Celebrity

What Was the First Thing Transgender 6-Year-Old Devina Keswani Did After Announcing 'I'm a Girl?'

Devina began exhibiting female characteristics as a very young child

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Published on November 28, 2015 12:00PM EST

To keep up with the adventures of the Keswani family, visit PEOPLE.com/keswanis

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What’s the first thing that transgender first-grader Devina Keswani did after sheepishly admitting to her family “I’m a girl?”

She went shopping for new clothes. Girls’ clothes.

“She was so quiet on the way to the store and just stared out the window with this worried expression on her face,” recalls her mom, Vaishali, about their drive to a nearby mall last March after her daughter’s big announcement.

“I told her, ‘We’re going to get your first girls’ outfit, but I could see she was watching me to see what I was going to do next.”

Six-year-old Devina is one of the stars of PEOPLE.com’s web series The Keswanis: A Most Modern Family, which features doctor dad Anil, beauty pageant rookie Sarina, and mother Vaishali, who acts as a “momager” to her Vine superstar son, 17-year-old ‘Big Nik’ Keswani.

[IMAGE “1” “” “std” ]Devina, who first began exhibiting feminine characteristics as a young child, was clearly excited the moment she walked into the store, exclaiming, “There are so many beautiful things to wear.”

She ended up trying on a light blue shirt and a peach-colored skirt, then saying, “I feel happy and pretty. I feel like Devina. This is perfect. Let’s go home.”

There was just one catch. She didn’t want to take the outfit off so that her mom could pay for it and so the sales clerk could remove the anti-theft sensors. “She got this panicked look on her face, like, ‘Do I really have to get back into boys’ clothes again. Please don’t make me to take this off,’ ” Vaishali recalls.

On the drive home, Devina could barely contain herself, repeating, “Thank you, Mom. Thank you, Mom,” over and over again. A few days later, while cleaning out her daughter’s closet to make way for her new feminine wardrobe, Vaishali asked Devina if she really wanted her to get rid of her old jeans, sweatshirts and jerseys.

“Maybe we should keep them,” her mother said. “Just in case.”

Devina shook her head. “I’m not going to change my mind,” she said. “Would you change your mind about being a girl?”

“I am a girl,” Vaishali replied.

Devina looked at her mom, smiled and said, “So am I.”