Hello! My husband and I got Leonard, a male cockatiel, for Christmas. The bird store wasn't sure of his exact age, but said he was still a baby. (He recently went through a major molt) I've since realized we made a mistake by handling him so much when we first got him while we were home a lot during the Christmas holiday. He's normally a pretty sweet bird and loves to be held and petted--but that's the problem. He became accustomed to the attention when we first got him and now can get quite demanding when we get home from work--he gets louder and louder, often banging his beak against the cage or bell to get our attention. I realize he is lonely after being alone all day, so I try to take a moment to say hello before starting dinner, etc. but he just seems to get more frustrated when I have to walk away. Unfortunately, he is not content sitting outside the cage by himself when we can't hold him-he seems to get nervous and makes every attempt to reach us, often breaking tail feathers in his flying attempts (his wings are clipped). We do get him out once we have settled down for the evening, though. But he is so loud and annoying up to that point. We often resort to taking his cage to a back room until we can get him out as nothing will quiet him down. But we feel guilty--a book I read said that is not good to do, yet I have not found any suggestions as to what are some appropriate ways to train/discipline him to entertain himself in his cage or out when we aren't able to hold him--most tips refer to a training a new bird, not one with whom we have already developed a bad pattern. Do you have any thoughts? We definitely enjoy sweet Leonard otherwise -- he's quite fun when he isn't frustrated:) But we need help finding that balance between showing him attention and taking care of the details of our lives at home.