GOOD MORNING

When Beignet wakes up in the morning she makes little cooing sounds and then begins playing with her toys. As soon as she senses that I am awake she makes her little locating whistle and then says "Good Morning" in a cheerful voice. As soon as I answer her she says "More water: More Cracker!". When she first came to live with us she called all food related things "Water-Water", but then she learned to say "More" and "Cracker". She loves our low salt taco chips and she only gets two in a day. When I started giving her cornmeal mush for breakfast she instantly called it "Cracker". Now when I am making breakfast she constantly asks for "More Cracker!" Sometimes she comes to watch while I cook, but most of the time she prefers the safety of her cage.

I have been working with her in trying to get her to let me touch her wing. She considers this a very private and untouchable part of her. She has learned how to say a "gentle no" by pushing my finger aside. I began holding my finger still and asking her to touch it with her wing. Usually this is answered by getting a head scratch instead. Last night she gave me a firm "no" by biting until it was uncomfortable. This kind of action is always followed by my turning my back and walking away. When I came to her later I again asked her to touch my finger and this time as a first she said "NO". I responded by removing my finger from the asking position and told her she was a good girl to use her mouth to say no.

It constantly astounds me to live with an African Grey Parrot. They are so intuitive. I have always used a lot of sign language with Beignet and she responds very well to it. I don't use American Sign Language, but a made up language that is descriptive of the things she does. Sometimes she is able to reply with signs herself.