MuseScore 4.0; option to "unclick" or "un-highlight" default note/rest selection prior to new entry?

CAVEAT -- Brand-spanking new user to any of the MuseScore platforms. Former Finale 23/24 user.
Hello everyone! I am having the hardest time "deselecting" or getting rid of the preset, blue highlighted note/rest combinations in the home pallet when I want to enter an articulation, dynamic, sharp/flat, or otherwise change previously-entered notation. If my previous selection (at top -- in blue) was a whole note + rest (quarter rest icon), and I wish to now mark three notes in the score "staccato", I am able to select that marking. However, the previously selected whole note + rest icons will not go away. And, when I move the cursor around the score, the blue note head/rests floats around the score, often showing far above and below the ledger lines.

SO...after all of that [perhaps unnecessary] introductory information: How do I get rid of the note+rest+unnecessary "whatever" so I am left with JUST what I need as I move my cursor across the screen when composing? I do not have enough hair left to pull out from frustration.

EDIT: After watching a video and feeling halfway foolish (i.e., simply clicking the button on the very left OR clicking "ESC" I am still having a problem. Doing so (i.e., clicking leftmost button in the first pallet or "ESC") will allow me to make one change (articulation, dynamic, etc.) but the option thereafter remains unavailable. Is there still a way to continue editing without having to redo the continuous back and forth, back and forth process?