Page 26 of Power Play

“That’s right, that starts tonight. That’s so exciting! You’ve wanted to do this for so long, I’m so glad we’re finally able to offer dance at night.”

“I know, I’m so excited! Tonight, we’re doing a ballet class. It’s three little girls so it’ll be cute.”

“Oh, that’s so great. You’ll have to tell me all about it,” Sarah says as she turns back to the computer but stops. “Oh wait, I meant to tell you, Rory’s going home with her aunt tonight, so it won’t be the usual person.”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t even be able to tell you who picks Rory up. It’s a weird pick up. Claire always brings Rory out front to her dad.”

“Oh, well that shouldn’t be a problem tonight. Anytime it’s someone new picking up, we always go over pick-up procedures to make sure they know,” Sarah says with a smile. “I’m really excited about your class tonight. I can’t wait to hear how it goes. If we get a big need for evening care, we can always add more night classes to our schedule.”

“Awesome! That sounds great.”

Heading into the daycare room, I look around to see who’s here already. We have four kids here right now: Matthew, Blake, Grace, and Rory. The first three are running around playing with toys, while Rory is sitting by herself, as usual. She’s been like this ever since she got here. I’m not sure if she’s just naturally shy and quiet or if she’s nervous, but she barely talks to the other kids. I’ve been working on getting her to open to me this week, little by little, but it’s been a slow process. The other kids have been trying as well. They’re always inviting her to come play with them, and try to talk to her, but she never seems very interested. It’s hard to watch her have such a hard time adjusting. I usually end up sitting with her while she colors, and most of the time, I’ll join her. That’s when she seems the happiest.

Knowing that tonight it will only be Rory and two other little girls, Grace, and Madeline, I’m hoping I can get Rory to open up and become a little more comfortable with me. According to Sarah, when her dad was enrolling her in our daycare, and was really excited about the opportunity for her to participate in a dance class, so I’m hoping it’s something she’s excited about as well.

“Hi, Ms. Rory. May I sit down with you?” I ask, waiting patiently to give her a chance to answer.

As much as we’ve been slowly building a connection this week, I don’t want to push too hard too fast.

Once she nods, I take a seat next to her.

“Hi, Ms. Daniels.” Rory smiles shyly, keeping her eyes on her picture the entire time. “Do you want to color?”

“I would love to, sweet girl,” I tell her, quickly glancing around at the other kids, who thankfully are finally sitting down at the other table playing with blocks. I grab a coloring sheet from the stack before sitting down in the little chair next to her. “I love your dinosaur, you did a great job coloring.”

“Thank you. It’s a triceratops. Like Cera from Land... time . . .”

It’s adorable to watch her try and come up with the words, but luckily for her, I grew up on this movie.

“Do you mean The Land Before Time?”

Her eyes immediately light up.

“YES! Daddy and I watched that movie before we moved. I loved Cera, she’s the best, always makes me happy. Now I make daddy watch that movie all the time. With popcorn, of course.”

“You’re a girl after my own heart. Popcorn and movies are like my favorite things. But when I watch Land Before Time, Ducky is always my favorite.”

“That’s my daddy’s favorite too. Ducky’s silly,” Rory responds, before letting out the cutest giggle I think I’ve ever heard, while giving me the cutest smile to match.

Oh, my heart. Rory is something else and I love that she’s willing to share a piece of herself with me. Her little giggles are the sweetest things ever, and I love that she finally let me hear one.

“Your daddy sounds like a smart man,” I say, returning the smile when she looks up at me.

“He is. He’s my favorite daddy ever. He always plays with me and lets me pick out the movie. We even cook dinner together. I only get grumpy when he won’t let me have the sour human candy my Auntie Lala gives me.”

Rory starts to pout, sticking out her bottom lip so dramatically it makes me want to laugh.

“Sour... human... candy?”

“Yeah, umm. The little candies that are shaped like people, and they’re sour. Lala likes the red ones, but I only like the yellow and blue,” Rory says confidently.

Who would have thought that talking about dinosaurs and sour candy would get this sweet girl to finally open up, but alas, that was the key.

“Oh, Sour Patch Kids! I love those, but I understand your daddy not letting you have lots of candy all the time.” Lowering my voice to almost a whisper, I lean down by her ear, “Maybe the sour candy is something special just between you and your Auntie Lala, it’s always nice to have little things you can share with the people you love.”

“What’s your special thing you share with your people?”

“Ice cream. I have a favorite ice cream place that’s my little hidden treasure. I only share it with people I think are special.”

---