Léa, today you are 8 months old!

Another month has gone by, and quickly at that!

Last month, I said you had gotten more active - this has not changed. In fact, the combination of this hike in activity level combined with the Boy's and mine vacation, meaning you came out in the morning later than the usual 6am during the week, meant that you spent even more energy than you normally did (being more awake when we took you out later), you decided to give me another scare and lose a little weight. I had toyed with the idea of bringing you to the vet more than once, but the last time I did that after you had lost some weight, the vet had told me that it was quite normal for you to lose up to 10% of your weight. So I kept a vigilant eye on you, but since you were so full of life, that you continued to eat with the same appetite and you did put on some weight throughout the day and that everything else about you screamed healthy, I figured you were ok. And the moment routine came back to "normal", your weight also came back to "normal".

The fact that you just want to move all the time made today's photoshoot rather difficult - I got quite a few blurry shots since you would move as I pressed the shutter on my camera. But it also make for some fun and interactive pictures.







Toys are still quite popular with you and you are starting to play with more and more different kinds, which makes me happy.



On certain of the pictures above, we can see that you started growing some orange on your wings as well; you have two orange feathers at about the same place on your right wing and one on your left so far. Your right ankle also now has a band of coral going all around it, while your left ankle started to grow a few more of those coral feathers but still has some catching up to do.



As for your head, a few more coral feathers have started up showing on your forehead, however, since they seem to like to grow behind some grey feathers, they aren't all that obvious yet. And since you seem to like to grow them one pin at the time, they are very slowly coming in.



Now, all this obsession about looking for your first coral feathers has drawn my attention away from one other physiological change you have been growing through, the apparition of grey all over your head (and not just on the very top).

It's funny how it's coming in - there is the very obvious patch of grey on top, your cheeks have definitively started to change as well to the reddish with a grey rim adult feathers and your bib has definitively got more grey as well. And all of these waves of grey are converging towards the back of your head, where there is still a very obvious baby green spot left. I'm guessing my next month it'll probably be grey as well.







This month you've also started using words in context - I never doubted that you were smart, but seeing birds do this always amazes me. Don't think that this means that you always have to do so; I'll be quite happy if you want to stick to your cute noises instead of really using human speech. Even without saying words you do manage to get us to understand what you want. I've also seen you get obsessed with doing things and then stopping and moving on - might I suggest that you get tired of going on the floor? I'm pretty sure the Boy as well as myself would enjoy it if we didn't have to pick you off the floor so often.

Finally, Léa, it's been quite enjoyable seeing these changes happen in you and I'm quite looking forward to what is to come!