 Hello, my sniffers. My name is Marlene McCohen and this is Cody, my African Gray and we want to welcome you to Storytime Sunday. I have some very interesting news for you guys and for you, Cody, today's Storytime Sunday is going to be about Cody. I think this is Cody's first Storytime Sunday. In fact, every time I have Cody join me for a Storytime Sunday, I think the story has been about my previous African Gray, George. Now, Cody really hasn't done anything significant in the small amount of time that I've had him in terms of a major dramatic story. However, he's done a lot of cute things and since you guys have been with me from the beginning of his rescue, I thought that it might be a fun idea to just give you a Cody update and go through what it's been like so far living with Cody and the things that he said because, you know, African Grays tend to talk and how I felt when I first heard him talking and what his personality has been like and who he loves in the family most. Cody, you are just speechless, aren't you? You are not expecting this to be about you. I think he's happy about it though. For those of you new to my channel, let me explain. Cody is a rescue. I consider a rescue to be a bird that is in need of a home suddenly because even if he's not tortured or abused, a lot of the times these birds are locked in their cages for a very long time and I consider that to be a rescue because here we are giving Cody a new life. But one day when I first heard about Cody and I was on my way to go pick him up, I made a video about it and sent it out to the YouTube world and you guys have been following it since. If you haven't been, you can go to the playlist on my channel called The Cody Files and watch the progress that I had with Cody, the day that I got him and me bringing him home and surprising the family with the new bird and then finally deciding that we are going to keep Cody. Now that you're caught up, let me tell you what it's been like with Cody. The first thing I remember about Cody was what you guys have seen. He was kind of aggressive and a little bit on edge the first day. I coaxed him with some treats and some quality time. At first I thought he's really into men because when George arrived, he was so nice to George and interested in George and I come downstairs. You guys can see that in the video and George is petting him. So I'm like, I don't really think there's going to be so much hope for me and this bird being best buddies but I'm going to try because you know how I feel about African Greys. I think the second day that I had Cody, I wanted to get him out of the cage and he was in that territorial mode where he didn't really feel like coming out when he was in the cage. So I did what I did in the video, my parents first day home and I literally took a blanket and got him out because I knew that once he was out, everything would be different from there and it was to my surprise. Cody ended up on my shoulder that moment and of course I'm kind of like, okay, that's where you want to be. Last time we had an encounter, you bit me but all right, let's go downstairs. I've seen you be nice to George. I've seen you let somebody pet you. So let's go downstairs and hang out and he was pretty happy the entire day. Well the next day I got him out and came out easily from the cage after that whole blanket scenario, which really wasn't that bad at all. We were having breakfast and he was on the stand and he said, love you. And I was like, oh my god, you love me. I'm so excited. Now of course I knew he was probably saying that maybe not knowing what he's saying of course, probably not directed towards me. He's probably saying it because the family that he lived with before had a kid and they were probably saying that to their kid. Either way, it doesn't matter. I melted and Cody came over and I let him sit and have breakfast with me but he's not really into the table food surprisingly enough. He's pretty into his pellets and things like that. If you'll remember my African gray that died George was the love of my life and I really wanted to bond with this African gray. I really wanted Cody to love me and when I say wanted, I think what I really mean is needed. I think I needed his love. I really thought at this point that he was just going to be a guy's bird but I really wanted to try. Well that day we spent a lot of time together and I sat him on me when I watched movies and I decided that he was going to sleep in my bedroom which he had already been doing. I was in my bed and I thought let me try to just put him next to me. What was weird was on that third day I was giving Cody kisses and he was kissing me back and he was going like obnoxiously like kissing me like as if he hadn't seen me in so long. It was the weirdest thing. Now I will tell you guys that I did see Cody three years prior and I'm not saying Cody remembered me but I am insinuating something else and if you stay tuned next week I'm going to tell you the secret story of Cody and this is a story for only believers. This is not a story for non-believers so do not tune in next week unless you are ready to listen to something really amazing that I've been hesitating to tell you guys but I think in honor of the date of next week I'm going to tell you the secret story of Cody. Yeah I waited till the middle of the video to sneak that in to see who's paying attention but I think you guys will be really excited and I think this will be the most mind-blowing story that I have ever ever told you so make sure you tune in next week to hear the secret story of Cody but until then let's get back to Cody's behavior with me. Cody had been kissing me like crazy like really obsessively like somebody who hadn't seen me in a while and really wanted to just like show me how much they loved me and of course I love this I'm like can I have a kiss kiss and he's like and he also would go like this and I was like wow that's so weird like I don't think I've said that to him but that's something I said to George a lot I used to go you're so cute you're so cute and now he still says that it's so cute I love it back to me getting in bed that night and there's his cage and it's close to me and I want a bond and I'm not ready to sleep yet so I pull him out of the cage and I sit with him and I'm thinking he's just gonna sit on the bed well he came in for like a cuddle and here I am all excited I put the blanket over him and I start like cuddling him and he's literally like a jersey on me so rare for an African Gray now I'm not saying I haven't seen nice cuddly African Grays before cuddly we'll use that term loosely but you know what I mean the ones that don't mind being pet and cuddle and there he is falling asleep in my arms I was just amazed I couldn't believe it so that was it Cody was mine I was like this bird is not only my bird like he's not leaving this house but he's gonna be bonded to me right Cody yeah so from there I just hung out with Cody more and more and spent more time with him and being the fifth bird in the house it's a little bit different than when I had George and George was my one bird alone for a year the other birds have their schedule so now we have to take time to fit Cody's schedule in and start blending it but the other birds I have to continue to make sure to put their schedules first and then slowly start finding time to hang out with Cody and giving him his alone time with me and socialization with the rest of the family so Cody is going to develop I know already in terms of speaking a lot slower than let's say George would have so I know I gotta give him time but I'm waiting to see what kind of things he will say some of the first things that Cody said were Cody he would be like Cody then he would do the answering machine very interesting because that was the first thing I ever heard George do too and it's like who even hears the answering machine anymore but you know they hear it through the phone what he would do is like most of all the most exciting thing I think was just hearing an African gray in the house again it was like this is what the house should sound like for those of you who don't have an African gray it's kind of like constant chatter it's not really like the screams of a cockatoo he'll talk and sometimes mumble he also came speaking Hebrew which is kind of cute and funny and I know Hebrew so it was interesting just hearing a bird speak some Hebrew really in terms of speaking a lot he didn't say much now ever since having Cody here are the things that I have heard him say I've heard him say of course I love you love you Cody what else have you said it's so hard to remember when you're thinking about it it's so weird here's the story of when I first heard Cody say some other things I went away to Ireland as you guys know especially if you follow me on Instagram you definitely know that and you watched the whole process well who took care of the birds my sister did my sister is excellent with the birds she's here all day long she's studying to be a vet she's just amazing with the birds but we also have two dogs two dogs which are completely my sister's pack like this is my flock and the dogs are her pack and they follow her everywhere so after I went away I came back and Cody says when I'm ready to take the dogs outside he suddenly says good girl good girl and I'm like whoa where did you learn that and I realized he was watching my sister tell the dog good girl that's my dog Sandy she's a girl and Cody liked it so he picked it up and now every time the dog does something good Cody says good girl and Cody also says come here and come here buddy and good buddy he said good bird which was really really cute Cody obviously has something about picking up on things that my sister says when I go away because the next time I went away I don't know where I went I came back and I'm downstairs and I'm in that process of like you know getting them all ready and giving them breakfast and Cody is there on his stand and the dogs are lurking around and suddenly Cody says want to go outside and I'm like whoa that's like the longest sentence I've ever heard you say well maybe not the longest but kind of like the most complicated want to go outside and I realized he knows that it's time to let the dogs outside again he's copying my sister I'm like are you practicing things while I'm away funny thing I've never heard him say it since how come you don't say that Cody he's like that was the only moment that it fit you're such a genius so I'm hoping Cody's gonna be a genius often we hear him say something that sounds like my name but you know how I am I'm such a perfectionist that if I'm not 100% sure it's my name I'm like he hasn't said my name yet now here's how Cody is in the household Cody follows me everywhere at first I wasn't sure if Cody could fly a lot of you were commenting in the videos that he flies down well you know when birds don't have a lot of confidence flying the first place they're gonna fly is down and he really had no history of flying and keep in mind when I first met Cody three years ago this was not a bird that was ever out of the cage and I know it because I had to go there and show the guy how to take the bird out of the cage and I can't imagine that in the three years since I saw him they had taken him out of the cage much at all because when I went to approach the cage they were like really you're gonna take him out he's gonna bite and it's kind of amazing that he stepped up in that moment I still can't believe that the first moment I saw Cody he just stepped up on to me and let me take him I think they know I think birds just know that this is their moment they just know I mean they can behave however they want after that but they just sense that they're going to a better place I also think that if you visit a bird before you take them home they know that too sometimes I think that's why they bond with me a lot so in the household Cody loves me he's also very possessive over me when my dad came to visit I was so excited to introduce him to Cody because you guys know my dad loves birds except I didn't really know at this time that Cody was bonding with me in a way that he was very protective over our relationship because he was nice to George and seemingly nice to Jenna it seemed like he was a well socialized bird like he was becoming really easy for other people to hang out with well on this particular day I wanted to introduce the bird to my dad and Cody was upstairs the next thing you know my mom comes down with Cody on her hands which is just like shocking enough and I was like whoa way to steal the show all our heads turn we had family visiting because it was around the Christmas break time so everyone's there we're all looking at my mom and we're like whoa what are you doing with Cody she's like I just asked him to step up and he came and I'm like okay that's exciting I take Cody before he bites her or anything that I'm not prepared for because I want her experience to be really good because you know she's not as forgiving as the rest of us are with the birds but she loves them anyway I want to introduce him to my dad it's not going exactly the way I planned and my dad's like it's okay let him relax you know one day I'm sitting next to my dad watching a movie that my dad liked and apparently I was too close to my dad because this is the moment when Cody decided to flight train himself meaning he's on the stands about 10 feet away he hasn't displayed many acts of flight previously he's seemingly afraid to fly he has flown a little bit he's always flown down and definitely whenever I said Cody come here he didn't really make any attempts to come fly to me well Cody decided this was gonna be his big moment and little did I know maybe I was a little too close to my dad for Cody's comfort I'm always like jumping on my dad and hugging my dad and kissing my dad and all this like I'm like daddy oh my god you know you're so cute and like just giving him all this attention literally like share in clueless that's what my mom says it seems like anyway Cody flies over and he lands right here on the couch and I'm very proud I'm like look at you you've come to me you're such an amazing bird he starts doing this weird shuffle like he's got his eye on my dad the way Jersey keeps her eye on Jenna and any guy that looks like they're involved with Jenna and it's cute this shuffle so I'm like how sweet there's two little like feet or like this and he goes like this and then he stands like an inch closer to my dad and I'm like that's so cute look at him dad he likes you you know but the shuffle looks kind of suspicious and I'm aware of it and then I get a little too close to my dad and Cody just goes in and bites his lip and I feel so terrible because I feel like I should have known but how could I have known this bird hasn't really bit anyone since this bird hasn't displayed any enormous bond towards me that he wants to attack everybody else this is the moment that I'm learning so he charges at my dad and I'm like oh my god now I don't know if this is like an isolated event or if this is going to continue to happen but with birds you have to treat it like it could always happen again the next day there we are me and my dad again we're kind of like in a family chat like each couch has somebody Cody flies over again I'm very proud he hasn't flown next to my father so this is okay and he lands in a spot kind of like opposite my dad where he had watched my dad and then he comes on to me comes up my shoulder steps off of me and starts doing that weird shuffle thing close to my dad and I'm like dad just stay away I don't want to mirror you I don't know if the bird's gonna lunch so I say to dad do me a favor take your hat so you're at a distance from the bird and show it to the bird well Cody just lunged at it and I was like oh my god Cody is really really you know he has that side and he is planning on taking it out on my dad so now I know two things not to act too cuddly around my dad in front of Cody and also not to bring Cody around my dad too close I mean of course I'm gonna keep him out and on the stands and hanging out but I don't want any dangerous situations also I gotta keep in mind who else might he not like I just gotta be very careful remember he's still new right Cody did you do these things I get lost in their eyes I really do so that was how he behaved towards my dad in the meantime Cody starts to get so attached to me that he flies after me everywhere he's become very experienced at flight he loves to fly and he's easily flight trained he's not afraid to fly to me at all wherever I am he's excellent at landing he's such a smooth flyer that it feels sometimes like Picasso just landed on my shoulder it doesn't feel like a large awkward bird is landing on me literally feels like like so nice and I love when he lands on me and of course it's very flattering so I'm like you flew to mommy this is what Cody does once he wakes up in the morning the moment I go to certain spots in the house he flies after me he also flies after me if I pretend to run away so if he's on the stand and I go Cody look I'm leaving and I run he flies after me like crazy he thinks I'm gonna leave him and he has this intense fear I swear he has this fear that I'm not gonna be around and it scares him if Cody flies to me Picasso gets really jealous and flies to me too so usually I have like two helicopters flying at me and if they by any chance come across each other right when they're about to land they'll all do circles in the kitchen and then I just know what's gonna happen Cody's gonna land on the couch and Picasso is going to be the one that lands on me because Picasso is extremely skilled at flying so that's kind of what it's like living with Cody. Cody has recently appeared in my dreams every night I dream about Cody but the dream is not about Cody the dreams are just regular dreams where I'm getting into a car and Cody's following me I'm getting into a room and Cody's following me really Cody is just following me everywhere in my dreams because that's pretty much what he does in real life and the hard thing about is it's so flattering I'm just like yeah you're following me but I'm not like yeah stand on top of my head because how is Cody with my sister well I thought Cody and my sister were pretty good together they had done some real bonding they hung out in her room together a lot as you saw in some of the videos but the other day Cody and Jenna and Jersey and I and the dogs were in her bedroom hanging out and you know how you get on those YouTube modes where you just keep watching video after video well my sister Jenna decides to show me an owl video I love owls they're so cute and one owl video leads to another owl video leads to another owl video and this bird is there but he's not getting 100 attention my sister and I are laughing we're on the bed too so you know kind of like I'm leaning over and it seems like we're just laughing hanging out together kind of like a recreation of me and my dad well Cody starts getting really upset I can tell like he starts doing that shuffle you could tell that he doesn't really want my sister to approach me well then my sister says let's get an owl and Cody goes to bite her he was not excited mind you we're not getting an owl don't worry about it I mean I would love an owl don't get me wrong but really I don't need any more birds and let alone an owl so it's just cute they're just so cute in videos like I want an elf owl I don't know anyway they're so cute well Cody he knew what we were saying and he does not want to be shoved over while another pet comes in so he was very upset about that weren't you Cody were you upset were you upset about the owl yeah but he wasn't too happy about the owl but we soon learned he was even more unhappy about me and my sister laughing and hanging out he snipped at her and when he snipped at her we knew that this might be a dangerous situation because he probably is becoming really protective over me so we know it's that or the owl well we joke that it's the owl but really he did not want her next to me but we still tease him about it we claim that Cody is jealous of the idea of us getting an owl Cody do you want me to get an owl I said do you want an owl there's another thing he says what I'm telling you he's not excited about this owl don't pull my clip out did you hear that he was like what I will not accept no owl in this house don't worry nobody's bringing an owl to the house how about a toucan do you want a toucan so there's a couple of Cody stories I feel like I've been leaving Cody out for so long with the Cody stories that I wanted to tell you a few and what it's been like and give you a Cody update in short he's having a really good time here he follows me around everywhere and I just love it and oh yeah he's getting bullied by Picasso Picasso is not having it Picasso was the baby and Picasso knows that Cody is really loved so Cody has a hard time in that area because the other birds don't let him understand and don't want him in their environment but he's doing pretty well befriending humans he'll let guests hold him but of course not pet him but you know how African greys are anyway about being pet they're not going to let any random person pet them and they're not like cockatoos where they want a lot of like cuddles and love so he will let guests pick him up and hold him but you know I'll make sure I get it back after like five ten seconds just in case he's really smart he's learning to speak oh he started to say go potty except I'm not sure he knows exactly when to say it or what it's for we're still working on that the other day he landed on my head and said go potty thank god he didn't right Cody he's sweet he lets me pick him up in all different fun ways which is really cute and he's just an overall really cute fun bird and it's so great to have an African gray in the house again and on that note you guys have got to tune in next story time Sunday for the big story I have been waiting a long time to tell you guys this well that's not true the truth is I have been debating for a long time if I should tell you guys this story but next week is the moment so come join and hear the magical story of Cody bring a cup of tea or a cup of coffee and tune into this one because you are going to be amazed and non-believers do not show up to this story because it's going to be pretty amazing or just join in and have fun anyway guys thank you so much for coming to Storytime Sunday Cody and I want to wish you a brilliant week filled with lots of exciting things we also would love for you guys to follow us on Instagram at Marlene McCohen I use Instagram like snapchat so you'll see stories of the birds all day long and my household and the dogs and the birds especially the birds because I love filming the birds so please come visit us on Instagram but more importantly join me on Parrot Station is our Facebook group for people who love birds come introduce your bird say hi enjoy watching the other birds and if you need any help or parrot advice we have so many great people on there so please come and join Parrot Station we love to have you and of course please subscribe because subscribers are very exciting to us so exciting that Cody decided to sit on my head for this we love subscribers because it means that that many of you care about your birds and love your birds and want to improve the life of your birdies so if I could change the life of even just one bird having better food or more time out that is what I'm here to do so thank you guys so much for tuning in we love you say bye Cody bye say bye Cody I'm obsessed