He Won Her Over

Kellen's youngest cousin is Sadie and Sadie is two years old. Kellen and Sadie haven't had much of a chance to spend time together, but every time they are in the same room, Sadie avoids him like the plague. She is a sensitive little girl and is slow to warm up to new people. Kellen with his gravelly (often loud) voice scares her. He loves babies and little ones, so he naturally wants to interact with her. The more she shrieks, the more he wants to approach her. He doesn't seem to understand that she is scared and if he would settle down and give her time, she might warm up.

It saddened me to experience this awful dance. Sadie would come into the room, Kellen would approach her, she would scream or cry and run to her mom or dad, Kellen would keep approaching her, I would intervene and try to redirect him, he would get mad at me and keep trying, and this went on for a few different visits.

Last weekend we got together with husband's side of the family for a post-Christmas celebration. When Sadie's family arrived, the dance began. I felt sorry for Kellen and was distressed at the pattern that was developing at every visit. Eventually I gave up trying to redirect him as it obviously wasn't working.

Before long I noticed that Kellen was working his magic on Sadie. I would look over and they would be standing next to each other with no shrieking. Husband came over and told me that Sadie had called Kellen her "friend". Later I went over to see for myself. Sadie was sitting at a table eating candy cane ice cream. I got Kellen some ice cream and asked if he wanted to sit with Sadie. He sat down next to her and they enjoyed their ice cream together. As Sadie's mouth got covered with ice cream, Kellen used his napkin to gently wipe it off. When Sadie spilled a couple of drops of melted ice cream on the table, she said in her two-year-old bossy voice, "Ke-yen, keen it up", and he did. That's when I knew that this relationship was going to work. I should have trusted that Kellen would win her over.