One member of our family is a Congo African Grey parrot named Gandalf. He’s been part of our family for about ten years. We got him when he was a baby and not even totally weaned. He considers me to be a competitor for C’s affections, so I don’t think he’s as friendly to me as he is to C, but that’s how it goes.

African Greys are very smart parrots with distinct personalities and Gandalf is no exception. And they are also exceptional talkers and immitators. Thus the first similarity to toddlers – they ALWAYS learn things you don’t want them to – the chime of the alarm system, the ring of the phone, the sound of me scolding C (*blush*), the whistle of bottlerockets, the coughing of a sick person, etc.

Now while we were at C’s parents’ for Chistmas, we boarded Gandalf with his breeder. Parrots (and birds in general) don’t do well alone – they need daily care and attention. Gandalf always gets spoiled and well treated at his breeder’s so I don’t ever have to worry about him.

But another of the similarities to toddlers comes into play whenever we pick him up after boarding. We always get a report on how his behavior has been and anything the breeder or his staff has noticed. Just like picking your toddler up from daycare.

Apparently this time he was teaching the other parrots in the boarding room to meow like a cat and he’s somehow learned the Vonage “Yoohoo” jingle tune!

Now, those who don’t know might attribute the meowing to the feline members of our household. But you would be wrong. Gandalf actually learned to meow courtesy of one of our best friends, R, who thought it would be hilarious. Over the course of only a few hours, R managed to teach him to meow. He’s not stopped since. Sigh.

The cats, however, are Not Amused. Gandalf must have an awful accent or be constantly repeating the feline version of pig latin or something. They turn their backs and give him the tail in disgust.

But the Vonage tune baffled us. He’s not near the TV and *I* don’t sing/hum/whistle that little jingle bit at all. Then we heard the probable culprit – M. He was walking aroung loudly humming it and when we asked him if he taught it to Gandalf all we got was a simpering giggle and a look of guilt. Bingo.

So our parrot has been teaching the other parrots Bad Things :) We are bad parrot parents….

If you get a moment, please stop by the website of author Tami Dee. She has graciously interviewed my as her January 2007 Author in Waiting.

I really enjoyed Tami Dee’s book, Under a Viking Moon and I’m thrilled she chose me as a guest on her website!

Another gift at Christmas was the Roomba we gave C’s parents. I had bought one several months ago because I had heard good things about it from friends and really liked it. C was dubious but we gave it a try and it is both pretty effective and fun. It picks up a lot of cat hair and tree needles, etc. but it does have a few downsides – like the room having to be pretty tidy to run it and being a little loud – but it’s almost like having another pet.

Now the cats just know the Roomba is evil. It’s a sentient cousin to their arch-enemy after all. They run from ours when we have it running. But we have it an a dock that they can get to and they have managed to turn it on several times so far and scared themselves silly.

The first time it happened, C and I were sitting on the couch and heard beeping. We both looked at our laptops and then the other person’s laptop. Then we realized that it was coming from where the Roomba was about the time it powered it up and Alex, our 18 lb orange tabby, raced from the room with tail as puffed up as possible and looking wild-eyed.

The next time I was home alone and M had already gone to bed. I heard the beeping and looked over to see Merlin, our sweet old man cat, sitting on top of the Roomba and looking confused. Then the Roomba backed up and Merlin fell OFF it. He didn’t panic but looked confused and a little annoyed and stalked off.

So the next time we saw one for a good price, we decided to buy one for C’s parents. They have a very tidy house and we figured that it would help them keep it so with a little less work. We presented it at Christmas and after it charged, C’s dad set it loose and everyone watched it wander around. It was doing well for a while until we heard a huge scream from C’s mother in her bedroom.

“Oh my God! The Roomba ate a present!”

Several of us went racing in to see what had happened to discover that a gift bag had been on the floor and the Roomba had sucked up the handle of it. The bag was empty, thankfully, but C’s mom was freaked.

Now, mind you, we had warned them that the doors needed to be closed to rooms they didn’t want the Roomba to wander into. Apparently they didn’t take us seriously. At one point the Roomba visited C’s father in the bathroom.

Once it was done, C showed his dad how to empty it. When they got to the dirt cup, C’s dad was sold when he saw all the dog hair and little junk it had picked up.

Hopefully they will enjoy it and won’t have any more terrifying events!

Stop by the website of author Tami Dee and take a look around! Tami has graciously interviewed me as her January 2007 Author In Waiting!

Tami’s first book, Under a Viking Moon, is a terrific story and I’m thrilled to be her guest.

We usually spend the holidays with C’s family and the tradition is the family presents get opened on Christmas Eve and then once all the kids are in bed, the Santa presents get set up and stockings filled before the parents collapse until the way-too-early the next morning when the kids all wake up and race down to pillage their stockings and to find out whatever Santa left for them.

This year I had found a great item for M for xmas – a RoboRaptor. Now, being the ignorant mom that I am, I didn’t realize that there was more than one model of robotic dinosaur and was under some delusion that the RoboRaptor was the smaller RoboReptile. Silly me. The RoboRaptor is about 1/3 again larger than the RoboReptile. When it arrived, I was floored by the size of the box it came in. Oh my word!

The first challenge was how to get the thing into the car and all the way to Grandma & Grandpa’s house without it being spotted by the sharp-eyed M. That was accomplished by C swathing the box in a black plastic garbage bag and hiding it in the car the night before we left after M went to bed.

With the car packed to the gills, we went off to C’s parents’ house and successfully negotiated the mountain pass which had quite a bit of snow banked up and the road itself was only really bad at the top of the pass. Not too bad though C did get our adrenaline going when he slid off to one side and glanced off a snow bank. He said he forgot he was in a front-wheel drive car. LOL

After arriving at G&G’s, M immediately discovered his favorite cousin (about a year and a half older than him) was there and took off to play in the foot or more of snow they had. C successfully managed to hide the large black plastic encased Raptor in the garage.

Much fun was had during the day with great family company and many presents and love. M got a ton of stuff and had a BLAST. The snow was coming down again and after presents most folks went out to walk in the snow and play around. Eventually it was bed time and once M slowed down, he crashed. The kids were absolutely exhausted.

After the kids were safely asleep, the parents got busy trying to get the Santa tasks done and I packed M’s stocking while C was responsible for getting the RoboRaptor out of his box and batteries put in. Apparently one the batteries were put it, the Raptor was set to “on” and came alive.

Now several of the kids were upstairs in the loft while we were downstairs where sound travels. The Raptor let out a “roar” and I almost fell over when C got this look of panic on his face and grabbed the Raptor by the head and hissed “Shhhhhhhhhhhh” at it. When it seemed to stop, he let go of its head and it again thrashed and started to make roaring sounds. C grabbed it again and struggled with it while he tried to pry a battery out so he could shut it up.

In the meantime I’m laughing so hard I had to be turning red and falling off the hearth. My 16 year old niece and I are just dying as we watch this. Finally he succeeds and the raptor stops. Then C actually reads the instructions and locates the on/off switch for the Rapter (a Raptor BUTT switch???) and we get everything posed and finally get to bed.

This morning I wake up to hear the kids in the living room playing with toys and everyone else is up. I make C get up and we toss on some clothes to find that kids are having a great time and the Raptor has caused yet another stir and scared the heck out of the dog by heading toward it.

So C begins to play with the RoboRaptor and I think in some ways he was having as much fun as M was (especially since M was involved in playing with his garbage and recycle trucks at the time). It really is hilarious!

We’ll see what happens when we get the RoboRaptor home and the cats get to experience the fun of being chased by it.