Today…there’s nothing but quiet.
And every conversational gambit I toss gets launched back with one-syllable answers?—
Or dropped all together.
So, I debate as I drive, trying to decide if I should let the quiet settle, or if I should keep trying to break it.
I flick my gaze to the rearview, see that Chloe’s staring out the window, watching the world go by.
And decide to try again.
“Should we bake cookies when we get home, sweetheart?”
Her little nose wrinkles. “No.”
“That’s fair. We have a lot of cookies.” My middle of the night baking extravaganza filled the cookie jar…and a plethora of zip top bags. I’d even sent a couple with Rhodes for the team to eat on their road trip.
“How about we go for a walk to the park?”
She sighs. “No.”
“We could color. I picked up some new crayon?—”
“No.”
“Right.” I nibble at my bottom lip. “How about craft time? We could work on your blanket.” It’s turning out adorably. Chloe has excellent fabric sense and it’s almost time for us to pick out the final squares.
A silent shake of her head.
“I bought some new feather toys for the kitties. I bet they’d like you to play with them.”
She shrugs.
And…damn.
Not even Pear and Olive are enough to snap her out of her funk.
I decide to leave it for a bit. She’s probably tired after a hard day of building towers and making friends and learning how to write the letter K.
Or maybe it’s deeper than that.
Either way, now’s not the time to push.
However, by the time I’m unbuckling her from her car seat, her eyes are shiny with tears, and I’m rethinking my strategy.
“Do you want a snack, honey?” I ask as we walk into the kitchen.
“No,” she whispers.
I exhale silently, suddenly feeling like I’m in way over my head and very unsure where to go from here. But when she disappears into the playroom and just sits on the couch, staring at her feet, I know I have to dosomething.
I slip into her room, grab her blanket in progress, then snag the supplies from my room.
She eyes me suspiciously when I carry everything in and spread it out on the coffee table, but I don’t push her to join me. I just get to work.
And sure enough, she eventually slides off the couch to sit beside me.
“What do you think?” I ask, setting out a couple of squares. “This one or this one?”
