Greyson Said Yes to the Dress!
Greyson has never been a big fan of dresses.
If you’ve been following Love Greyson, you probably already know that when it comes to clothes, Greyson has some very definite preferences. She likes her pants a certain way, she likes clothes that feel a certain way, and for the most part, dresses have not been on the list.
So imagine my surprise when she decided she wanted to wear one.
And not just any dress.
She wanted to wear a dress for Daddy-Daughter Night—and she wanted to surprise her dad.
Here’s the funny part.
I actually bought this dress months ago for our Greece and Italy trip.
I had a little plan.
I had purchased a shirt dress from Quince that I really liked, and I thought maybe if I found Greyson something similar to mine, she might like it too. So I bought her a simple shirt dress that reminded me of mine.
It was comfortable-looking, easy, and not overly “dressy.”
I thought it might be a good option for our trip.
But…we never got the opportunity to wear it.
And that was perfectly okay.
I wasn’t going to make her wear it just because I had bought it.
The dress went into her closet, waiting for another day.
Apparently, that day was Daddy-Daughter Night.
“I want to wear a dress.”
When it was time for Greyson to get ready, I gave her options.
She could wear the dress.
Or she could wear slacks and a turtleneck.
I honestly expected her to choose the pants.
After all, this was Greyson.
But she had something else in mind.
She decided on her own that she wanted to wear the dress.
She wanted to surprise her dad.
And just like that…
Greyson said yes to the dress!
It didn’t have to be a big deal
The dress itself wasn’t anything extravagant.
It was actually the simplicity of it that made it such a great choice.
It was similar to something she had seen me wear. It wasn’t overly fancy or complicated. And most importantly, she chose it.
That last part mattered the most.
As parents, especially when we’re parenting a child with sensory differences, we learn to pay attention to the things our children don’t like.
We learn their preferences.
We learn their triggers.
We learn what fabrics they tolerate, what clothing feels comfortable, what sends them into a meltdown, and what they absolutely will not wear.
And that’s important.
But I think it’s also important to remember that our children’s preferences can change.
Sometimes they surprise us.
Sometimes something they said “no” to yesterday becomes something they’re willing to try tomorrow.
And sometimes they just need the opportunity to make the choice for themselves.
A little independence. A big moment.
I didn’t need Greyson to wear a dress.
There was never a goal that said, “We have to get Greyson into a dress.”
If she had chosen the slacks and turtleneck, that would have been perfectly fine.
The important thing was that she had a choice.
And this time, she chose the dress.
Even better?
She wasn’t doing it because I asked her to.
She wasn’t doing it because I bought it.
She wasn’t doing it because I thought it would be cute.
She wanted to do it because she had decided she wanted to surprise her dad.
And that made the moment so much sweeter.
The dress I bought for Greece and Italy never made it out of the suitcase—or, more accurately, the closet.
But it finally had its moment.
And it was on Greyson’s terms.
For one special night, our girl who doesn’t usually say yes to dresses…
said yes to the dress.
And Daddy got the surprise she had planned all along.
Stay Tuned! More to come about Daddy/Daughter Date Night!
