Elvenking

Yep...exactly what Issac was doing at that same time. Around 11-12 months i would hear the occasional, really close, attempts at saying words...especially hello. Now this week, he is saying 'Hello' in the best way he knows how and he seems so proud of himself. He must have said it about 50 times this morning sitting on the curtain rod. Other times clearer than some. But it is soooo cute and I praise him for his efforts. After I all...I can tell it is a hello. I am sure both of our babies are going to get there.

You know...I am going to go with the safe side and just bring back the light I got...and stick with natural and indoor lighting.

I got a bulb like this yeaterday as a recommendation from the local pet store: http://www.petstore.com/ps_viewitem.aspx?idproduct=ES67081&child=ES67082&utm_source=pscseshopzilla&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=pscseshopzilla2 From what I have read, this is probably not right. I can't really tell anything for sure.

Now it's a wonder how much difference it is going to make in Issac's life to have a full spectrum bulb. Starting to sound more like something that is conjoured up to play a major factor that really does not. I may just end up taking what i have back and forgetting about this until someone can tell me the detrimental effects of not having such a lamp. There are a whole lot of technical articles that go into so much detail that at some very minute level, maybe it's doing something for the bird. I also read about the cataracts....geez...if it just gives you another thing to worry about for them..what's the use. Given a well rounded diet, how much more useful is adding a full spectrum lamp. I went to the pet store yesterday and asked one of the ladies who specialized in parrots, and she gave me a clamp on housing with a lamp made for reptiles. Said that would work. Then I read anything from that it would be ineffective, up to actually harming the bird. I do know that more bird owners that I have seen than not, do not have lamps on their cages. Given the mish mash of information out there and the lack of response to this topic, I will err on the side of the majority and go without one. Unless someone else chimes in. BTW...I have read all I can take of the lighting sticky, and it just confuses me more.

Okay...so now that I am reading some stuff I located....looks as if I was recommended the wrong kind of light and will have to bring it back. Does anyone have a good image of how they have lighting set up? I need something simple as I cannot carve out my ceiling for a huge overhanging light.

So, I went ahead and bought a full spectrum light for Issac. My original thought was to put it in the ceiling fan lamp fixture which resides about 5-6 feet from his cage at about a 45 degree angle. However the recommendation was to place it in a clamp on lamp reflective housing which can mount on the side of the cage. Is the lamp effective in the ceiling fan? If not, I have the metal clamp-on fixture that I can mount. But that comes with the issues of keeping the cord so that it is not chewed by Issac. Or just having the lamp affixed while I am away for the day. By the way...it's a 20W Flourecent coil lamp. Taking all suggestions in making the right solution work. How do you manage the lighting situation for your grey?

Issac loves RPO mixed in with scrambled eggs that I cook for him and over warm Penne noodles. I love watching him pump his little head in excitement as he works on the eggs. If it solidifies...I find that a quick hit in the microwave will keep it liquid for days after...unless you live in a particularly cold place.

Issac is just over a year old now and trying desperately to talk. He is working on 'Hello' pretty hard. Today, I was chopping a lot of veggies and stuff for a crock pot meal....and he kept landing on the chopping area...so I placed him back in my room on the lamp and just lightly closed the door. Then whe I went back to cutting...I hear this loud..."HELLO!!" now it doesn't sound like any hello I have ever said....but the fact that he is trying to get it out any way he can was awesome. So I kept saying it back to him. Then he flies to to the top of the door jam...hangs on there and pries the door open with his beak...flies out and lands on my shoulder like, 'What was that all about...anyway...I'm back now...everything is gonna be okay'.

To cute. Thanks for the confirmation....I can't wait to see new feathers. I will have to be extra gentle with contact.

Lol...Issac says my green cheek's name just like my green cheek, Pedro, says it. If I am in another room..I can't tell them apart.

Watch the one coming up on Monday the 10th at 10PM. It has a guy who hoards RATS!! Hundreds ofthem crawling out of everywhere, every wall...it's insane. Season finale. Those two that were on the other night with the lady with the birds....and another with cats in a house with 3 feet of cat feces. Those were some long gone hoarders who will not likely ever be normal people.

LOL...that is funny. There have been times I have thought that I heard things coming from the kitchen area in the morning. I wonder about the little guy. At any rate, he puts on quite a sound display when he is sitting on the shower curtain rod in the morning, and the floor lamp at night. I always get a kick out of the things he picks up. This morning, I was closing a cabinet and he timed the 'sqeak' noise so perfectly, I don't know if it came from just him or both.

So...at my feet I have several little feathers from my preening baby sitting on my shoulder right now. Most grey...a couple of those little red ones from around his butt. I have also been noticing that when I lightly brush over his little neck...I feel pins coming out. Does this mean my lil guy is entering his first molt? He certainly isn't plucking as it appears to be a regular maintenance kind of activity for him...and even though feathers are all over the place...I cant tell where they came from when I look at him. So is he gonna get some brand new feathers? I cannot wait to see the new red ones for the tail...I bet they are so awesome! I guess this is a good time to share some pics I took of him today.

To this day, I still have a folded towel on top of the grate at the bottom with paper over that which is changed at least once if not twice a day. He doesn't poop very much at all in his cage so it works out that he does not wallow in his own poop. When he was younger he would sometimes drop him self on the bottom as if to fall to my mercy to not leave the house and let him out again. So I didn't want him to get hurt. I like the continued security of knowing that he cannot fall and get hurt.

Issac seems to prefer pooping outside of his cage too. I do end up seeing poop in there here and there, but definitely saves it up most of the times for out of his cage. For that first bomb, I hold him over the sink and say, "Okay boy go 'head go poo poo" and he will hunker down and let the big one go. From then on when he is out, I am all about poop patrol. He seems to have zero reservations about pooping where ever he is after that. Sometimes, he will actually fly off of my shoulder to poop on the table or something and then fly back. But not all the time. Lately, he has been doing this thing where if he poops on my back...he tries to get it off by using his beak and I have to stop him. What the heck is that about. Like he is saying...'Oops...I am sorry...I will get that for you'. I have to believe that pooping is like breathing for Issac. LOL.

I am sure he will pick up my laugh. He is always making me laugh with his antics. Most of the time, he is either doing something cute, or something funny.

Issac is still working on his vocalizations. In the last 4 days or so, he has had a massive explosion of different new sounds he is making along with valient attempts at saying 'Hello' and 'Boyee'. As well as a spaceship laser noise like the one Einstein does in the ever popular Animal Planet video. Super cute. I am sure that if he could laugh, he would. The gleam in his eye when he does a fly-by nipping seems to suggest so. As if he is saying, "Yeah...it's like that...let's go!" Or maybe it's, "Get off that computer and watch me, get me a nut....me....me....me".

When I sit by the computer sometimes. He loves to get this game started. Then it's a game of me covering my ear while he spins on his ropes upsidedown and wildly squawks. Which is cute until he brings that energy to my ear...lol. He can be very good at a fly-by nip. The way he looks at me afterwards is with full attention and an obvious expectation of a reaction, I can tell he is enjoying it. Obviously no aggitation or an intentional attack. I imagine that if he really wanted to hurt me...he could do much worse. So, it has to be a game. I usually cringe up just in time to dodge the nip and he carries on again with his spinning untill he is ready to dive in for another shot. He is a rascal.

My goodness...my baby has just been sitting on my shoulder....being the most loving thing on the planet. I have been laughing at how sweet. He is just rubbing his head all over my cheek and chin. Putting his head up for kisses. I am just in awe and heaven right now. They take you both ways for sure. I feel totally blessed at the moment.

This has much truth to it as well. As he goes right back to the ver very loving bird he can be at the greater portion of the time. He means no harm...he just absolutley get his point across. Lol.

Firstly, I do my best on all of these fronts. I never flick or do anything of the sort to my bird. He is probably the most babied grey I know. Which makes issues like this harder to handle. Things like this usually coincide with something else going on. He is in the mood for tons of play and attention right at the moment I need to get something done. He gets more praise and love than I have ever made an effort to give another living being other than my daughter. (And that could be a close call). He has plenty of toys. It can be hard to keep them in fresh supply all the time for every moment of the day...but I am pretty creative. Anyway, life is not perfect. I just have to grow concious of what needs to be done to keep him happy as much as possible when things get stressful. Nothing is ever going to be 100%. I also find...that the moment I tell someone about how wonderful my bird has been...that almost the day after...I have an incident. So I am going to not tell anyone about it again. LOL. It's like a jinx or something. I also talk to him like he can understand every word I am saying. For example...I know I need 5 minutes to get him into his cage without incident. He will fly and fly and fly away. And I do not resist...I just talke to him and let it happen. Then at some point while verbally negotiating with him...he complies without any issue at all. I don;t get it...but he gives up. Hang on...he is getting into the pine nuts......gotta go.

Oh I am quite certain that this is it. He just got tired of me telling him no he can't bite the vacuum hose, no this and no that. Even though I am just trying to protect him from getting himself hurt...he sees it a denial for play time. For sure he just felt left out. Combine that with him being really energetic and wanting to play...and I am sure he was frustrated. He's been his normal self again.

LOL..."Wooo feels good". I love it!

Lol...Issac provides tons of love and laughs for me. He has been a total angel. I am not new to the ear nipping. I am doing ninja moves when he gets in those wild moods. Today I was in a horrible mood too. So he may have picked up on that. Its any number of things. But I love him forever. Worry not...the murdering was metaphorical.

I always talk to issad like he can understand everything I say. He is usually pretty predictable. He's happily preening away now like 'the demons' have left his soul. Lol.