Pascal's been a part of our family now a little more than two weeks. It's funny how quickly he's taken over my time at home. Cage cleanings, food preparation and handling each day. I try to keep him with me as much as I can. If we're home, the cage doors are usually open so he has some freedom. I am keeping them closed a bit during the weekend so he's used to being confined for a while, like on the weekdays.
If we're upstairs at night hanging out, I take him with me. Right now he sits on a quilt rack–I really have to get a playstand. Preferrably I'll find one with wheels so I can haul it from the bedroom to my office and the other rooms upstairs. It would be nice to have one in the living room too, but I'm going to get one for now and see if we use it enough to warrant getting a second one.
He's also become more vocal. He still doesn't speak our words (he's just a baby) but it's nice to hear some chirps. Overall, he's really quiet. I'm sad to say though that tonight I even heard some growls as Dave tried to pick him up.
He's definitely a smart bird. He decided tonight that he didn't want to be picked up. He's been doing really well with "step up" and "step down". The only time he's not always agreeable to that is when he's on top of his cage, especially way up high. Tonight, he figured out that opening up like he was going to bite didn't stop us from making him get on our hand (that's a good lesson that I'm glad he is understanding–no bites!!). Instead, Pascal would lay his head down low against the cage so we'd scratch it instead of being able to get to his feet. I played along for a bit since it would be nice to have him some day say "pet" with that position. In the end though I forced him to step up. I didn't want him to think that he "won". It's becoming clear that it's going to be a challenge of wills between us on certain things. Anyone who knows me will know that I intend to win that challenge.
Well, we don't all have good days and pets are no exception. I'm come home moody sometimes too. Pascal's still getting to know us and our routine and he deserves patience and understanding.