One of Skipper’s first full sentences was “Mom, leave me alone.” That is, after she finally decided she was done with her pacifier. She barely spoke before that. Now, we sometimes wish we had pushed that binkie back into her mouth lol. Not really – she’s actually an amazing kid in more ways than I could ever hope to list here. So where do I start exactly?? That’s the thing that’s been holding me up with this one. I guess we’ll go back to the beginning.
When I was about 5 months pregnant, I already looked like I was ready to burst any day. One morning, I went to work and a coworker took one look at me and said “DAMN you got bigger since Friday!” First, I want to recommend that you NEVER say anything even remotely like that to a pregnant woman lol. Turns out, that statement was the trigger for taking a deeper look at some things. When I told my doctor what my coworker had said, she immediately ordered some testing, and sure enough, gestational diabetes. From that point forward, I had to watch and weigh every single thing I ate. And check my blood sugar multiple times a day. It was terrible. I hated every minute of it. I didn’t mind pregnancy with Harry, but this was SO different. I couldn’t eat what I wanted. I craved pineapple through the whole pregnancy – but every time I tried to eat it, it tasted like battery acid. Canned, frozen, fresh – didn’t matter. All of it tasted terrible. And the cravings continued. By the time she was born, I was so ready to be done with pregnancy. I went for walks, did jumping jacks, ate spicy stuff – anything to get this kid out of me. And suddenly, she was here. Tiny. Perfect.
Skipper was born 15 days after her brother’s 8th birthday. Harry proudly told everyone that she was his birthday present, she was just a little late. It was sweet. He was so excited to be a big brother. The first time he saw her, she was less than a day old. My in-laws brought him to the hospital. He sat down, and we laid her in his arms, showing him how to hold her just right. He looked down at her tiny face and said “you have no teeth. I will call you Toothless.” And a beautiful sibling friendship was born.
She cried for most of the first 6 months of her life. She wouldn’t sleep unless someone was holding her and rocking her. She ate more than I thought was possible or reasonable – but the doctor’s said it was fine, so I let it continue. As she got older, she ate everything – beans, chili, rice, even red onions. One night, we were having stuffed peppers. None of us actually liked the pepper, but we loved the filling. She saw an abandoned bell pepper on one of our plates and begged and begged until we let her have some. She demolished the whole thing. She ate salsa and broccoli and anything you put in front of her. Until she started daycare lol. I think she realized that most kids don’t like that stuff and boycotted it on sheer principle.
For a tiny adorable human, Skipper had an absolutely foul mouth. (Obviously we didn’t encourage this, but it’s too funny to leave out of her story.) When she was almost two, we went to visit my mom. While waiting at the toll island, she peeked around the edge of her car seat at all the stopped cars and said “what the f***”. Not long after that, her dad tripped stepping over a baby gate and just (TIMBER!) fell on his face. She turned and said “oh, f***”. She couldn’t pronounce “crackers,” and when we went to the store, she’d ask for “those f***ers right there.” You can’t even imagine the looks I got in grocery stores lol
Once, when Skipper was about 4, I was dropping her off at daycare, and she randomly says to me: “Mom, did you know alien’s heads taste like watermelon?” So of course, I had to play along. “Really? I love watermelon. I’m gonna have to go eat an alien.” And she was pretty upset about that. “But Mom, if you eat an alien, you’ll BECOME an alien.” “But do I get a rocket ship??” “Well, duh, mom. All aliens have rocket ships.” “Then I’m REALLY going to eat an alien!!” And thus started a 7-year feud centered on aliens. We’d go to a BBQ at a neighbor’s house and I’d offer her a slice of watermelon that she would refuse to eat, cross her arms over her chest, and stomp away. I bought her a dress with a watermelon slice on it – she refused to wear it. I’d buy her lollipops and lip balm and knickknacks – all watermelon themed. She hated all of it. This continued until last year when I moved my mom from Texas to Washington (more about that in my mom’s intro post). The first night of the drive, we stopped for the night in…. Roswell, New Mexico. For those of you who don’t know… Roswell is known for their alien lore. I was so excited. We had specifically planned that night to happen there, for that very reason. I was intent on trolling my daughter HARD. I texted her and told her I had been abducted by aliens. But my girl? She’s no fool. “Send photo proof.” So we stopped at a grocery store on the way to the hotel and bought a quarter watermelon. And I posed with the alien statue in front of the hotel… and ate the watermelon. We took a pic and sent it to Skipper. She went radio silence for like 3 hours. Until mom and I went to dinner and I sent her a picture of the rocket ship in the restaurant with a caption “YOU WERE RIGHT”. She finally responded, and now she just laughs about all things alien. And even likes watermelon lol. (Mom: 562, Skipper: 8)
She’s known since she was about 4 that she wanted to grow up to be a baker (what is with my kids figuring out their whole life by age 4?? And it’s always food related lol). We bake as often as possible. She baked her first apple pie for her Papa (my stepdad). She bakes everything she can think of – brownies, and cookies, and lemon bars, and cakes, and muffins, and strawberry shortcake tiramisu. Yes, you heard me. Yes, it was amazing.
When she was ten, she decided she wanted to run a business. She saw that we were having a ton of trouble finding poultry-free treats for Bennie (our Frenchie, you can read about him later) who is allergic. So she decided to fix that problem and told me “Mom, if Bennie is allergic to chicken, I bet there are other dogs that are, too.” And she started a business (I can’t tell you the name of it because that would give away her identity, but know that the name is catchy and cute and perfect), making healthy homemade treats for cats, dogs, and horses. Yes, horses. We have a friend with a horse ranch and apparently it’s nearly impossible to find horse treats too. And Skipper is on a mission to make sure she can supply treats to everyone – human, feline, canine, and apparently equine also.
Skipper is one of the most artistic people I know. Not kids. People. She’s got more artistic talent in her pinky fingernail than I possess in my entire body. She draws these amazing and elaborate skeletal arms… on her arms. Maybe she’ll be a tattoo artist one day. I’ll be first in line, I can tell you that much.
She once fashioned a whole jacket out of computer paper. Because she didn’t know how to sew or have the tools/materials to do so. But, that is what made us realize it was time. I happened across a Facebook post about a local woman who teaches sewing classes to kids. So I signed her up. She drew a picture of a cat (because they are her absolute favorite animals), brought it to class, and learned how to turn that drawing into a pattern and make it into a stuffed animal. She took several more classes that year, before we bought her a sewing machine for her birthday, and her grandpa gifted her a small shopping spree at the local fabric store. The way her eyes lit up!! She made potholders for everyone for Christmas that year. And because I know how she likes to do things, I surprised her with professional tags/labels to sew into all of her projects. One side shows a cat with a sewing machine, and the other side says “Made for you with ❤️ by Skipper”. She made shoulder bags for her teachers for teacher appreciation day. And a beanie for Harry’s best friend who had just moved to Chicago for Navy bootcamp. It doubles as a balaclava!
This girl is amazing in so many more ways than I can say. She blows my mind almost daily. She’s creative, and talented, and thoughtful, and kind, and smart (sooo smart… too smart for MY own good). And so many more things.
Skipper, the world is not ready. But you? You were born ready.
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