Steve at two weeks

Tonight marks Steve's two week point with us. Progress is being made, but it is slow, slow, slow! He has been playing with toys like crazy, which is great. He also seems more relaxed, which I know is not a very specific thing for me to say. He's been chewing at his nails less frequently, and has been making happy grey noises. It's been a few days since we've heard the scared growl. He's also more frequently seen in a relaxed posture -- bent down a bit -- as opposed to standing straight up, on alert.

He also has not come out of his cage in about 10 days. I'm not pleased with this, but realize that it takes time for him to feel comfortable around us, and it will be so much more exciting once he chooses to be out with us!

He spends most of his time on the highest perch in his cage, though this weekend, he started exploring a lot more. Here he is on his boing, on the other side of the cage:And hanging upside down, en route to getting to his water dish:
At his water dish:He sat there for quite some time, much longer than he needed to get a drink. I take this as a sign he's feeling more comfortable with us, as the first week or so, he'd come down to quickly take a drink only when we were in a different room.

He's spending a lot of time undoing the knots in the toy you can see to his right -- beads strung up on veggie-tanned leather. This tends to be a favorite toy of greys, and he is no exception!

When Thomas gave Max a kiss this morning, Steve made a huge kiss sound. He also said what was possibly his first word in years Sunday. I bent down in front of his cage to pick something up, and he said "Whoa!" in a very animated tone. I'm not sure if "Whoa!" really counts as a word; possibly with an asterisk, but it's still a good sign. He's observing what's going on around him and commenting, whether in words* or sounds. I'm hoping that he becomes less frightened as he sees us interact with Max and Stella, who enjoy being with us.