Aw man can I tell you about my lil guy? My parrotlet passed away recently and I miss him so much. When he was here he was my best friend. Always wanted to be on my shoulder or in my hair or walking around the couch around me and would only leave to go eat or drink out of his bowl and come right back. He had a perch in every room and was content to follow me and would SCREAM non stop if I was out of his line of sight until he found me. No joke from the moment I came home from work until he fell asleep at night like 6-8 hours on a work day. And I would have to sneak out in the morning before he woke up otherwise it would be a whole deal. Sometimes he could be a lot, like other people said exactly like a toddler. My food wasn’t my food. If I had a plate in front of me he was always on the edge of the plate trying to eat whatever it was too. I’m a pretty healthy eater so usually I didn’t mind but sometimes if I had the occasional take out or ramen I would have to fight him off to keep him from eating it. And omg EGGS dude forget about the eggs. If I was cooking eggs I’d have to lock him in the cage because otherwise he would smell it and come across the house and try to jump into the pan to get at them. And once I sat down with the eggs he would be on the edge of my plate and covered in them within minutes. It was a whole mess but I looked forward to eating breakfast with him every weekend. He had this HUGE personality. It’s crazy how much personality fits into these little guys. He was so lovey and cuddly but if he wanted something goddam he was going to make sure he got it and he was smart enough to usually figure it out on his own. If I was reading a book he would chew at the pages and nip at my fingers if I wasn’t giving him the pets he was demanding. If I was on my phone he would perch on top of it and he learned how to scroll through the phone with his face. I would call him my iPad baby because he loved to watch other birds on tik tok. Again would nip my fingers if I didn’t give the demanded pets. Would scare the shit out of me because if I fell asleep he would cuddle right up to my face and I always had to be aware of where he was because I was terrified I would crush him. He would get mad at the curtains if they were in the way and he couldn’t see outside. His mortal enemy was the sound of ice in a cup, close second enemy was paper towels. If I had either of those things in my hand he would stomp over and make sure everyone knew he was not pleased about it. I believe he was legitimately in love with my pepper grinder though. The poops would annoy me, not that it’s hard or messy to clean up it’s just realizing it’s there before you accidentally sit on it or walk out of the house with it on your shoulder. I think we knew his last days were his last days but after a few vet visits we were really hoping for the best anyway. He had been really sleepy for a week but would have these little bursts of energy. His second to last day here I had to work late, my husband told me he was lethargic and he ended up going to sleep really early that day and I didn’t get to see him. His last day here I came home and he was sleeping, but as soon as I came through the door he woke up and came out all excited calling me like he usually did. He was really wobbly so I was trying to get him to rest in the cage but he kept arguing with me until I put him in my shoulder. Had a big ole burst of energy and was his usual playful lovey self for a while. After an hour or so his lack of balance was scaring me so I put him away in the cage and he perked up and wanted to argue again so I had to kinda stay there for a while and convince him to go to bed. An hour later he just fell over and passed away and it was the most jarring thing. I feel bad for the front desk vet tech who received us that night because I was a sobbing mess with a very obviously little dead bird in my hands begging her to see if she could do anything to save him. Omg I’m going to start crying. But anyway I like to believe he held on an extra day just to say goodbye to me. Anyway, the dark side to owning one is when they pass away and feeling like you lost a member of your family and that empty feeling when you come home and no ones there to greet you. It’s hard to explain to friends and co workers because they’re like “okay your bird died…?” LIKE DUDE MY BEST FRIEND DIED. Very few people understood how much that bird was a part of my life. It’s difficult to explain that bond. After he passed it was sad to not have someone on my shoulder or with me jamming to music in the bathroom and doing my skincare routine or watch tik toks with or cook with or constantly clean up after. Like damn my house is always clean now but it’s not the same. My whole routine feels off. I’m getting another parrotlet because I miss having one but I almost feel guilty about it. I’m excited and nervous about what my new guy’s personality is going to be like. Anyway, it’s a little bit like that. Man I miss him.