It was book day last Thursday at my baby brother’s school.  For months the military-obsessed little man planned to go as a wounded soldier from one of the Gallipoli books that he had been reading.  We had organised an outfit for him and even saved him my plaster cast and sling (from a little incident I had earlier in the year) to authenticate his look.  Yet, the night before book day when my brother arrived home from school, he had changed his mind.  Instead, he had decided that he was dressing as ‘Goldilocks’.

This was brought to my attention when Mum sent a pitiful photo to my mobile phone of him wearing some plaits and a hat raided from one of her sooky dolls with her old netball skirt, which looked more like a red tea-towel in the photo.  Although, I must give Mum credit for her attempt, as when I moved out of home I had taken everything that could possibly be used to play dress-ups with me.  Nevertheless, my brother really looked nothing like Goldilocks at all.

Therefore, I offered to bring something over before school for him to wear.  At 11pm that night I quickly scrounged up an assortment of aprons and tops, a blonde wig, an old petticoat, a skirt and some size 11 kitten heel shoes from my studio.

The next morning, I went over to Mum and Dad’s to deliver the costumes and help get my brother ready for his book parade.  Since he is in grade six, it is his last year for it, so I was going to ensure that he did it in style.  Honestly though, I think I spent more time playing with Dodge, his new German Shepherd puppy.

Dodge, my little brother’s German Shepherd puppy sitting by the well.

Dodge in the driveway.

After playing tug-of-war with my leopard print camera strap, I managed to distract Dodge with a stick.

Dodge in Mum’s garden bed… because she can!

Eventually when I did decide to dress him due to it almost being school time, we settled for one of Mum’s lacey 80’s tops,  a pink circle dress and a blue gingham apron.  Since I didn’t bring my hairdressing kit over and mum had ran out of hairspray, I had to make do with some bobby pins to pin the fringe back on my brother that sat about as still as his new puppy.  I quickly plaited the wig and tried shoving my brother’s feet in the kitten heels, however his feet were too big.  We then had to chase Dodge around for the other shoe as she had ran off with it.  What can I say, she is a girl with good taste in shoes… literally.

Geting ready…

Thankfully we recovered the kitten heel safely, my brother wore his Nikes and we were able to take some photos at the little well out the front of Mum and Dad’s house before rushing off to take my little brother to school.  When we arrived at school, his best mate who was dressed as ‘Captain Underpants’, wearing just his undies with a red cape tied around his neck, told my brother “You look just like a real girl!”.  I reassured him that it was a compliment.

My brother then joined some of his friends and a teacher who dressed as the three bears for the book parade and was called to the front and was awarded a prize for his outfit.  I was so proud of him!  It was not just a proud sister moment because my little brother won the parade, but also because he is usually super shy.  Last year he wouldn’t even dress up or participate in the book parade.

Hence, to have the confidence to wear a pink swing skirt and piggy tailed wig to school really shows that my brother has come out of his shell.  That kid definitely has a lot of spunk, a great sense of humour and a whole lot to offer the world!

♥ Mallory xoxox

My little brother dressed as Goldilocks for the book parade!