Kendi's Christmas present to us this year - NO it was NOT a really big plopper! - is an attempt to add to her vocabulary. I think she has a tremendous vocabulary for a parrot who has just turned two, but, like most parents, I suppose I'm a little biased.

It's interesting the things that she picks up. All the books I read on teaching parrots language say that consistency is the most important thing. If you say the same things at the same times or about the same object not only might you get a parrot who repeats what you say, you might also get one that understands the relationship between words and objects (or people, in the case of names)....

Even if your bird never talks it can still be helpful to do this because the bird may understand what you are getting at, helping it to stay calm since it has a clue what's going to happen next. After all, nobody likes to be surprised, least of all creatures who often get eaten in the wild.

So, since Kendi came to live with us a year and a half ago, I greet her in the morning by saying "Good Morning!" and "Hello!" which she has never, to my knowledge, made any attempt to say. She might be trying to say "You awake yet?" but it's hard to tell because the way I say it to her is rather garbled. As in "Ya 'wake yet?" After all, I'm not exactly a morning bird myself. I've been trying to get her to say "Good Morning!" and "Hello!" all this time. I actually thought "hello" might be her first word, since its one many parrots learn.

K-Bird is not most parrots, however.

Last night, like every night, I picked her up off of her rope perch and asked, "You ready for night night? It's time for night-night" and she hopped up on my shoulder to start the Before Bed Preen Routine. I was puttering around the bedroom when she said loudly into my ear "ite-ite? ite-ite!"

"Night-night" is not something I ever thought she'd pick up. It's like teaching a parrot to say "good-bye" - they don't do it because they learn that when they say that the person they're having so much fun talking to leaves. (though I believe that Donna has had success teaching her 'tiel to say "good-bye". Of course, Kiah could just be a really smart cockatiel)

But that really seems to be what she's saying.

Could be she's just trying to get us to go to bed earlier. Hmm.