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Thank you Karen. It takes me a lot longer to do regular things and I tire easily but just as Gilbert's progress has been slow and is a game of two steps forward, one backward, onward and upward we trend! I love that you are a grandma of a 2 month old. This week I have been getting antsy waiting for our little one. We are living with our daughter in the Dallas area awaiting the new arrival. I've been here 7 weeks and expect to stay through August. I have to say... since my husband can work from the Dallas office and he is "home" two hours earlier than usual because of the time zone and the easier commute, this wouldn't be a bad place to hang out for a while. Miss Gilbert adapted well and is generally tolerated but has a love/hate relationship with my son-in-law. She has not brought out the heavy artillery yet, she will just make shrieking siren sounds and if he answers back, it is game on! Hahahaha.... He is a pretty smart fella and I have warned him not to start a game he can't win against a parrot because it will end with humiliation and being beat by a parrot.

Yeah, that's not a game you want to start. They will "play" for hours after you have stopped, believe me, I know. We're still working on a certain sound extinguishing around here and, while progress is being made, it's being made veeeeeeeeeeeeeery slowly. Glad to hear about your kiss. Did she get an extra treat after that.

Hi Jay and Maggie. Dorian and I just wanted to say hi and we love you both. I think the activity in the forum is picking up with our new format, so hopefully there will be lots of people here to help lol. <3

This is what I would try: Since she likes walking about on the counter, put a few sunflower seeds in a little pile for her to find and eat (I'm assuming she loves sunflower seeds - use something she really likes). Several days in a row I'd do this to get her looking forward to the treat. Then I'd start offering them to her one-by-one from your hand and eventually I'd start putting my arm in the way and giving her the choice of stepping up to get the treat. Someone else might have a better method.

It is so good to hear from you...I know you and Jay spent many hours in conversations regarding the care of all our fids..We also hope you are feeling well too...Love you Maggie and Jay P.S. Each day Jay goes to the forum to see, as he says, who he might be able to help....

A friend sliced a pool noodle to fit the top of her doors to prevent them closing on little fingers, I wonder if this is something you could put on the top of open cupboard doors for a landing place and your grey could chew on that perhaps. Also, Home Depot carries a vinyl flooring called Allure which could be fitted over the plywood to make cleanup a little easier and it has a really hard backing on it which might withstand attempts to chew it. It comes in 6 inch strips and is easy to handle.

It was sure good to hear from you! I've been wondering how you were doing. I doubt Gil will every cease to surprise you. My newest grandbaby is 2 months old now. What a joy they are. Glad you are all well

Little Miss Gilbert has been with us for seven years now. Things are going right along as usual with her. Once again we are traveling. We are in Texas patiently awaiting the birth of our second grandchild. She should make her grand entrance within the week. For a little bird who can not fly, she sure has a lot of miles under her feathered little tail. Today she totally shocked me, and here I thought I was a jaded cynic. LOL. I asked her to "come see me" and she held up her little foot and let me reach right into her cage to pick her up. The wonders continued when I had her on my hand at eye level and she leaned right over and gently touched my lip with her the upper curve of her beak. I did not expect this and since she has been gracious enough to let me kiss the top of her head after a scritch session, head massage, through the bars only, I was breathlessly still to allow her to reach out to me. I was fully aware she might choose to remove a chunk from my lip but was pleasantly surprised at her gentle touch. She has come a long way, yet still has far to go. Actually, she is right where she needs to be, I have learned great patience from Gil girl. Her timing is impeccable. She knows there is a baby coming, she whistles a tune that sounds like "rock a bye baby" or "lullaby and goodnight" and she makes the sound of an infant crying. Even though a great amount of time passes with no change, she will still come up with new and amazing things for me. My shoulder is doing well, I can "high-five" with the best of them and have 100% range of motion. My brain is about the same and I am still having occasional seizures and have been bruised but haven't had any injuries. It has been more than 8 1/2 months since I have driven. A small sense of defiance inside me is delighted that the last vehicle I operated was a little red motorcycle. Ha! And I will ride it again when the time is right. Gil and I are doing quite well in the scheme of things. She is a delightful little friend.

Thank you...This is what we need, to reply more often and sooner, Thank you, Jayd Maggie here, Jay had renal failure a while back and I am afraid that he might have this again.

Erfan, you have the best of the best....

Yes, katana600 and Miss Gilbert are good examples. They've taken 7 years to get used to each other, and their situation was quite bad at the start. Gilbert was a very fearful, untrusting birdy when she first arrived in her new home 7 years ago. They are a good example of what we mean by "grey time". Katana600 decided they were going to let Gilbert make all the decisions as far as how fast they moved, although there were a few times there was a chance to take a leap forward which sometimes paid off, and sometimes not. Through it all we were here to guide and encourage them and they're both quite content, I think, in their relationship now, although there's always room for improvement. We can be here for you as well if you'll let us to encourage you along the way. Maybe it would be a good idea to keep a journal of how you're doing so that you can look back and see the improvements. At least keep a video journal. This video is a big improvement over your last one. Keep up the good work.

Hello all - so sorry for the delay in replying. I’ve been pretty busy with work and Maxi. She is quite the character. She is making progress daily, she has her moody days just like any of us do and on those days she gets a little more “alone/me time” but most days she’s a real gem. She loves to be out and about on her cage, she will even come off her cage if it is close enough to the countertop she is next to and she will walk all around on it and play with her toys, eat, etc. something I’d really like to work on with her because she has not yet done it nor show interest in it, is stepping up. She will not allow me to hold her, she does not even attempt to step up and while I know nothing with African greys goes quickly and patients is key, I do worry about the safety aspect of not being able to move her from place to place of needed. I’m not sure she’s ever been held to be honest. I’d just like to be able to get her on my hand to move her if needed and introduce her to different areas of the house down the line. Any thought or tips on how to start this training, she is terrified of anything new like perches so I can’t use those to pick her up. I can walk up to her and put my hand to her chest and she will either walk away from it or give a warning nip. In my personal opinion the step up command is really going to open doors for her development and growth, but I bow to the experience here and will gladly take any advise i can get. Thank you everyone and sorry if there are typos, this is typed on a phone. Thanks again.

Thank you Howardine....he is in a lot of pain.

I've missed a lot online in the past year. I'm so sorry you have to bear witness to seeing the man you love decline. He is in good hands as you take care of him and his flock Maggie. Love and prayers to your family.

I've missed some of your earlier videos. He looks relaxed even though his vocalizations seem a little loud. Your low soothing voice and consistent behavior will be the key to helping him adapt to your affection. My companion Miss Gilbert came from a sketchy background with many new homes and I made a decision to meet her on her own terms. It is amazing how intelligent they are and it does take time. It has been seven years for us and while I long to have her think of me as her friend, I accept that she is not going to be a hand's on "buddy". I accept her terms and accept her "grey time" and it is worth the patience and time we have invested in each other.

We did X-rays and he sent them away waiting to hear back next step will probably be bloodwork hoping I can raise money to save her

Hey, how are you feeling these days? Is Gilbert taking good care of you?