A first

I got a "first" with Joey yesterday. But I think I should give a little background before getting to it.

When we first got Joey, it was clear he preferred men, although he didn't hate women the way Petey does. He was just more comfortable with men, which is logical since his previous owner was a man and the women he knew from that place did not like him.

Anyways, over the years, I have won Joey over and he no longer shows preference for people along side gender lines. But because of how he was those first few months, and the bites he gave me, I'm still, to this day, reluctant to move him from place to place without using a perch. I also won't allow him on my shoulders (my ears remain intact that way) and generally limit the one-on-one he gets to scratching his head.

I do think that over the past year he's shown signs that make me believe that he would step up nicely onto my hand if I let him, but I'm not quite there yet (and going with a smidgen of hesitation on my part would not be good, as he would sense it). However, last night I dared to do something I always wanted to, but never thought he would allow - I gave him a kiss on his head. Actually, when I managed to give him one kiss and he just stood there and happily kept on preening, I gave him two more. And, again, he just stood there and kept preening. This is not something he would have allowed a year ago and it made me very happy.

I might just try asking him to step up onto my hand sooner rather than later.