yes, he was grooming her. The subtlety of it is the point. Its the little things that might go over our heads but are very deliberate in the show, even in the language he uses with her that reminds us she is a child(like when he says to her "it's bedtime", instead of literally anything else that is not the phrase that parents use with their little kids. and some others) There was a youtube video that did a great break down of season 1 and talked a lot about the way they portrayed grooming here and the subtlety of it, but I can't find it now for the life of me:(