Jennifer

Every morning she comes out for a couple of hours so that can give her cage a good clean out.
I sit on a chair in front of her cage so that I’m just at the right height to reach everything and fill up her buffet ball and her food and foraging bowls. In the meatime, she hops in and out of her cage emptying the ball that has taken me ages to clean and fill up and she chooses a piece of fruit and climbs out and up onto the top of the cage to eat it.

I continue cleaning, wiping and drying all the surfaces etc while she hops in and out taking treats as she wants them.
Then as I’m finishing her cage, she comes and sits on the door literally inches from my face and says ‘Want a shower? Bailey want a shower?’ It’s really quite comical the way she almost demands her shower even though she isnt particularly keen on them.
I give her a shower and then its time for a quicky ‘dry by flying’ session and for her to go back in for the rest of the day. A monkey nut is waved temptingly in front of her face and you can see her shoulders sag. She knows that she must now go back in…..for good. (well at least until the evening anyway, but for her it must feel like an eternity!)

The monkey nut is then placed in her bowl and she eyes it suspiciously with her head pressed up against the bars until finally giving in and going in to get the much desired treat knowing full well that the door will be shut behind her.
I always have a pang of guilt that she has to be put away. I love seeing her climbing around the kitchen on the cupboards and swinging from the door frames and her being put away is as painful for me as it is dissappointing for her.
Once inside with the door shut, she starts playing with all of the toys I’ve replenished with cardboard chunks and willow sticks etc and she comes alive again and it seems that I am forgiven!!

Putting her away was once fraught and terrifying experience, but the lure of the monkey nut is too much for her and she goes inside happily now knowing there is a lovely treat waiting for her. I’m so glad we worked this routine out between us and I hope it will always work for us.

Love Jennifer and Bailey.

Here in our household we often have family get togethers. Well yesterday she experienced her first one. I had quite a crowd coming this time which included loads of children as it was my 50th birthday party and so I stuck a huge notice above her cage listing ‘ Do not touch she will bite, do not feed and do not open the cage door at all!’. I tried to put a padlock on her door, but couldnt fit one to fit so I fixed a key ring through the door catch.

Well Bailey relished all of the attention and was squawking and singing at the top of her voice. So much so, that we had to move her into the front room!! She’s never been in there before and so was not the slightest bit happy at this move and demonstrated this by going completely silient. She’s more than making up for it today though and seems to have recovered really well from all the excitment.
I cant belive how well Bailey has settled in with us after only having her for a few weeks. I’ve finally deciphered what she was saying before when she was saying ‘Good bowda cheese’ I am now convinced that its ‘Oooh, bag of chips!’ Well, that my explanation and I’m sticking to it! Ha Ha!!

We havent made much progress with the harness training. She still seems to be quite frightenend of it. I’ve been leaving it by her cage to she can see it, but if I hold it in my other hand to stroke her, she moves away from me. I wont give up though.

She will happily come to me and sit on my shoulder and if I walk round the corner, she will fly round to find me, but she isnt all that keen on being stroked when she’s out of her cage. All she wants to do is eat my college homework!! Ha Ha! I dont mind though, I’m happy as long as she is happy coming to me for attention. She must trust me to come to me, so for now, that will do. Everything needs to be done at her own pace.

Just one more thing- ‘I love my bird so much!! What did I do before she came?’

Here is Bailey trying to drink my cuppa.

Taking a drink and helping out in the office. I think she’s keeping a beady eye on my typos!!

Well, Bailey has been with me for just over a week and already I dont know how I managed before she arrived? She has made herself well and truly at home and fits in really nicely.

She is saying more and more everyday and has me in stitches with the expressions that she is coming out with. She now barks, wolf whistles, tells herself to sssh, be quiet, calm down, are you alright, whats that noise, want to go to the shops, wont be long … so many more words and phrases too numerous to list. Shes a definate chatterbox, just her Mummy!! Mind you, the workmen next door kept giving me funny looks because they thought it was me wolf whistling at them!! Ha Ha!!

She is slowly becoming quite the poser, I’ve taken that many photographs of her so she’s definately used to the camera now.
She loves coming out of her cage and hates going back inside!

I’m on my spare laptop so I’ll upload some photos tomorrow of her playing in the kitchen. The boys all love her and have been teaching her new things. The first night she was here my sons taught her to make a ‘dripping’ sound and she does it all the time now.
Look out for the photos tomorrow. I’m so proud of her and I love her so much.