I hate having to give him his medicine when he is sick. I don’t care that it tastes bad, he has no right to spit it at me. I have to hold him down so he doesn’t run away and if I am not careful he will bite me. My husband is no help at all, he insists I be the one to do it because in his words” I’m so much better at it”. Bull, ’73 just doesn’t want him to be mad at him for days. When I gave it to him today he yelled at me. He said “NO, STOP IT” and then spewed it all over me and him both. What’s a mom supposed to do, I have to wrap him up in a towel so he doesn’t flay around and hurt himself as it is. He is so smart and we have always tried to watch our language around him, but he just called me a bad name, I can’t believe he said that. Now he is mad and wants nothing to do with me, if looks could kill I would be dead and nailed to the wall. Here is a picture of the little brat sulking. He is so stubborn.
This is Ozzy and he is not sick now. He is our 6 year old African Grey parrot and his intelligence amazes me. He has a vocabulary of at least 200 words or phrases that he uses. This incident was the day I realized he was using his words to say what he felt, not just mimicking us. He wanted me to stop and he told me so. I was so shocked by what he said that I did. He is a great mimic though, he can make a knocking sound that will cause you to get up and answer your door. He does phone rings and microwaves as well as voices. He likes to say things in the different voices of the family. He enjoys fooling you. He also thinks he is boss of all the other animals. He yells at the dogs if they are barking and the cockatoo’s if they get noisy, by name to “stop that” or “be quiet”or “knock it off you guys” and so on. He is not affectionate like the Too’s, in fact he is a bit of a curmudgeon. Ozzy likes hanging upside down like a bat and chewing on his linky links, he prefers pink ones. He also has a nervous habit of plucking his feathers which makes me feel like a bad mom and him look like that naked Jay bird we are always comparing our kids to, but I love him anyway, even if he spits his medicine at me and calls me a crappy Robin.
passions and soapboxes 
Ok, I thought you were talking about a kid! Wow, Ozzy really is just like having a child!
I read the first paragraph and flashed back to having to sit on a certain 2 yr old (now 19 and 6’3″), head clamped between my knees and nose held shut with one hand while I poured pink stuff down his throat. I’m pretty sure the method would be discouraged nowadays.
Then I saw the bird and had to laugh.
This story was meant to be funny, though it is a true story I kid you not. You expect your kids to crack wise once in a while but not your pet. I’m glad you laughed.
What a beautiful bird! At first I thought you were talking about a child too…
Hilarious. As I have to clamp down the boys for their medicine, though they haven’t learned any words to call me yet. I don’t know if I could handle a pet calling me a name.
cumudgeon- nice word, Thanks for teaching me that.
It was a shock to have him look me in the eye and talk to me, not just say random words and phrases like most of the time:>
Absolutely no different than kids trying to give them medicine……….
And they also repeat words you think they didn’t hear! Just blame it on TV.
What a beautiful bird – and so funny!
I can’t believe he spits medicine out at you.
He sorta pushes it with his tongue and vigorously shakes his head spraying it everywhere.
I love it when you talk about your birds, even though I think that’s mostly been in email. I think you should feature your birds heavily on your blog :) They are fascinating and most have no idea how intelligent and ornery they can be!
Everyone I’ve ever known with African greys regrets them sooner or later! Spitting medicine seems to be par for the course.