Misha - One more Jackson

Today was Misha’s first day at pre-school. So hard to believe the day has come. It was a wonderful morning. I had Misha’s outfit all picked out. It was this adorable red, white and blue jean dress and I made a special trip to Target to buy her sparkly red shoes to match. When I tried to get her dressed, she threw a screaming fit , “I don’t want to wear that! I don’t want to wear that!” Ugh! Ok, I didn’t have a plan B in place. Luckily, we went school shopping yesterday and I threw some of her new outfits in the wash and they were ready to go. So, I picked out a cute gray and pink dress with cropped leggings. It was quite a chilly day, so we also put on a long sleeve shirt. And, since we haven’t shopped for shoes and she’s outgrown most of them, she wore her new red sparkly shoes that didn’t match, but that was ok we both decided.

Michael and I feel fortunate that with our flexible schedule, we were both able to drive her to school. She is attending a very unique pre-school called Rockledge Ranch Historic Site which is a non-profit living history farm and museum. They have farm animals on site and it’s a very fun environment.

As we entered the classroom, Misha was a little shy, but as soon as she saw the paints, she made a mad dash for them. Her teacher, Miss Paige, helped her with the paints and let her use glue. She had the biggest, how do I say this, “shit eatin’ grin” on her face when the teacher accidentally spilled the glue and said, “that’s OK, we’ll just do this” and she spread it all over a paper so that Misha could stick beads on it. She doesn’t get to do that alone at home. It was so darn cute! Most of the parents had left, so we said good bye and there were no tears. Just a kiss and a lot of excitement on Misha’s part to get to play with paint and glue. Michael brought his bike to ride in the Garden of the Gods and I met Lindsey at the Ranch for a run. Lindsey asked me how I was holding up as she watched a lot of the moms crying on their way to their cars. I had a good chuckle since there were no tears in the Jackson Family. Guess that means it was the right time.

I can’t believe how much Misha is growing up. Her normal nap routine is to pick 2 books, I read them, we snuggle and then she falls asleep. Today was the first day she told me, “Mama, I nap my own. Please go out.” I was very surprised. She did this with Auntie Chelle, but she’s a major mama’s girl and has never asked me to leave. This is a first. I took it in stride and with a little relief actually. After 3.33 years, I guess it’s time she falls asleep “on her own”. And, I’m thinking of the new freedom.

Misha has also been acting out a bit. We’ve had a crazy July. Michelle and LeRoy moved to town and lived with us for the month of July, so that took us out of our routine a bit. Plus, we had Cooper and Rami in town staying with my parents for the summer, Rikki came to visit thier last week here and Jason, Jaymie and the kids came this past weekend to visit and work on the electrical panel on my parents house. Plus, we went to Grand Junction for Grandma Myrtle’s funeral. Needless to say, we have been totally out of routine. In the midst of all this, Michael and I decided to take our first over night without Misha. Apparently, she didn’t handle that very well. She peed on the floor twice that day. Michael was on the phone with Chelle, checking in on Misha and Chelle says, “Misha peed on the floor twice. Is that normal?” Michael says, “We’ll be home in an hour.” I laughed when I heard him say that. So cute! The concerned Papa. So, today has been a total Misha day. I think she has been needing some quality time with me. However, she has been begging me to take her to the mall. So funny that it has started so early. I love it!

Misha just got up from her nap. I’m still amazed at how much she is growing up. She slept for 2.5 hours, which is unheard of from her and she came out of the room with a pull up on. Of which, I did not put on her. So, she must have put it on herself before she fell asleep. Wow! So, amazing. It’s the little things in life….

These pictures don’t really have anything to do with this posting. I just thought they were cute and wanted to update Misha’s blog with pictures.

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Oh, my gosh! I’ve so had it! This is totally not so much about Misha as it is me and being exhausted with the 24 hour care and no breaks for the past 3 days. This is so freakin’ hard! We had a wonderful afternoon at the mall. She’s feeling better, been on her antibiotics for 2 days now, hasn’t had a fever for 2 days, so I figured it was fine to get out of the house. She was begging me to take her to the mall. So strange that it started at 2 that she wanted to go to the mall. Ok, not that strange since I started it as a joke. I didn’t realize it could turn into something not so funny.

We had a wonderful time at the mall. We stopped by Molly Cuddles and I bought her her birthday doll. She was so cute and made me so proud as she listened to the doctor give her instructions for caring for her adopted baby. We gave her a bath, got her birth certificate, they got matching hospital bracelets and she had to sign her name saying she would take good care of her new baby. She even got to borrow a stroller to take inside  the mall. We decided to take her new baby to have some ice cream. It was adorable. But, then the melt down started to brew. I could feel it and we exited the mall with a number of warnings and only a few whines. I considered taking her straight home and if she wasn’t asleep, getting into our bed and letting her fall asleep to TV again. But, luckily, she fell asleep on the way home. Ahhhhh…some peace and quiet. I thought I’d get an hour and 15 minutes of uninterrupted time. But, of course not. She woke up 30 minutes later crying. When I tried to comfort her, she wiggled and squirmed in my arms on the couch. Now, looking back, I suppose I could have tried to take her back to bed. However, history has shown that when she’s not feeling well and we’re watching TV, she’ll curl up on the couch with me or Michael and sleep longer. But, not the case today. The day I REALLY need a break. Today, I got to listen to her whine and cry and complain and not communciate for an hour. I finally told her that Mommy needed a time out, which made her go into even more histerics.

It’s just been hard not sleeping well because she doesn’t feel good and the fact that when she cough’s at night in my bed, I jump up with fear that she’s going to throw up on me, so I’m not sleeping that well. Plus, she wakes up 2-3 times per night. I’m not used to this night time routine. It’s been since she was a baby that I got my sleep interrupted like this.

What is it with turning three? It’s like the day she turned three she became this more difficult child. Did I mention how much this sucks? I’ve been frantically reading Love and Logic and thank goodness for that book! It sure has taught me some new ways to handle her without yelling or screaming or spanking. But, sometimes, you just feel like blowing up! I sooooo can’t wait until Michael gets home. I’ll be like. Love you honey, gotta go get a massage and a Starbucks. Good luck with your daughter! Chow!

This picture is of her getting into the tape dispenser and creating her own art using the trash can. Amazing what a little tape can do to keep a child entertained.

So, I got the pleasure of waking up a 2nd day in a row to Misha throwing up on me -  at four in the morning. However, this time I think it was my fault. I was so tired and she was complaining that her head hurt, so I gave her some Tylenol in the dark and I think I might have made her gag, which made her throw up on me.

I have this new found appreciation for single parents, parents that spend 24 hours a day with their children, and parents of sick children especially with more than one child. I bow down before you. This is freakin’ hard! This is teaching me a number of things. Like how to have more patience than I’ve ever had. Like, not beating myself up because I let her fall asleep watching TV last night, for nap today and tonight for bed. She’s sick, I’m a single parent right now and sometimes you just gotta do what’s easiest to save everyone’s insanity. I’m sure Michael would not approve, so there’s no need to voluntarily share that information with him. Mums the word unless directly asked. �

So, I woke up today with Misha throwing up on me. That sucked. She had a fever last night and a runny nose since Wednesday. She also threw up 3 more times this morning. Michael’s in Moab, so the lucky dog get’s to miss this episode. Did I mention this stinks! Gotta run, Misha needs me.

Today is Misha’s 3rd Birthday and we had to cancel the party. Misha started not feeling well on Tuesday, but then started feeling better towards the end of the week. We then found out that her friend Ian had strep, which she was exposed to on Wednesday. Since she still had a wet cough and said her throat hurt, we thought it best to cancel and check with the doctor to see if she has strep throat. The good news is that she doesn’t have strep, the bad news is that she has her first ear infection. So, she’s on Amoxicillian We decided to postpone the birthday until Thursday during play group. Luckily Misha doesn’t know the difference. But, I have to admit, it was a bit of a let down. Happily, my parents aren’t as worried about getting sick. I think my mom probably cried when I left her the message about the birthday being postponed. The thought of not being able to see her grand daughter on her birthday when my mom now lives in town, probably took her to tears. Heck, if they don’t mind, we certainly don’t mind. It was wonderful to have them here on her birthday. However, you can tell she’s 3. She’s a lot attitude. We let her slide on some things because it was her birthday, but the discipline train is right around the corner. Ugh…the discipline train…that just means more work for the parents.The best part of the day was when Michael brought home a kite. Neither of us had bought her a present since we knew she was having a party. I had planned on buying her a doll at Molly Cuddles, a baby store in the Mall where when you bring your baby into the store after you buy her, you can borrow their strollers and take them in the mall. Sounds so silly, but Misha LOVES going in there and playing with all the dolls. I like it too because she is entertained for more than 2 minutes without needing her parents.

Anyways, back to the kite flying. It was so fun. This was Misha’s first time flying a kite and she acted like a total natural. Like she’s been doing this for years. It was so freakin’ cute. Then, my mom and dad showed up and it was a dream come true. It’s so neat to have them in town. My mom even ran with the kite! It turned out to be a great day.

It’s funny how the small things in life we find amazing. Misha has been potty trained for a few months now. Today, she was taking a nap and she got up from her nap, went into the bathroom, peed and then went back to her room and fell back to sleep. Wow! Both Michael and I were amazed. Ahhhhh….the simple things in life you find amazing.

Misha goes pee pee in the potty regularly, but refuses to go poop. When she was first potty training, she went poop in the potty. But, she got constipated and it hurt when she went. Ever since, she refuses to go #2 in the potty. She went 3 days without pooping. So, we realized we were having some control issues in that department and decided to make a change. We told her that if she needed to go poop poop, she just needed to ask for a diaper and she could poop in her diaper. We sure can’t wait until she decides to go #2 in the toilet.

It’s also amazing that my language has changed to 2 year old speak.

• Mama, I happy too!
• Tako Papa = Thank You Papa
• Ollow Me = Follow Me
• Hast! = Fast!
• Hey! No Eat Me Dos! = Hey! No Eat Me Grass! (She was yelling at the deer in the back yard)
• Owe = Water or Ouch
• One more dis = One more this
• No kiss me, No tuck Papa
• Mama, do mall me? = Mama, go to the mall with me? (Misha’s favorite place to go-such a mama’s girl)
• I wuv woo too = I love you too (My all time favorite)
• Mama push dis duck
• Mommy do
• Me help
• Otay = Okay
• Mama happy? Me happy.
• Me do
• No I not!
• No I not take nap! Me watch tt (TV), and me draw, and watch tt, and more tt.
• Mama, talk me = Mama, talk to me
• Ish = fish, shoes, horse, ears
• Dop talking! Dop! Dop! Dop!
• Ickle me! = Tickle me!
• Me dot dis! = Me got this or I’m sitting in your seat
• Na nu noo nin? = Whatcha doin?
• I know dat = I know that
• I doe hurst = I go first
• Dit Doe = Doo Doo = Crystal
• Dan Dai = Grandad
• Ammy = Grammy
• Mee-nah Dow-wee = Misha Jackson

That’s what I heard at Burlington Coat Factory on Saturday when Misha started running around the store. Maida and I were there with the kids. We were dual parenting, but the other thought they had Misha. And I forgot to mention to Maida that Misha isn’t like the Z-boyz who just sit there quietly looking at toys or books. Misha’s a runner. She’s easily distracted and putting her in the stroller doesn’t seem to make that big of an impact. I guess more discipline is going to be involved in our next trips to the Mall, her favorite place to go.