A Great 24 Hours with Sid!

It's funny to watch my relationship with Sid evolve. As I might have
mentioned before, he LOVES April. The minute she walks through the door,
he's flapping, running around, talking in his little robot voice
(seriously, he sounds like a robot), he tries to get to her, and will
certainly always step up for her. Now, I've been a little jealous of this,
especially considering April does nothing with Sid. I do all the training,
the feeding, giving him treats, trying to play games, etc. She literally
gets home, picks him up for a minute or two, and that's pretty much it. I
think he wants her because she doesn't really care about him either way
(she "cares" about him, I just mean that she's not really interested in
birds or him the way that I am).

My routine on class nights (2 nights a week): I get off of work at 4, get
home around 4:20. I let them out of the cage right when I get home. If
they're in the mood, I'll do a little bit or training. Then I prep their
food, feed them, and leave for class by 5:10. Yeah, the only reason I go
home is for the birds. Now, when I open the cages, Gus comes right out and
is very excited to see me, of course. Sid takes his sweet time coming out.
Sometimes it may take him 15 minutes to come out. Which is fine, what's
the hurry, really? Then, normally when I get close to his cage, he screams
a bit at me, postures a bit, etc. I ignore this and start doing some
clicking with Gus. Even if it's just some stepping up. This immediately
shifts Sid's mood and all of the sudden he wants to play too.

Well last, night, I got home, opened the cages and he bolted out of the
cage. He then came to me for some immediate interaction! We did some step
ups and I gave him lots of treats. We did some retrieve to my hand from
the top of the cage (he usually doesn't like to do it there and just
flings the ball off the cage, but this time he walked all over the the top
of the cage to bring it back to me)! He did amazing! Then we did some more
step ups and some general body touching with c/t. Usually, I have to be
very aware and sensitive to when it seems like he might just be starting
to lose interest in training so that I can be sure to end on a good note.
Well last night, he was just so excited to train, that I couldn't detect
any sort of ensuing lost in interest. I just had to leave for class, which
is why we stopped!

Now, in the mornings, I wake up, start the coffee, and come uncover Gus
and open the cages. Gus is my morning partner in crime. He mostly snuggles
under my chin while I get ready until it's time to put my work clothes in,
in which case he sits there and makes zipper noises while I dress. I thank
him for the assistance. Anyway, I always open Sid's cage, just in case he
wants to come out. Usually he just pretends I don't exist, as I just think
he's not a "morning person." Well this morning, he came right out of the
cage. When I approached, he put his head down for petting! He even stepped
up for me once! That is unheard of for him!

What a great 24 hours!!

That being said, every time Sid takes 5 steps forward, he then takes 1
step backwards, which is ok. I just can't let the 1 step upset me to where
I lose sight of the 5 steps!