The look of pure joy! When 5-month-old Stella met ballerina Abigail Cowan on Sunday, September 18, it was love at first sight. “Stella was absolutely enthralled,” the baby’s mom, Kiersten Schwendeman, tells Us Weekly. “She lit up like she had seen dreams come to life. It was absolutely priceless. She sustained eye contact for minutes.”
The precious moment, which was captured by Schwendeman’s mother, Lisa Jones, went viral after it was shared on Reddit.
Stella was at the children’s Faerie Festival at Rockwood Park in Wilmington, Delaware, when she spotted Cowan. “They encourage all attendees to dress up as fairies or pirates,” the 27-year-old mom tells Us. “I didn’t have a costume for Stella so I put on her fanciest dress and headband when we arrived.” Later, Schwendeman added a pair of tiny pink fairy wings that she purchased at the celebration.
Schwendeman tells Us that Stella has had a “larger-than-life personality” since before she was born. “When I was only 12 weeks pregnant, Stella would kick the doppler so hard to get it away from her during our prenatal appointments that we could hear the whooshing kicks,” says the director of training and development for Kids First Swim School. “Since birth she has had a very strong opinion about what she likes and dislikes.”
And though it’s clear Stella likes ballerinas, she’ll be dressing up as Rosie the Riveter for Halloween. “I bought the costume before all of this happened, so I’m going to stick with that for this year!” says Schwendeman. “I decided on Rosie because Stella is destined to be a mover and a shaker.”
