Elmo and his phone calls

This guy continues to amaze me!  He almost always has his own “phone conversations” when I talk on the phone and sometimes he just “dials” up a number making beeping button sounds and has a conversation.  So that is expected.

What happened yesterday shocked me.  It was a lazy Sunday and I was reading.  I frequently fall asleep when reading and since I had a meeting I wanted attend in the evening I set the alarm on my phone.  I awoke to the phone ringing and Elmo saying “Hello” as usual but then he said ” uh I just slept for a while. ”  Then mumbled some other stuff I couldn’t understand before saying “ok bye” and making the sound for hanging up.  No idea if he slept while I did and woke up to the phone also, but having his “phone conversation” be so in context was incredible to me.

I’ve been working on making sure Elmo knows my name because he doesn’t get a chance to hear it often.  Today was cage cleaning day.  While I was running the sweeper and moving things around he said “Gram just stop”  ” Gram quit it”.  I suppose he does hear me called Gram more than anything else.  Maybe some day he will learn my name.  I can hope!

What’s Elmo up to now?

Elmo was begging for cookies the other day.  He was trying every way he could think of to get me to give him a cookie.  My grandson had already over fed him so I wasn’t going to give him any cookies.  Then you could see the wheels turn.  He was sitting on his portable stand.  We are working on pooping there when he is out of the cage so that we don’t have poop all over the house. He said “Here I poop.” Then pooped.  And then said in a stern voice “Now give me a cookie!”.

I had to leave the house for a while so I put him back in his cage.  He said “Let me out”.  I told him I was leaving and he couldn’t be out alone.  His response.  “I’ll be a good boy, let me out”.

He continues to surprise me with the words he knows and the ones he actually understands and can use appropriately!

He and my grandson are becoming buddies.  Here is a picture of them working on the computer together.

Elmo update

Elmo has made it clear he doesn’t want to change his name.  I said Merin..he said Elmo.  We went back and forth 3 or 4 times this way.  Seemed to me he was telling me liked his name just fine.  So Elmo it is.

We have found an Avian Vet and he went for a checkup.  He was well-behaved and the vet says he is in excellent heath!

He is now asking for cookies and is thrilled when he gets a “tiny” bite when he asks. He already had the word cookie and would say “You want a cookie” randomly.

He spends almost all day out of his cage now.  He has taken over the coffee table with a small perch and his toy box.  He has wood, and paper and ping-pong balls and all sorts of odds and ends that he loves to chew and play with.  He’s learning to throw the ball to me and then he gets it back.  I think he said ball once but am not sure. He has a large play stand in the kitchen (almost as big as his cage).  And his cage in the living room.  And of course my lap and shoulder! He loves his head scratches in the evening!

The other day he was on my lap and crunched down a bit hard when I stopped scratching his head.  I said “hey that was too hard”.  He jumped off my lap and went to his cage where he repeated over and over “ouch” bad boy” bad bird”.  I did not say those things to him.  It was almost like he was putting himself in timeout.  He didn’t come back out for at least a half hour.

Another time same thing crunch a bit too hard but not really a bite when I told him it was time for bed.  Two minutes after I closed the cage door I heard ” I can be a good bird”.  I told him I knew he could be a good bird but it was still time for bed and goodnight.

We are working on labeling things so that he can ask for what he wants.

We are becoming best buddies and I really missed him when I went on an overnight trip.  My son took care of him but he seemed really glad to see me when I got back.