faddle

To fiddle (play aimlessly).

I am afraid I must be at bottom, what a cheerful Indian critic has dubbed me, "a faddling hedonist" […]

He faddles over the needless, such as hanging maps up on the walls in the section and putting inkpots on the mantelpiece.

To dote on.

Even then, when nurse is ready to take baby out for a walk, properly wrapped up, faddling Mamma comes to examine, if not a little corner remains to be closed to the air.

“The last year she spent faddling at Aunt Mai's […] I am not sure this is necessary to her happiness, this faddling after other people. Now, to faddle after folk, who don't want you, is madness . . . but to faddle after those that do is very good employment. Now […] you are the very person for her, for she dotes on you […]”