You're So Cute! (and moderately hormonal....)

The weird, warm/sunny winter weather here in Upstate NY is causing Kai's spring hormones to come early.  I worry about birds down south taking the warmer weather as a cue to begin migrating back up to Canada prematurely, then having a sudden cold snap come through to wipe them out.  It would be horrible...!

Kai has been very talkative lately and still enjoys singing along to metal music the best!  I was stretching the other day, and he told me, "You're so cute!"  Last month, he told me, "(I) love you," also.  I hope he never stops learning words, he's such a smart little guy!  Who knows how long he was practicing before he found the courage to speak above his little Pionus mumble?

(Kai's Pionus mumblings below!)

Kai turned one this past summer, but it would appear that he's growing up and becoming an adult, which makes me a little teary-eyed.  It's not that he's changed all that much, but there have been slight differences in his behavior.  Even if he stopped wanting to be with me and decided to pick R, instead, I would still love him!  His hormones don't appear to be that dramatic, not like some of the nightmarish attack birds that some people report, at least.  He's just been mouthier, enjoys biting his shreddables more, and attacks his perches more aggressively during play.  Since he's been able to fly, he's been much more confident and happy!  There's still minor, occasional territorial aggression when it comes to his house in my craft room if R comes near, but half the time, he's content to sit still and not clamber to his drawbridge to appear all 230 grams of menacing, threatening, blue-and-green fluff.  I had been worried that since he can fly, he would be flying around assaulting everyone in sight, but that hasn't been the case, thankfully.

I've been giving him lots of foraging containers and materials to look through to keep him busy.  The only receptacle that I leave in his cage in the same place every day is his water bowl, which I've been having to clean more like three times a day.  He seems to like soaking food more this month!

Kai really enjoys the mixed nuts that I give him, too.  Almonds have fallen out of favor since I introduced him to pecans and walnuts!  I partially crack the shells for him, since Pionus beaks aren't as strong as other parrots' beaks.  He still loves "chio" (pistachio), though.  I feel it's important to give one's parrot a couple nuts each day, as the oils and fat in them are probably needed.  Kai is also going through a minor molt right now, so I have given him a bit more protein to help him through.  I seriously worried that he was going bald at one point, because a pinky-finger-tip sized bald spot turned up right above his cere!  I watched to see if his skin was irritated, and in a couple days, teeny little pinfeathers started poking through.  I felt so bad for him, he was absolutely miserable for a week while they grew in.  I just kept soaking him to soften up those itchy bits and to give him some relief.  When he's molting like this, I bathe him ever other day, at least. 

I'm not sure if it's just that he's in much better health since I've switched him mostly off of artificially colored, sugar-filled pellets and onto 20% TOP pellets, 10% Lafaeber's, and 65% veggies/fruits, and 5% nuts/other (including a scrape of coconut oil and red palm oil), but his feathers look much better!  He's also much more active and healthy since he's been able to fly around to get exercise, also.  When he was younger, he tended to just hang out in one spot, but now he climbs around much more and enjoys being able to fly from room to room following me.  I'll tell him, "I'm going kitchen," and he'll know to fly to me in the kitchen after I've gotten a head start.  He also knows, "Let's go house!" as meaning we should go to my craft room where his house is.  "Let's go perch and eat dindin," well, he knows that one really well, too!  The only thing is, since I'm so small, my shoulder makes a horrid landing pad.  Kai really really dislikes hitting me in the face, I think because I made a sound when he accidentally slapped me, so he's taken to landing on my head instead.  He's very considerate like that.

I don't really mind if he lands on my head, because he steps down onto either my hand or another spot, like the counter or the faucet, if I ask him to.  R gets annoyed if Kai lands on his hoodie, mostly because he doesn't want to get pooped on or bitten.  (Poop from any species is a huge deal to R for some reason, I forget that he didn't grow up with a lot of animals like I did much of the time.)  Since Kai has been able to fly, though, every time that he's landed on R, there has been absolutely no aggression whatsoever.  In the past, he liked to try to give R nips, and R REALLY wasn't helping as he'd do all kinds of "fun" things to encourage that behaviour in Kai.  (You bet I scolded R for it...though I'd do it where Kai couldn't see me.)  If we hear Kai flying into the kitchen, R knows to duck, because chances are, he's wanting to land on the sink faucet, which is his favourite place to hang out so he can "help" me prep to cook dinner. 

We had a "visitor" in early February, also!  My friend's daughter, Cailey, had an (awesome!!) school project where they mailed the "flat" versions of themselves to family/friends!  It's based on a book called Flat Stanley, where a little boy is flattened and is able to go on adventures, because he can slip under doors or be mailed in envelopes.  I took Flat Cailey all over the city one weekend.  We visited the adoption clinic at PetsMart, had lunch at our favorite Korean BBQ restaurant, went to a bunch of other shops, had dinner at our favourite Thai restaurant, and she got to meet all our animals.  The next day, we took her to Lollypop Farm, and she got to meet a MASSIVE 180 lb Great Pyrenees dog!  I had never seen one before in real life, and flashbacks of Mr. Tadakichi (of Azumanga Daioh fame) instantly sprung to mind!  I was also fortunate enough to get Cailey in time for one of the few winter craft shows going on.  We got to see Kira, Casey and Amanda, as well as Robert at the show, so we got pictures with them, and I was able to give Cailey samples of their crafts!

R was a bit exasperated with me by the time I finally sent Flat Cailey back home, but I told him that if we ever had kids, he would understand.  I printed out about seventy-five photographs and wrote descriptions for Cailey's mom to read to her on the back.  My hand was just about dead by the time I packed her away into a box with goodies in it.  I also packed some cute paintable ceramic stuff in for Cailey and her brother to play with.  It's really cute, because apparently I "already live at Cailey's house", and Cailey "has me over to play in her room" often.  Does this make me an imaginary friend?  I wonder what Cailey imagines me as being?  (I'm kind of scared to ask!)  Either way, it's sheer adorableness.  I wish kids didn't grow out of stuff like that so fast...

I'm starting to do things early so I'll have stuff to sell at this year's Mayday Underground, also.  More samples of what I'm making will come later.  Nanaa's begun planning to make things for our shop, too, so I'm excited to see what she comes up with.  I'm a little worried that my portion of stuff will have mostly to do with birds and not kitties at all, but they're just so much fun to draw cutely.  I really need to remember to have my banner printed out, too, urghh...

Well, I should get back to the drawing board now.  I'm also due to go to my doctor's appointment in two and a half hours - joy of joys.  I guess I figured out (half a year ago!) that I would still be awake at 8am.  At least I'll be avoiding traffic, too, because the city traffic trying to get home is insane and I can never get back home, because I'm (terrified!!) not an aggressive driver at all.