VeganMom...stumbling through life

'Tis the season where everyone on college campuses across the U.S. is stressed.  Students are slacking on thing like sleep and personal grooming.  The halls are filled with students wandering around in sweats with vague, glazed, worried expressions, fueled on only caffeine.  Professors are starting to lose track of what day of the week it is, as all days are all filled with grading and very stressed students (who probably should have started their final projects a few weeks earlier than they did) looking for help.

I'm in my last week of classes, and that means I have many--so many!--final projects coming in over the next few days, which means lots of grading.  Though I don't enjoy the actual process of assigning grades, I do enjoy seeing their projects. Finals are next week. Only one of my classes is actually taking a final exam, and the other three are submitting projects.  Two classes will also be doing presentations next week.

Poppy is still in her very curious toddler phase.  She wants to taste and play with everything.  It's so fun to watch the intensity with which her little tongue explores every texture within reach.  She also likes to sit on my keyboard and watch my screen while I'm working, and that makes typing quite challenging.  My friend Allegrea was wearing a ring with wavy ridges on it, and Poppy just LOVED playing with that.  She was obsessed!

Her parents are still doing a fantastic job at taking care of her.  I am so proud of how well they've raised her and continue to do so.  I wish more humans would be as active, involved, and loving with their children.  She has quite a charmed life!  When she's in the herbivore room, her parents are always near (less than a foot away), with one on each side of her.  If she gets too far away, they call her back to them.  She is getting really good at flying.  I'm quite impressed by how well she is doing.  She is eating on her own.  I've seen her daddy escort her to the food dishes many times, and she is usually the first one to come and get their nightly produce treats.

When she comes out to play/work with me, I try to always bring her an assortment of items to explore and play with, so her brain continues to build neural networks.  Science (and simple observation) has shown us that an enriched environment makes a better brain and a happier being, so we are working hard to keep Poppy happy, healthy, and smart.

When I return her to her parents, they are always so happy to see her come back.  They immediately start chirping to call her over (they have very distinctive sounds that they use to communicate with each other) and when she arrives they check her over to make sure she's okay and then tidy up her feathers.  I swear I've seen them shoot glances my way that make me feel very small for returning their child to them in such a messy state (though she looks fine to my eyes).  She then hits her daddy up for some food.  He tries to escort her to one of the dishes a few times, but usually gives in and feeds her.  Then she goes to hit her mommy up for some food.  Daddy seems to do more of the directing and guiding, where mommy just feeds her without making an effort at getting her to eat on her own.

One of the many very cool things about cockatiels is that like so many other birds, they generally mate for life and share equally in the nesting/parenting.  From the very beginning, Darwin (daddy) has taken equal time sitting on the eggs and later Poppy, feeding, teaching, etc.  They really do work equally hard at parenting.  It has been so fun to watch their partnership through this process.  I wish more humans raised their children with such a smooth, equal partnership.  Darwin and Hurley were so impressive for first-time parents.  I love all of my animals equally and with every fiber in my body--but I have a little extra respect for Hurley and Darwin after watching their self-sacrificing, nearly perfect parenting!  And they did it all without hands!  I am humbled by them.