The Toddler Chronicles, No. 25
I introduced the girls to the hit band Skillet.
A couple of weeks ago, Gabby was out socializing at a gathering, which is a legitimate nightmare for me, so I stayed home with the girls.
I don’t want to toot my own horn too loudly, but what can I say—that’s just the type of self-sacrificial husband I am.
Anyway, the weather had been rainy for the previous couple of days, so they hadn’t really done much outside the house. They had left and gone places, but not anywhere they could really spread their wings and fly.
And it was still raining.
Lyla and Charlotte—who are nearly five and newly three years old—were even more feral than their baseline level of cage-rabid raccoon.
In a desperate attempt at entertainment, we loaded up into the truck and went for a drive.
Lyla said she wanted music, and Charlotte added, “Yeah! Loud music!”
That gave me an idea: rather than the typical Disney soundtrack, the Texas Roadhouse playlist on Spotify, or Irish drinking shanties, I was going to introduce them to Skillet.
So for the next 35 minutes we listened to very loud Skillet hits.
We started with Monster, worked our way to Finish Line, and ended with the SOLI remix of Resistance, because no Skillet jam session is complete without the SOLI remix of Resistance.
I avoided the Alien Youth album entirely because, much like the Rocky V movie, we just don’t talk about that one.
They loved it.
Charlotte kept yelling for it to be louder. Lyla wanted Monster on repeat. And every time I looked back, they were both attempting to headbang.
Charlotte might have passed out for 15 minutes during the loud tour through the country roads during the Comatose album highlights (Comatose, Rebirthing, Whispers in the Dark, and Falling Inside the Black)—no pun intended—then woke up to the delightful sounds of Sick of It from the Rise album.
We got home, they had snacks and watched Bubble Guppies. It was a chill day.
We haven’t talked about Skillet since then, and they haven’t listened to them anymore.
Fast forward to today.
I had to do the typical Friday morning errands: fill up with Costco gas, run through the car wash, then go to Menards to buy things for the pellet smoker.
Lyla was going with Gabby to do flea-market meander-shopping, which is terrible, much like social gatherings. So Charlotte went with me.
As soon as she got belted into her car seat she said, “Loud music!”
“What music do you want?” I asked.
“Loud music! Monster song!” she said.
I was surprised. That’s not where I thought this discussion was going.
“Oh, you want to listen to Skillet?” I asked.
“YES SKILLET!” she yelled, louder.
So we listened to Monster, then followed the track suggestions from Spotify’s “This Is Skillet” playlist.
She kept yelling for me to “drive faster” and to turn the volume up. I informed her that we were in a residential area, so I could only really accommodate one of those requests, to which she said, “No, drive faster! Louder!”
I looked back to see her thrashing her head side to side to the beat, attempting to headbang while also trying to manipulate her index and pinky fingers into the “rock on” sign—which I definitely didn’t teach her (we’re a Jiu-Jitsu household; we do the thumb-and-pinky surfer/shaka sign).
This will go in my folder of anecdotal evidence about why Gabby and I have the coolest kids.
Thanks, Skillet.