A Wendy Dress

Our youngest is completely obsessed with Peter Pan. I put it on my iPad a few months back thinking that it would be an occasional distraction in the car or while waiting at the doctor’s office. I couldn’t have predicted how much she would love it. When she’s lucky enough to find my iPad both unattended and unlocked, she swipes it and runs off to my room, snuggles under the covers on my bed, and pushes play.

It seems like any time we can’t find her these days she’s curled up somewhere watching Peter Pan.

When her brother joined in her love of all things Peter and decided to be him for Halloween, we thought she’d love to see him in his costume.

We were wrong. She was wild with jealousy as only a 2-year-old can be. She pulled on his shirt and cried “My Peter Pan shirt…..”

Which is why I thought she’d be delighted with the Tinkerbell dress I’d gotten for her. I handed it to her and she gave me the saddest expression.

“Not Tinterbell…Wendy…” she softly said.

I thought that maybe she just couldn’t see the wonder of being Tinkerbell to his Peter Pan, so I helped her into it.

She didn’t look delighted at all. She looked betrayed and let it slide off her shoulders.

“Wendy.” She stressed to me. I’m sure that she thought I was a bit dense by this point. How many times did she have to say it?

“I’m sorry, baby, but they don’t sell Wendy dresses.” I told her. She dropped the Tinkerbell dress in the living room and walked dejectedly away.

I did what any non-sewing soft-hearted mom would do. I went online and looked for a Wendy dress. I couldn’t find one for less than $75. I love her, but I’m not dropping $75 on a costume.

I mentioned it on Facebook a little more often than is strictly healthy, and at last one of my creative friends took pity on me. “What size is Wendy and I’ll need your address,” she wrote.

Four days later we got a package in the mail addressed to our youngest. Inside was a simple blue dress with puff sleeves and a ribbon sash.

I called her into the room and pulled of her t-shirt and pulled on the new dress. She whined a bit because she hates to get dressed. Then she looked down and grew absolutely still.

“It’s my Wendy dress…” she gasped in little girl wonder, and held perfectly still as I tied her sash into a bow.

As I stepped back to look at her, she shrieked in delight “I’m Wendy!!!!!!!” and took off running. Back and forth she raced around our house hollering “I’m Wendy! I’m Wendy!” as she ran.

At last I caught my Wendy-girl, carried her to my room and plopped her on the bed to try and contain her in one space so I could get a picture. She was so excited that she couldn’t sit still. She bounced and beamed with happiness.

I couldn’t help but laugh at her utter delight. There is nothing quite as magical as getting your heart’s desire and being exactly who you want to be.