Bathtime with Kai, and other fun things.

 

Kai really enjoys getting baths :)

As planned, I'm having Hubby give Kai baths once or twice a week so he can bond with him a bit more.  Right now, Kai is sitting up with Hubby in Hubby's room atop his wicker basket so he can bond with him visually, if not physically.  The last thing I want is for Kai to think Hubby is a threat if I'm away on vacation and he needs Hubby to care for him.  To keep Kai from biting Hubby, I give Hubby a piece of papaya - Kai's single most loved treat ever, aside from soy beans - to show Kai, who gets all excited and steps up easily and eagerly.  It also kept his beak occupied while I tied some toys to the basket...

To discourage Kai from biting Hubby's finger, which he did last time, I had him step up onto Hubby's arm instead.  Kai doesn't seem to be able to latch onto smooth surfaces, so sometimes I fall back to my reptile days and treat him a bit like a snake.  (A snake can't latch onto your palm if you hold it flat out in front of his face.)  I tell Kai, "You're getting nowhere, son, now be a good baby."

Kai has quickly learned the phrase, "Do you want to come out and play?" as meaning, "Oh boy, mom's going to take me out and we're going to go somewhere awesome!"  He is SO incredibly adorable in his excitement... He squats down and puts his wings out slightly as he practically hops up and down with an excited look on his face.

 

Kai was doing something REALLY cute!

He napped for half an hour holding onto the little chewie ring!

He's still developing strength in his feet, though, and sometimes he slips or falls off.  I've taken to weaving a bit of leather through the bars of the cage, or wind them around his stand perches to give him a bit of a grip.  The branches on his stand in particular are absolutely smooth with no texture, so they must be really slippery!  Kai really loves the spirally rope thing with toys hanging from it.  I gently swing it back and forth for him every now and then so he can have a bit of a ride.  You can see here that I tie fruits and vetties around the cage so he can forage a little, also.  I hang grapes from the top of the cage so he has to go up really high and work to hang on up there to get super tasty things.  I stuff his various toys with food, too, especially the toys he has to learn to tear into.  He's still learning how to play and how to use his beak, which is really cute.  Hiding pieces of papaya in the straw toys is working really well!  When ever I put him on his playstand next to my computer desk, I also rearrange his cage a little and hide new food for him.

This week when I go grocery shopping, I'm going to get some organic almonds, pistachios, and see if they have any unsalted shell-on pistachios.  I've seen places that sell the unsalted shells to use as foraging material, which I think is a great idea.  The idea is that you mix the shells in with the food and the parrot has to pick the shells out, thus, "foraging" in his food bowl.

Also!!  My friend Sue, Kai's Fairy Birdmother, sent me a package, and I was so excited to get it today!!  I opened it up, and was promptly confused by the scent of cinnamon!  The other paper pamphlets and articles distracted me, however, and Hubby took that as an opportunity to sneak upstairs to play with The Other Woman...I was so excited, because seeing The Bird Lady's familiar literature, I knew what the scent meant!

Opening up the padded white envelope, I discovered a 1.5 lb bag of Continental Cuizine! I haven't been to the store yet, but I was going to look into finding some grains and lentils to mix together, but this is so wonderful!  It's like nutritious birdie juk (congee/porridge), except way better tasting, I'm sure.  I can't wait to make it tomorrow morning, I think Kai will love it!  He's not very fond of oatmeal, as I found out earlier today while I cleaned most of it off my desk, wall, and floor.  Hee... I tried giving him a bit of unsweetened almond milk and some organic, unsweetened fruit juice, but he wasn't too thrilled with either of those, either.

Thank you so much to Sue!!! The pamphlet also had new food that Ms. Anderson's site doesn't list, so I'm so excited to be able to order some great food for Kai!  Enclosed within was also book:  "Alex and Me", by Irene M. Pepperberg, which I'm going to start reading tonight when I go to bed!

This morning as I prepared Kai's breakfast, I thought, "Making small amounts of birdie cereal is silly, if I had more birds, I could make larger portions!"  *cough*  No, one parrot is enough for me!

 

Z...z....z.....

Oh my god...it's time to go to bed as I write this, and I'm laughing so much, because I put Kai back up in his cage...and he went nutsos for the almond...but then he spotted the papaya.  He promptly tucked the almond into the bottom of his beak and climbed up the cage, then tried to free the papaya...and wound up dropping the almond.  He looked so disappointed and filled with contention!  Geez...anyway...bedtime!