobs that only barely keep the wind and rain and snow at bay. so in the winter we have to wedge these super heavy second windows in the sash to help keep the heat inside and the cold outside. they're big and heavy and have to be banged into place. it's almost impossible to imagine one of them simply falling out. but obviously one did.

odd.

you can bet i'll soon be securing them by whatever means necessary.