Day 18

Today, we had really great weather! a warm day finally! we took the opportunity to take Pico on a car ride. i had to drop hubby off at a relative's house and Pico tagged along in his carrier cage.

he looked really excited and interested as the scenery zoomed passed him. i had his carrier on my lap and he had a great view around him. i forgot to bring him a fluffly pillow to place under the carrier so that he could see the environment on the way home, so he didnt look to happy on the way home. during the car ride, i swear he looked at me with an irritated look like "you are soooo cruel. how am i supposed to view the scenery sitting this low in a car seat?!?" i felt guilty. *sigh* next time.

when we got home, i played with him on his play stand and talked to him a bit. he also enjoyed a long head-preening session by me. consider it a "sorry for not bringing a fluffly pillow to prop your carrier higher in the car seat" thing. he looked very comfortable with me being so close and my fingers preening his head and neck.

its amazing that its only been 2 1/2 weeks and he has really come around to trust me a lot more. im so happy!

he did try to test my "dominance" when he kept climbing to the highest spot on the play stand where he is not supposed to go. i first gave him the benefit of the doubt by trying to lure him down with a few toys. that worked for the first try, but after that he just didnt want to move. so i gave him a new command "come down". i said this a couple of times and then had him step up on to the wooden perch to bring him back down to the play stand perch. he didnt quite like that and tried to lunge for my hand. i promptly said NO and gave the perch i held a little rumble.

i had to do this 3 times. after the third time, it seemed that he got the point and stayed on the areas where he is allowed to go.

he had some rice and corn as i ate dinner, came back out for some time on the play stand before sleep time, and relaxed.

when hubby came back home, he gave Pico his meds and it was off to bed.

Note: for feeding, i make Pico "forage" for his food to expend some energy by covering his food dish with some newspaper. at first he didnt know where his food was (even after showing him the food being covered with the newspaper), but after 3 days, he knew to rip the newspaper off to get at the goodies.

i am also trying to teach him colors and names of things by saying the colors and names over and over to him while holding and playing with that certain object. i dont know if that will bring anything, but i thought it couldnt hurt. its like teaching a toddler to speak.