kins2321@yahoo.com

kitt4kaz... You gotta watch out for the quiet ones! They are thinking........I think they can be very smart. Try some whistling games in separate rooms. You whistle.... eventually thru routine, hopefully baby will whistle. Sophie's favorite game.Sophie adopted at age two, had few words to say. Her vocabulary eventually expanded to the point she chew my ear off at age 13. Nancy

Beth... I LOVED your vets advice! Sounds good! Nancy

Well I am on my 7th keyboard this year. Sophie has her own, but she likes mine better! BUT.... Sophie loves board games, especially the game Trouble and monopaly.Even when we play pictionary and she is on my team.... she will defect in a heartbeat! She knows who is winning and thats the side she wants to be on! LOL! As soon as MY team wins... she is back! ( I love when we play pictionary with her! Even if she doesn't know the words, she throws them out there) Nancy

Good for flying lessons! It is always important to have another family member to be on opposite side of room, to be the goal. We always practiced flying with two members always. Nancy

I'm plugging my ears.... don't want to hear this stuff! These are my kids, and a parent usually wants to remain in the dark, like ME! Nancy

VStar member LOL! LOVED your last line! Now stop sucking up my energy, when I knew nothing what I was doing, and get yourself a baby!!!! The only thing I knew about getting a grey when we adopted Sophie, at age two, was to put her in a carrier and bring her home. I didn't think what to do when she opened up the carrier, wagged her tail, and climbed on my shoulder. We were ALL screaming.... I'm sure she was thinking.... " this family is crazy!" The ride has been amazing for past decade. My youngest off to college tomorrow. My youngest pup, age eight has seizures. She had several seizures yesterday, I called in sick. Zoey my dog, and Sophie are great friends. Sean was having fun, and pointed out, that if I was in a liferaft, and I could only choose two to save out of our family, I would pick Zoey and Sophie. I disagreed. Zoey weighs about eight pounds, Sophie only takes up airspace... I would save him too! LOL Nancy

Even if you are the " chosen one"... it eventually means nothing as they learn to love and trust other family members.Even though I am her " rom" ( mom), I keep her safe when scared, deliver on her basic needs. She loves all of us for different reasons. In the end, she trusts us all to satisfy what she wants! I still get annoyed when she skypes with Ryan, when he hasn't talked to her for two weeks. She gets soooo excited! They talk on and on.... Ryan doesn't even live in our state! Nancy

Another way to look at this, is yes, it can be jealousy, but also curiosity!I would make sure they both have their own play gym to start. Echo should not have access to play with Radars toys, and vice versa. Radar should hang out with you and be welcomed to observe Echo with another family member. Introduce them under supervision several times a day. ( gyms side by side is the goal eventually). It takes time and patience on everyone's part, but you can obtain a flock that all gets along! Eventually I went from three cages, down to two, down to one. Amazon, African grey and Sun conure. They decided to all move in together. Crazy.... but it was their choice.( I eventually left two cages to choose from).When I go to vet or groomer, I put sunconure and amazon together in bigger cage, Sophie in little cage. If I had a big one... I could put them all together, if need be. Unfortunately, our Amazon escaped several weeks ago, and we are all devestated. Hopefully we will find her soon. Nancy

nightstar... so sorry jesse attacked you! You rose above it so kudos to you! Jesse seems to be a little bit in love with your friend. Thats okay, since greys usually pick one person. ( in the beginning!) sophie picked me when she first came home here at age two. Now 13 years later... she goes to anyone.What worked best for us, was to let Sophie hang with us as a family. Witness our interaction and love for each other. As we play alot of boardgames, we played games in front of her. She eventually walked down off her door, wanting to be part of our group. I ignored her at first, then said hi sophie! She climbed up, but eventually wanted to go to the next person who's turn it was. This is how she first learned to stepup. She learned stepping up to the next person won her praise and she eventually caught onto the competitive edge of our games! LOL! The one thing though.... Sophie was NEVER allowed on anyone's shoulder. Boy did she try. It took us six months, which actually is rather quick, before she was allowed and completely trusted on my shoulder.She eventually earned the trust of the boys( as well as she learned to trust them), before she was on their shoulders. Now, she stepsup and goes to all of us, shoulder, chest, feet etc. Her choice. She hasn't bitten. Even if you just feed Jesse... eventually bird needs to learn the family dynamics.Jesse needs to learn " you are a package deal". It takes time. Be patient and forgiving, but NEVER give shoulder status until full trust is established. Nancy

My birds must be asexual! No sexual activity, except when Ryan comes home and falls asleep in family room. Sophie does some weird dance with his feet. Nancy

I'm still working on " take me out to the ballgame!" LOL! Sophie is more excited when Ryan plays guitar, or Sean plays violin! She is more into their music. Nancy

Cotay i'm sure is going to bring you lots of joy! My rules of cussing is to do it in the garage! Needless to say... my boys spend alot of time in garage. Sophie has a very clean mouth, but it took forever to get her over a new cuss word, as we had a revolving door of foul mouthed teenagers!LOL! Asshole is her favorite. I give her the " stink eye", when she does it. She knows. Nancy

Emma is awesome! Love the interaction, as it is similar to Sophie and me. Nancy ( of course I think Sophie is awesome too)

Personally... the best thing you can do for Jake after a doctors visit... is to empathize with him, but NOT feel sorry for him. Lots of love and special treats. Eventually I'm sure you will be able to give extra snuggles when past terrible twos.They sense our anxiety, when they are stressed. Stay calm, empathize, let him know his life has not changed forever! Sophie would be quiet for a day after visit. I treated her as normal, and kept to our routine. It took her a day to adjust. Once she realized life was the same, she got over it! I hope I don't sound cold or callous... I'm certainly not. I just knew what would work for Sophie. Whenever I freaked out about something with Sophie... IE:loose feather hanging, she wasn't pulling it out!!! I was soooo stressed out about it, she started limping! Ryan knew I was very anxious, he actually put the feather in her foot and told her to get rid of it. She did! He has a gift with our birds. I told him he was amazing, he told me Sophie is a " drama queen!" Nancy

Aretha would be proud to have Gracie as a back singer! Truly adorable! Nancy

When greys are young, mostly their pupils dialate and constrict with a warning... as they get older, their pupils dialate and constrict when they are interested in learning something new.Thank goodness we are at learning stage only! Nancy

She is adorable! I love your responses to her as well. Nancy

Emma and mama make quite a pair! Nancy

After reading your posts, I think the only thing Radar cares about, is getting to ECHO! The lifting of the foot, is a warning, but Radar is following the rules. He sooo wants Echo to be part of his life. It can eventually be a " stress" for him. I suggest leaving the cages side by side! Thru supervision, birds make their own decisions. Nancy

Sophie talks in all our voices. I hate that she imitates my laugh! Everyone makes fun of it! Nancy

Smokey is such a baby... and so deserving of a forever home! You sound like a perfect match for smokey.As far as the " bad language", it can be rectified at such a young age. I was horrified when Sophie called me an " ass hole". Ryan and Sean's friend thought it would be funny to teach her that. Kids let them know, I would FREAK! She got over that word quite quickly. Nancy

I've clicked on it, it didn't work! Nancy

posted there today. Thanks everyone. Nancy

I wish it was kiki, but she is big. Nancy

I believe all greys can adjust to all family members and friends. It has to be a commitment on the humans part. Sophie will stepup to many outside of our family.First.... all family members have something to " bring to the table", that Sophie wants. Next... when meeting friends, they all have " something to bring to the table", that Sophie likes. We play alot of board games that Sophie likes to be on a team. She recognizes when a team is losing, and gladly stepsup to the team that is winning! She has no problem " throwing her family under the bus ", to be on the winning side.LOL Nancy