Lepers

Well, we survived it:  the impending bout of chicken pox! 

In January, the other children in Jackson's nursery started getting chicken pox one-by-one so I knew it would be coming to infect our world eventually.  On Friday, March 16, I dropped Jackson off at nursery at the usual time of about 7:10 A.M.  Then, at 9 A.M., I got a message from my school's secretary that I needed to call Jackson's nursery.  They said that when they were changing his diaper, they noticed a few spots on his back and behind his ears and they were pretty sure that he had chicken pox.  I left work as soon as I could (basically when a substitute was secured for the day) and picked up Jackson by 10 A.M. 

A couple of months ago, I prepared for this milestone by stocking up with calamine lotion and ViraSoothe 'Chicken Pox Relief Cooling Gel.'  The latter was much more expensive, but it turned out to work much better than the calamine lotion and got rid of the itchiness immediately.  Also, it covered the affected areas much quicker because of the spray bottle application method instead of the alternative of dabbing lotion on repeatedly with cotton balls.

The first two days, Jackson was only covered in very faint red spots and did not appear very itchy at all.  This was very misleading because I thought that was the worst of it.  The next two-and-a-half days (Sunday through Tuesday) were very uncomfortable for Jackson.  He had a fever off-and-on, woke up screaming from being itchy, and cried from being in pain.  There were chicken pox everywhere from head to torso and in particular, he was riddled with them under his hair and behind and inside his ears.  The one on his lower eyelid seemed to bother him a lot, too.  Just a few chicken pox showed up on his arms and legs.  I was surprised at how deep the chicken pox could be because from my 5-year-old memories, they were much smaller and closer to the surface.  These poor children!  I have heard that chicken pox is "a lot worse when you're older," but it certainly seemed like agony for a child who normally does not complain about any pain even when he has had falls that should result in some sort of crying.  For the rest of the week and up until today (11 days after the first spots showed up), Jackson is still itchy.  We can still see many chicken pox, however, they are fading noticeably each day.

Now, if you have been following our journey, you will know that we never get one tragedy at a time.  On the third day of Jackson's chicken pox, I broke out in a mysterious yet painless rash all over my stomach and back.  Since it didn't hurt, I ignored it and hoped it would go away.  When I woke up on Monday, the rash had spread to my neck and down my arms.  It was this red, raised-bump rash of sorts which made my skin hot-to-the-touch.  Also, if I slightly scratched it because of a trivial itch, then it left a scorching sensation and mimicked the feeling of having a sunburn.  By Tuesday, when Jackson was safe to go out into the public, we went to the doctor's office to make sure that whatever I had was not contagious so that I could go back to work on Wednesday (after my short hiatus to stay at home with Jackson).  The doctors said that it was either a side effect of a bad sore throat (but I have not had one of those) or some sort of psoriasis.  They also told me that it may take up to six weeks to go away which was troubling since I wanted it fixed then and there. 

The one silver lining with the timing of all of this is that this week (March 26-30), my school is on spring break (Easter holidays, in the U.K.).  This has given us a much needed break and a chance to spend some quality time together.  Due to all of the work I had finished in advance for my classroom, I have a very manageable workload to complete before returning to school next week.  I worked ahead so much that even when I had to take three days off to stay at home to care for Jackson during his chicken pox, the only thing I had to do was to prepare resources and instructions of daily routines for my substitute teachers.  Also, for some reason, I prepared everything for Easter celebrations at home and at school weeks ago.  This really helped because when tragedy struck, there were no errands to run and I did not have to ask anyone for any favours or help.  If there was ever a 'good time' for Jackson's chicken pox to come, then they did show-up at a convenient time; although, I was very sorry to see him go through it and I wish that this childhood disease did not exist at all.

The first day home from nursery

Jackson snuggled with all of his favourite blankets and snacks--I let him know that he was allowed to have anything he wanted during the week that would keep him happy

We bought The Highway Rat movie on Amazon Video and it kept Jackson entertained all week

Feeding Bunny some lunch

Apparently, Jackson didn't want to be the only one being looked after

Reading his Peter Rabbit book to Bunny

Developmental updates:  Jackson's latest (and funniest) phrases are new responses to things he has heard his whole life.  When I say, "Be careful," now, Jackson responds with, "Don't worry."  It's so funny because he has a very reassuring tone in his voice.  Also, hearing "don't worry" from a two-year-old is really unreasonable.  He has no idea how much I worry about him and he has yet to see what he should be worried about.  Jackson's other new response comes after I tell him to do something like put his toys away, or eat his healthy food, or wear his coat--basically anything that he doesn't particularly want to do.  He very sadly says, "I can't."  And he thinks this is going to work to get out of listening to the instruction!  That's what makes it so funny to me.  Lately, he has been 'reading' The Highway Rat, We're Going on a Bear Hunt, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Jackson is also starting to bring his characters to life and begins improving as The Highway Rat at home, 'stealing' play food from us and using a threatening tone to intimidate.  He also likes to act out the entire book of The Three Little Pigs and plays all of the characters. 

If you see Sammie Miles Davis, Jr. and Bella, give them my love.

Bedlam

Before you get too far, don't worry:  everyone is all right.  I think God saw that I was writing the blog again and thought, "She needs something to write about this week.  I think I'll give her a month's worth of stories."

To begin with, I'll share some good news:  a week-and-a-half ago, our bursar told me that there was an error with my pay adjustment in September and I should have been given a 2% instead of a 1% raise.  So, I received a lump sum of the equivalent of 1% that day! 

Now, on to the bedlam.

Last Saturday, I woke up feeling very dizzy and had a headache all day.  I was frustrated more than feeling sorry for my illness because we had plans to go to Liverpool for the day.  It was a beautifully sunny day, too.  I also hate wasting time, let alone wasting a whole day!  Resting in bed also set me back with my work, thus making for a pretty uneventful Sunday, too.  I have no idea what was wrong, but it took all day and night to recover from it. 

Sunday and Monday, I felt a bit out of it, but good enough to return to work.  Tuesday, I could feel an inkling of a sore throat coming on in the morning and by the end of the day, I had completely lost my voice.  I was thankful that at this point, nothing was wrong with Jackson.  I will gladly take all of the illnesses in his place.  That same day, a mild case of conjunctivitis popped up (again!) and my face broke out worse than any time in my teenage years.  I looked and felt monstrous.

As we were pulling out of the driveway at 6:30 on Wednesday morning, something felt really odd with the car.  Since it had snowed over night, I figured the tyres were just struggling to move through the thickly packed ice crystals.  After I managed to get the car out of the driveway, I had to restart it but realised that the car wasn't running normally, but rather it was hopping like a kangaroo.  At this point, I figured it was too cold for the car to function.  I made it a bit further in the car--probably about 20 feet--before I gave up.  Lee came out to help get the car back in the driveway and I called AA for help. 

We got Jackson back in the house and after I waited 54 minutes on the phone hearing that I "shouldn't hang up or I will give up my place in the queue" for the hundredth time, I hung up the phone.  Next, I downloaded an AA app which let me set-up an appointment for someone to come and look at the car immediately.  The electronic message said that someone would be with me by 8:30. 

I called my head teacher and explained the situation as soon as I received the AA confirmation.  When 8:30 rolled around, there was indeed a mechanic on my doorstep for which I was so thankful.  I also had a lot of faith in his ability to fix the car troubles because I loaded Jackson into the car and got ready to head to Preston by 9 o'clock. 

Well, around 9 o'clock, when I expected to be rolling down the road, the mechanic told me that the brake was stuck to the back wheel and something was awry with the handbrake line.  Then, he said that a tow truck would pick up the car in "an hour-and-a-half to two hours."  I immediately called the local garage and made an appointment for the car to be worked on when the tow truck finally did arrive.  The man I spoke to said, "I'll have a look at it today."

Jackson and I went back into the house and made the most of our time together since it didn't look like I would be able to go into work at all.  On the upside, it was my half-day of teaching anyway, so I essentially only missed three hours of work. 

Three hours later, the tow truck came and took our car down the road.  While I saw it riding away on the trailer, I called the garage to tell them that the car was on its way and the mechanic said again, "I'll have a look at it."

At 4:45, I rang to check on the car and I was told, "I didn't have time to have a look at it."  Just great!  Our AA covers something called 'onward travel' which means that they will provide a rental car or accommodation if we end up stranded somewhere.  This sounds like a great idea in theory, but if you call to arrange it and are put on hold for 45 minutes and the only rental place in Southport is closed when you hang up, then I guess it's not worth the extra money.

After running lots of options of how to get to work on Thursday, I came up with the idea to get a taxi to my co-worker's house and carpool with her the rest of the way to Jackson's nursery and our school.  This was all dependent on her being willing to go with this plan and thankfully, she was!  I was so relieved.

The relief was short-lived, though.  Poor Jackson was getting off the couch to do his nightly Hakuna Matata show on the hearth and after he got one leg off the couch, he lost his balance and free-fell toward the coffee table, smacking his ear loudly on the edge.  He cried for a half-an-hour after the impact.  I felt absolutely awful.  We didn't have a car to take him to the children's A&E (the closest one being in Ormskirk) and to get a taxi there and back would have cost a small fortune.  Four minutes after the incident, the NHS 111 advice line told us to monitor him through the night and wake him up every hour to ensure that he didn't have a major head injury.  The upper third of his ear bruised a dark grey-purple colour almost immediately which made me feel even more horrible.  He refused to let us apply any ice and he didn't want to lay on his left side because it hurt so badly.  (In the end, Jackson only suffered a bruise which has slowly faded as the days have gone on, thank Goodness.)

At 6:30 Thursday morning, the taxi arrived.  The three of us made our way through the freshly fallen snow to lock-in the car seat, but Jackson took a tumble on the sidewalk and his dinosaur costume for World Book Day was covered in freezing cold snow.  I quickly brushed him off and gave him a hug, but then, as I dashed around the back of the taxi, I slipped and fell right on my back in the middle of the road.  In the two seconds I took to gather myself before attempting to get up again, the thought crossed my mind to just turn back.  But, that's not my style, so we latched the car seat in frantically and Jackson and I headed on our way.

Around Noon on Thursday, I was able to call the mechanic and he said that the car would be ready by the end of the day--it needed a new handbrake line and something else to do with the handbrake.  When I arrived to pick up the car, the bill was the exact amount of my pay raise.  It's a good thing I didn't spend any of my little bonus on anything fun!

Playing in the last of the snow on Saturday

Starting a chase game with Mommy

I found you!

Jackson wiped out, but it was the first time that he fell where I didn't worry since he was wrapped in three layers of clothes.

If you see Sammie Miles Davis, Jr. and Bella, give them my love.

The Good Samaritan

Preface:  I began writing this post on January 21st and am now just posting it.  I will be writing more regularly now, but I had an extremely busy month and have had no extra time to post any blog entries.  The events and developmental updates may be a little old now, but the sentiments are still relevant. 

I don't know what the future holds for Jackson, but it may very well be some sort of doctor or counselor.  He is very tuned-in to others' emotions and has a very consoling, caring side to him to try to make other people feel better if they are sad.

A couple of weeks ago, I was recounting a story to Lee which had me quite agitated--it was either work-related or stemmed from road rage, or very well could have been both.  After I finished my rant, Jackson, who was playing with his Hot Wheels, walked over to where I was on the couch and nestled a blanket up under my chin.  I thought that was extremely caring and cute, but he didn't stop there.  Then, Jackson began bringing me his Hot Wheels cars one-by-one donating them to the Make-Mom-Feel-Better cause.  He gave up his most beloved toys in order to calm me down from my outburst.

Today, a tiny cold that started a few days ago has grown into an annoying congestion, clogging up my sinuses and driving me nuts!  I was putting pressure on my face, trying to breathe through the eye-watering effects this cold is having on me and all of a sudden, I felt the tiniest fluttering on my back.  It was Jackson patting my back with encouragement.  He had left his toys, quietly crossed the living room, and tried his best to make me feel better.  When I looked at him and said, "Thank you, Jackson," he gave me a hug and asked, "Okay, Mommy?"  What a little Love!

It is so comforting to see that part of Jackson's personality includes empathy and an inclination to reach out to try to 'fix' the other person's problem.  Speaking with other moms who have children in their teens, they say that their children's main personality traits are the same from when they were toddlers so I guess this is a good sign for Jackson's future, no matter what profession he chooses.

These are all photos from Jackson's nursery days in the past month:

Hunting for treasure after reading a pirate book

Cool and the Gang going on a bear hunt

It snowed on February 6th and this is Jackson with his best friend, Benedict, exploring in this foreign precipitation.

Finding the first daffodils of spring!

The fire truck came to visit the primary school and then drove down to the nursery to show the toddlers the insides of the truck.

Turning a rainy day into a bubbly foam party!

Scientist Jackson pointing out the creepy crawlies to his classmates ...

... and he was the only one to pick the worm up and out of the dirt!

Peek-a-boo!

After reading Supermarket Zoo, Jackson's class wrote grocery shopping lists

Matching animals to their sounds

Listening to a story (the one kneeling in front is our Little Star)

Developmental updates:  Today, we went to CrazyTown in Aintree to try out a new soft play centre.  Jackson had such a great time and only needed help in three parts of the multi-level maze because the step up to the next level was too tall for a two-year-old.  We will definitely also be back to this location to play because they have great staff who keep all of the big kids at bay, a limit of how many families they let in at a time, safe and clean equipment, and great food!  It may be our favourite play place in the area.  This week, Jackson rediscovered his Barney videos and they have been added into the DVD rotation.  At nursery, he led his peers to a hands-on 'creepy crawly' expedition under a tree stump after the rain stopped.  Apparently, Jackson was the only one who wasn't afraid of the worms and grabbed one in each hand.

If you see Sammie Miles Davis, Jr. and Bella, give them my love.