This is my headcanon of what Sherman would do when he was shy.
Peabody's phone buzzed. It was that high pitched buzz that told him someone was at the elevator.
"Oh dear, I'm almost finished." Peabody said to himself as he rushed to get dinner finished up, placing the silverware on both ends of the table and a plastic spoon and fork next to the plastic bowl that sat in front of the high chair.
"There." he said as he placed his paws on his hips in satisfaction. "I do believe everything is ready."
He rushed back to the kitchen and picked up his phone and pulled up the video camera that was in the elevator to verify that who he was expecting was actually in the elevator.
He smiled to himself. "Right on time, Mrs. Johnston."
He quickly straightened his bow-tie, pushed his glasses back all the way up his snout and strode out through the dining room toward the elevator. He pressed the open button on his phone and the elevator opened to reveal a short young woman wearing a gray suit with a white button up shirt. She had curly blonde hair that was done up in a bun, plump rosy cheeks, and soft brown eyes.
She looked down at Peabody and smiled. "Hello Mr. Peabody, I hope I'm not too early?"
He smiled. "Of course not Mrs. Johnston, in fact, you are right on time. Please." He gestured with a paw for her to enter.
"Oh please, call me Carolyn." She said as she entered and they began walking back toward the dining room.
"Alright then, Carolyn. I hope you like Italian?" Peabody said, "I tried this new dish called Chicken Scallopini that looked rather palatable."
"Well, I love pasta, so hopefully anything Italian I'll like." She said. "What's in it?"
"You may have heard of veal scallopini, but you can make this Italian dish with almost any kind of meat or even vegetables, but I decided to try chicken. The trick is to use a demi-glace of the same style - i.e., a venison demi if using deer. You can 'fake' a demi-glace by reducing an appropriate brown stock and adding a water and flour slurry to thicken. I also added mushrooms, parsley, garlic, and capers." Peabody said, always pleased to share his culinary knowledge.
"Oh, that sounds delicious!" She exclaimed.
They finally entered the dining room and Peabody turned to her.
"It's ready, it's just simmering in the oven until we are ready to eat. By the way, did you bring the documents?" He asked. "They are, after all, the reason for this dinner."
"Oh, yes," She quickly revealed a small briefcase she had been carrying behind her back "Got them right here."
"Splendid." He frowned a little. "I've never bought a whole other company before, but I've studied the legal process on how it works and I think I have the gist of it."
"Where is Sherman? I've heard so much about how you adopted him. That wasn't too long ago was it? I'd love to see him." She said looking around as she noticed the telltale signs of an infant in the house; empty playpen in the corner, baby toys strewn in and around it, a diaper changing table that she could've sworn had some length of its lower legs sawed off, and a large cupboard of baby food she could see in the kitchen.
"Oh, he's taking his afternoon nap in his room, I was just about to go wake him up for dinner. Why don't you take a seat while I go get him?" Peabody said as he headed down another hall.
She sat in one of the chairs at the dining room table and placed her briefcase on it. It wasn't long before she heard the rhythmic thumping of Peabody's back paws coming down the hall again.
He came into sight carrying a boy of about 1 year old with a tuft of bright red hair on the top of his head who was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Peabody put his glasses on and as he looked around he took notice of Carolyn.
"Oh, he's so cute!" Carolyn exclaimed.
"Sherman, this is Carolyn Johnston. I'm buying her company, Johnston Electric and she's here to discuss it with me." Sherman fixed her with an apprehensive stare and quickly wrapped an arm around Peabody's neck and whimpered as he pulled one of his fathers' long ears over his face, hiding it from view of the stranger.
"Aww! He's shy, that's so adorable!" Carolyn said.
"Yes, well I was hoping this meeting would help him get used to strangers, as they are a somewhat common occurrence in this house." He said as he disengaged Sherman's fingers from his ear and placed him in his high chair. He then went over to the oven and grabbed the plates of food and brought them over to the table.
"Oh, Mr. Peabody this looks really good!" she said.
They continued the business dinner in good time, Peabody occasionally helping Sherman get the food more into his mouth than his bib or the floor, and Carolyn occasionally tried to feed him but he wouldn't look at her and whimpered at Mr. Peabody. Over time, Carolyn noticed that Sherman would occasionally steal glances at her, but the moment she looked at him he would look away at his food or Mr. Peabody.
"Sherman's really behaved, I haven't noticed him throw a tantrum or not like his food or anything, how did you do it?" she asked Peabody suddenly.
Peabody smiled and straightened his bow-tie subconsciously. "Yes, he is quite the well-behaved child, it's probably because he's just that way, but personally I think it's because of how well prepared I was. I read every single parenting book you could imagine."
"Oh wow, well I guess you were prepared." She said as she gave a small chuckle. She tried again to pick up a piece of carrot and feed it to Sherman. He looked at her and reluctantly took it off the fork.
"Oh! Good job Sherman!" Peabody said. "Are you not afraid of Mrs. Johnston anymore?"
All he got was some cute babbling.
Peabody then got the dessert out (Italian Cream Cake) and they continued talking business, with Carolyn feeding Sherman his small amount of the dessert with a spoon, pretending it was an airplane, Sherman would laugh and giggle every time she put in in his mouth, and she would laugh and wipe it off with a napkin.
Eventually they concluded their business talk and Carolyn got up from the table.
"Well thank you so much for the meal, Mr. Peabody, it was very tasty." She said as she gathered up the papers and put them back in the briefcase. "And I hope to see this little guy a lot more now that we are business partners." She said as she smiled and ruffled Sherman's hair.
"I'm sure you will, Mrs. Johnston, it seems Sherman has taken a liking to you." Peabody said as he lifted Sherman out of the highchair.
He followed her to the elevator and she entered it and turned around.
"Bye Peabody, bye Sherman!" She waved to him.
Sherman babbled excitedly and lifted his hand up and opened and closed it in a usual baby "bye bye" gesture.
"Aww!, he's so smart too. Thanks again for everything Mr. Peabody."
"It was no trouble at all Mrs. Johnston." Peabody smiled.
The doors closed and once again Sherman and Mr. Peabody were alone in the penthouse.
Peabody turned to Sherman and noticed him leaning into the fur on his shoulder, eyes half closed.
He chuckled. "Well, it seems meeting new people has tired you out Sherman, time to get you to bed."
Sherman made no protest as Peabody made his way toward Sherman's bedroom.