Zoo Boy's new pet

And no, it's not a Dragon! (I may have been spared that particular fate for a bit!)

Meet Zoo Boy's new parakeet (Budgie). She's 2 years old and a real cutie (or, as Zoo Boy keeps saying, "Isn't her beautiful?!"). Simultaneously this weekend Zoo Boy told me he wanted a blue parakeet, and an adoption notice for this blue Budgie went up on our local homeschooling group's recycle board. Talk about serendipity!!

He named her Pear. "Pear? Like the fruit?" I asked him (being a bit too short on sleep to get the obvious connection to the first syllable of "PARakeet"). "Yes, " he assured me. "Have you ever seen a blue pear?" he asked. No, I told him, I was quite sure I never had. He reassured me that they DO exist, his Gramma has one. (This is the imaginary Gramma who lives in Texas, wears cowboy boots, and speaks Spanish, not one of his real Grandmothers who live much less exotic lives and have much less colorful fruit.)

Zoo Boy has been the happiest boy on earth since Pear joined our family last night. He has a permanent huge smile on his face, and he keeps running around hugging us all. He was up bright and early this morning to help me get her fresh food and water and clean her cage. He's anxious to be able to pick her up, but we read that we should give her a few days to settle in before we ask her to trust us enough to let us touch her. He's trying to be patient about that. In the meantime I wired Pear's doors shut to prevent temptation and keep her safe.

Meanwhile, she seems to be as smitten with her new owner as he is with her. She can't take her eyes off Zoo Boy when he's around, and whenever he approaches her cage, she chatters softly to him. "She's talking to me!" he squeals in delight. "She loves me!" Yup, it sure seems like she does.

We've been reading about caring for Budgies on the internet, and have come to the conclusion that she would be happiest with a companion of her own species rather than being kept as an only bird. Since we own a larger cage anyway, we've decided that it would be fine to get a second Budgie. Zoo Boy thinks J should get a green parakeet to go with his blue one. J, being the cooperative big brother that he is, says that's just fine. So the hunt is on for a friendly male green Budgie to keep Pear company.

And Zoo Boy thinks they should name it....Apple. Of course.