Monday, July 30, 2018

Pets and babies

Saturday night my friends Marla and Martina came over to hang out, and Marla brought baby Carsen so that Martina could meet her.

Little Carsen was fascinated by one of our aquariums and kept gazing at it:


No matter which way Marla held her, she turned her head for a better view. That little girl may have to have an aquarium in her nursery one day soon!

Marco, as always, wanted to be in the room with the company. He watched the baby carefully, with a great deal of interest, and then started talking to her! We were puzzled at first by what he said. He kept calling her "Chip". 

"Chip? Hey Chip! Heeeyyyy Chip...hey Chip-Chip! Wha cha doin'?" 

Chip, as some of you may remember, was a tiny sparrow that lived with us for years. I think that Marco was looking for a way to refer to the baby, and the best word he could come up with was the name of a small bird that he used to know! How smart is that? He does that kind of thing very often; I was mopping the kitchen floor the other day and he said, "Take a shower? Gonna take a shower?" because that was the closest word he had for something that involved cleaning with water.

Life with a parrot (much like life with a baby, I imagine) is never dull!

Marco perched on the shower door the other day, waiting for me to get in!


31 comments:

  1. Yep. The more you write about Marco, the more I see that living with him really is like living with a small, feathered little man. A smart one, too!

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  2. Must be fun to live with Marco, he is amazing.

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    1. I told my husband you said this. He told me I need to record Marco shrieking at the top of his lungs so that my blog friends can have a complete picture of what life with a parrot is like!

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  3. I love the Marco posts. He is such a good looking bird and so smart!

    Did you get him as a baby?

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    1. I got Marco when he was about 6 months old...so not a handfeeding baby, but still very young.

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  4. I just love Marco. He is such a smart beautiful Marco.

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. He is smart, and he is beautiful...but he's also a handful!

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  5. What wonderful interaction between human and bird. I always let my children have a small aquarium in their room when they were very young. Teaches them a lot. About responsibility, science, kindness and so forth.

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    1. My friend has a couple of small aquariums she could set up for the baby, but if she does it won't be anytime soon. She's got enough on her plate at the moment!

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  6. It is amazing, isn't it, how animals understand that a baby is a young of our species.
    Fish are fascinating - no wonder little Carsen wanted to get the best view!

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    1. I've noticed over the years that small children are fascinated by our aquariums. The tank Carsen was looking at is 120 gallons....it must look MASSIVE to a small baby!

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  7. Isn't that funny?! That a small person and a small bird would, in his mind, be the same thing. The smallness is the defining characteristic for him. It's very cool getting an inkling about how his brain works!

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    1. It IS cool! Marco is always surprising us. :)

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  8. Marco is a smart and beautiful bird. He must be so much fun to have around.

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    1. He can be a lot of fun...but he can also be a royal pain in the ass! See my reply to Yael.

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  9. Parrots are incredibly intelligent. We had a yellow-naped Amazon (they're known for suffering chronic PMS). When he was in a good mood and someone arrived at our door, he would call out sweetly, "Well, Hi-IIIII!" When he was in a bad mood and someone arrived at our door, he would screech, BYE BYE!!!!!! SEE YOU LATER!!!"

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    1. That's HILARIOUS! I'm sure he liked some visitors more than others, too. Marco loves it when my girlfriends come over. He'll sit on their shoulders and sweet talk them..."Hey baby...whacha doin' baby?" Hahaha!

      Amazons are amazing, but as you say, they are very hormonal. I don't think I could live with one. Same thing with Macaws. I love them, and used to take care of three of them when I managed an aviary (a Blue and Gold, a Scarlet, and a Greenwing) but they're WAY too much parrot for me to keep at my house!

      Amazons are amazing, but as you say, they're very hormonal.

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  10. I wish I was a parrot then I could also sit on shower doors watching women cleanse themselves. I guess I would squawk like crazy.

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    1. You could also sit on the shower door and watch men cleanse themselves! Marco likes to shower with Gregg, too. How would you like that? :)

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    2. Nope! I am sure that Gregg's naked body would not interest me one iota.

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  11. Marco makes me laugh, he is a clever & funny bird.
    Carsen is no doubt fascinated by the colour and movement of the fish in the tank.
    Alphie

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  12. Cute baby! and Marco is splendid

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  13. Marco is not only gorgeous but he is smart.

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