Mini Mechanic! Daddy-Daughter Duo Celebrate Birthdays with Themed Viral Photoshoot
Londyn Bennett-Dotson has always loved watching her father Devante Bennett-Dotson work as a mechanic — and the little girl was all smiles when she got to slip on coveralls of her own.
With their birthdays just a day apart, 2-year-old Londyn (Aug. 9) and 26-year-old Devante (Aug. 10) were more than happy to pose in a joint photoshoot after Londyn’s mother, Ashleigh Sheppard, put the idea out there.
On Aug. 7, they dressed in coveralls — Londyn’s came with pink detail — and grabbed their tools to get to work on Londyn’s pink toy car outside their Anderson, South Carolina, home.
“She was enjoying it as much as we was. I believe once the car was lifted up, she got up under it looking at it first,” Devante tells PEOPLE. “Then I handed her a wrench and, before you knew, I had to keep passing her wrenches like it was really that many bolts under there!”
Photos showed Londyn appearing to work under the car and looking under its hood with a wrench in her hand. Other pictures showed her and Devante walking hand-in-hand while carrying toolboxes. Devante says Sheppard came up with the idea for the photoshoot after watching the little girl imitate Devante.
“In my free time I’m a mechanic and Londyn watches and tries helping with everything I do,” Devante says. “I was all for it and [the experience] made my day, especially seeing my little girl actually doing it and [being] into something that she watches me do.”
The photos have been shared on Facebook at least 31,000 times, but Devante says the family never expected the post to go viral.
“We was just posting the pics for our birthdays, not thinking much of it — and boom,” Devante recalls. “The liking and shares on all social media just kept climbing, climbing, and, to be honest, we still in shock that it did.”
Sheppard, an aspiring photographer, told Good Morning America that she styled the shoot and even dressed Londyn in a monogrammed jumpsuit.
She said little Londyn “loves doing everything daddy does.”
“If he’s outside, she’s outside. If he’s under a car, she wants to be under a car,” she told GMA.
Devante says Londyn didn’t even realize Sheppard was taking photos — she just “went straight to work” on her play car. Now the proud father says he wouldn’t be surprised if Londyn became a mechanic someday.
“Most definitely!” he says. “I catch her outside more and trying to take wheels off her bike and messing with my motorcycle.”
