Growing up, we had a lot of pets. There were times that we had hermit crabs, fish, hamsters, and birds. There were actually lots of birds. At one point, we had two parakeets, four cockatiels, and two cockatoos. Pretty Boy was the original pet that I really remember. He was a baby cockatiel that we got shortly after my little brother was born.

Eventually, we got Pretty Boy a very skittish girlfriend name Baby. They had no interest in each other, but lived nicely in the same cage.  Ninja and Teddy were two parakeets that were for my brother and I  to take care of. They replaced the hamsters once that phase was over. Then, I really wanted a cockatiel of my own. I went and picked out Cinnamon. She was a beautiful cinnamon purl cockatiel who was super sweet. When  a bird flew down to someone who worked with my mother, Wild Thing was adopted by us since we could not find his owners. They liked each other a lot. We had many eggs from them, but no babies ever hatched.

When I was in middle school, we finally decided to get a larger bird. Although my father always wanted an African Gray, we decided on a sweet little cockatoo who had giant Whiskers by her beak. Whiskers was our baby and loved to be out, play with us, talk, and go outside to see the neighbors. A year or so later, while I was in Florida with my cousin visiting family, my parents purchased another cockatoo. Moose was a gentle giant and quickly became my baby.

I have written about Moose and how he saved my oldest son’s life almost eight years ago when he passed away in my arms. These days, Nana and Papa only have one bird left in their house. Whiskers is now 21 years old. The boys have fun making him dance, sing, and talk. The other day I wanted to test out the video on my phone and Whiskers was the perfect subject.

Next time I hope to capture Whiskers dancing along with JSL since she loves to do that. What pets did you have as a child? Do you have similar pets with your children?