Ellie's Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Ellie's such an interesting creature - she's cerebral, not affectionate or cuddly. She wants to be mentally stimulated more than anything. She's all brains--albeit mostly mute. But she is sooooo sensitive, and can become a sad little bugger when she doesn't get her way.

I have been gone 12 days out of the last 16 days, and Ellie was really upset. I asked her questions Monday night to see if I could cheer her up:
--Do you want to play vocab? ("No")
--Do you want to read a book? ("No")
--Do you want a pancake? (Her favorite food!) ("No")
--Do you want eggs? ("No")
--Do you want tea? (Her favorite drink!) ("No")
--Do you want water? (She tolerates but doesn't love water) ("Yes")
--Do you want it hot or cold? (She doesn't like cold beverages) ("Cold")

So basically she was totally miserable and dejected and wanted only cold water and to be left to sulk about her life! She was pretty nippy, so I told her, "You can have a bad day. It's OK to be upset. But you can't bite or hurt others when you are upset."

I gave her some space to feel the fullness of her feelings - and tried to bribe her with treats. It took a few days, but my moody little critter came around!

We played this morning, and then I was away working for a good ten hours. When I started her lessons tonight I asked her:
--Do you like treats? ("Yes!")
--Do you like vocab? ("Yes!")
--Do you like pancakes? ("Yes!")
--Do you like Mom? ("No.")

By the time we finished our lessons I asked her again, "Do you like Mom?" ("Yes.")

There's something innocent about asking her questions. She shares her heart without shame or hesitation--she doesn't know those things. She just expresses her opinions, and sometimes she's not happy. And that's OK :)

My tough cockatoo, let me show you her.