A sweet gesture from my wonderful Kiwi

First, I am not a big fan of freeway driving in good weather, and especially not in pouring rain with essentially no visibility and wind. I avoid it if at all possible. Second, I managed to hurt my wrist apparently pretty bad, as it has been getting progressively more stiff and sore over the past few days. But, I had to take this thing that showed I had our new car emissions tested to the dealership today to get the temporary plates. It was sunny and barely any clouds when I left. I decided since I wouldn't be there for more than 5/10 minutes, I would bring Kiwi along since it's a rather long drive and he LOVES car rides. After hamming it up for the salesmen (Kiwi, not me! lol), I pack my baby in the car and start heading home. As soon as we get on the PACKED freeway, the heavens decide to open and GUSH rain with what felt like hurricane force winds (which I'm sure it wasn't *that* bad of winds but it sure felt like it in that lightweight little car:52. I start feeling that growing knot of anxiety as I am trying to drive, can barely see the lines on the road, can hardly see 10' in front of me and my wrist is throbbing so bad/shooting pains in my hand that I can only hold the wheel with one hand. Here I am starting to have a panic attack and debating pulling over.

So what does my boy do- gives a big ol "hello" and starts making cooing sounds in the most gentle, relaxing voice I've ever heard come out of him. And then he started making his amazon odor, which I find very comforting. Good ol' Kiwi may threaten to chomp me every chance he gets and can be a real pain in my butt at times, but I guess he loves his mommy after all I think I would have had to pulled over to the shoulder or else would've had a full blown anxiety attack right there if it hadn't been for my sweet, loving, gentle boy. He got many kisses and treats once we got home. Parrots are *so* very smart, and anyone who says they can't pick up on our emotions and respond to them is an idiot.

Oh thank you sweet Kiwi, for being such a wonderful boy and getting your mommy to relax and get safely home!!
Absolutely they pick up on our emotions!

That's precious.

It sounds like he was being so intuitive in the situation

Awww, Kiwi loves you so much & wanted you to feel better
I hope your wrist feels better soon!

(BTW, loved the hamming it up for the salesman sentence, cracked me up!)

There's a sweet bird SOMEWHERE deep down in that feathery little body of his, and sometimes "sweet Kiwi" comes out

And thanks Terry. I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and put a brace on it because it is excruciating, getting worse and is starting to affect my hand. I don't even remember injuring it. Perhaps Kiwi will give me some snuggles to help with my wrist? (Ok, ok, now that's just getting into fantasy land right there, but at least he's being a nice quiet boy right now for me).

You should have your wrist checked out, April, just in case it needs to be wrapped, or anything like that
And hey, you may just get some more sweet attention from the beautiful Kiwi!

Wow. Sweet sweet Birdy.

It's funny. Besides extreme mirth, murderous rage and unremarkable calm, I'm not a very emotional person. I'm pretty quiet and content most of the time. The other day, I had a rare incident of distressing sadness. As bird parents know, you most often have no choice but to keep going, and take care of your birds, no matter what else is going on. So I came into the room where our birds are, still sad, but no longer crying, and every one of them was visibly concerned for me. As I picked them all up, they were calm and wanted to be close to me. Each bird let me hold him or her close, and sat calmly with me. They definitely knew I was not myself. They are so wonderful.

That's amazing. Parrots are so smart.

You're right, they really do pick up on our emotions. Cookie can sense my emotions too and she acts differently to me depending on what I feel like. I've also noticed my mother's birds don't respond well to her being stressed. They can definitely tell.

What a great story!! Kiwi is such a sweetheart!

What a good boy! Sure, he may be trouble in a feathered suit sometimes, but when you needed it, he proved his worth!