Well, folks, we have some news. I'm still a mess, but I'll try my best to make sense. Buckle up, and take your vitamins... It's a long one.
As I tap away on my phone, Monaco is working on a new phrase and a few new words that I can't quite make out yet, while actually watching TV and laughing occasionally...(this is a brand new thing that is making me nervous... Can they look at the light like that?) One of the phrases sounds a little bit like "washin' tee" but I can't tell where that would have come from for either watching TV or washing tea or tee shirts.... I don't really narrate activities like that. I guess I will know when she settles on inflection and gets her consonants chosen.
She's been shedding feathers like Theo blowing coat (the sheltie) and has had very uncomfortable looking pin feathers on her face for well over a week. She is moving through Uber sweet cuteness to sass and stubbornness and downright anger almost every day for quite a while. A couple of days she sounded like a very salty Amazon...or what I think of as a salty Amazon (think every pirate movie you've ever seen) when I hear her "Bird" sounds. "Oh my gosh, is a chicken in house laying an egg?" kind of sounds. (something that could totally happen around here under the right circumstances.) Ed, her previous person, said I need to ask if she has "itchies" and she let her scritch her neck, but not her head.... I did not get any bites in the making of this post entry! I also didn't touch her neck a second time
. Look at me! Smart, right?! Well, this new bird person is definitely capable of interpreting the obvious warning signs... It's those subtle things that are still mysterious.
She's also fully into a pellet binge. I get that it takes more calories from richer sources for things like making needles full of future feathers all over one's body while digging treats out of ridiculous colored cups spread out all over the range of ones accessible space, BUT... SERIOUSLY?! Not one piece of her favorite fruit for three days? Not more than a beak full of every perfectly steamed vegetable I could perfectly steam, not even a little pinch of mom's biscuit? I'm living with a perfect red stranger lately. She did attack a boiled egg, but I was scared to give her more than a few bites. She's a monster after she eats a lot of fat or protein, and hunches down like she's physically miserable. Birdie tummy ache, anyone? Followed, of course, by growling, lunging and beak banging? No, thank you! Ed says she's impossible during a molt, but aside from the worry about her diet, I'm finding all the new behavior very interesting and entirely charming. I try not to laugh when she's throwing a little temper tantrum, because she laughs at me sometimes when I hurt myself.
I don't want her feeling like that. (thank you, years of mirroring in therapy...)
Another new series or maybe a phrase just popped out between some of the go to favorites...she's done with the TV activity, and screeched at me to hurry up... Something I've been trying to link to a verbal cue instead.
In more promising news, she speaks in context about the dogs' activities.... So I started linking her "c'mon" to HER action to step up to go somewhere else... So far it's only getting used at the step up, and not a warning for me to come get her moved. In the meantime we're practicing flaps and building muscle while we wait for more primaries. She did get another one out a couple days ago! They were really bothering her last month, and I'm surprised that she didn't pull any out. The count is 3 on the right side, 2 on the left, and now this new one is coming soon to a wing near me! She gets a little lift in the flap game, and definitely flutters on the way to the floor instead of dropping like a rock. She got four feet of distance to the four feet of drop last time she launched herself off of her activity perch. All that foraging must have given her the exuberance to try again!
Which brings us to foraging! What?!
@Mizzely 's foot toys in crazy colors and palm braids are fun? Since when? No warning. Available for weeks. BAM! Beautiful confetti on the floor! Wait, back to the foraging... Somebirdy hangs horizontal on the perch that Shawna made to try one more angle to get the 1/8th piece of cashew out of the cup on top of the skewer! She's really moving lately! She gets a taste for something and checks the cups hanging from the grass mat, and sometimes gets distracted by the funny shapes of cardboard I've been hanging in weird places. Declaring, "is it good?!" when she settles on something or eyes a cup intently hoping to see what she's looking for. She has been taking various toys from her basket to the top of her cage a lot lately. Some seem more precious and don't get chewed, but placed nearby... Binky, I guess, until it's time to growl and throw or snap to bits. She likes biting down on leather. I bet it's satisfying to get that tough spongy feel sometimes....my skin is much less satisfying, thankfully.
Moving on... Last week I heard some weird things coming from her direction. I thought she was stuck on the perch at her water dish, but I was so wrong! "wanna ba-ath?" was nowhere to be heard, but the wall, a cabinet, the floor and her fresh paper was being soaked by what I can only describe as wwc wrestling moves to get into her water dish. I ran for the spray bottle to help her out a little, and her very first self instigated bath ensued, complete with flapping and crazy bird postures, growling when I did it wrong, and various sounds I did not expect. It was magical! She did it a couple of times and is back to karate preening and looking at me disdainfully if I mention it. I guess she prefers to look like a wet rat bird in more private settings.
@JLcribber , any plans for a shower stall?
Here's a big one. Remember the post about looking at me like I am a scary alien? She frequently blurts out, "what's a matter?" in a stern sounding voice sometimes followed by, "you okay?" and/or "are you scared?" in a very serious voice. I usually smile and say "no, I'm not scared, it's okay." This time I did that, and thought about it. I wasn't okay, so I said, "I'm not scared, I'm..." and thought some more. Then I finally settled and said "yes. I am scared..." and went on to describe the situation and what I WAS feeling. She looked at me like she was totally getting it. Finally she said, "oh" then a long pause, still looking at me, "it's okay," in her comforting voice that she uses after she terrifies poor Mr Theo. It was quite a moment.
I'm a proper mess about Einstein and my life lately, but our relationship is growing despite it. I'm super proud of her confidence and budding playfulness, and I can't wait to see what comes next. Even when things seem to just be routine it's the best thing I have ever experienced. I don't know why I waited so long to adopt a parrot. I am blissfully in love with her! Can you imagine the trust it requires to be distracted by joy with predators around? It's got to be the ptsd that gives me perspective to be enchanted by it so fully.
