So I decided to try something, when I took Alex and Lucy into my room. I noticed that Lucy's behavior seems to be largely influnced by Alex, so I performed a little behavioral experiment in my room.

Lucy usually hates being on the floor, but Alex doesn't seem to care as long as there's things to play with. So I put a bunch of objects on the floor, and let them both hang out on the floor.

Alex was the first one to start playing with one of the things I had out for them. He started playing with the tassel I kept from my highschool graduation. It didn't take Lucy too long to get comfortable and start playing with it as well.

After a while, I got off the floor, and observed them from my bed. Aside from occasionally looking up and calling for me, they continued playing together. So I decided pick Lucy up off the floor, and just hang out with her, giving her scritches.

Alex appeared unaffected, as he continued playing with the objects. So I eventually put Lucy back, and picked Alex up. Alex started crying because he wanted to keep playing, and Lucy flew to the bed.

Granted, there are probably some things I did wrong. I probably should have given Lucy more time to go back to playing, before taking Alex away. In the end, I couldn't get him to calm down until I started playing his favorite tune on the piano... Then he started crying when I stopped playing.

It's possible that I could get different results once Alex is older and has grown out of crying over everything. From other observations I've made, their interactions are one-sided. What Alex eats Lucy eats, what Alex plays with Lucy plays with and so on, but Alex doesn't seem to care about what Lucy's doing. On occasion, he does show interest, but for the most part, he doesn't really care.

You seem to have good powers of observation and behavioral analysis. I think you will be successful with them. Keep us posted!

Thanks, Dianne. Observing is one of my many "hobbies" when I'm out in public. I'm not a very social person outside of the internet, so I just kinda like to sit back and watch. When you do that, you notice that people can be really funny, sometimes.

I took them in my room again, though it wasn't really meant to be a study. I put their toys on the floor and let them play, since I've found it keeps them busy, and they won't be bothering me if I were to have an iPad in my hands. Since we're watching someone else's dog (who likes to chase birds), they haven't had much time out of the cage lately, and they've been protesting very loudly about it. So I took them to my room to keep them busy and quiet, while I did my own things.

Well, when I first went in there, I realized that I didn't have my ipad. So I stepped out of the room. I could hear Alex screaming from the other side of the house, even with the bedroom door closed. I got back in, and they were in the same spot I left them, and Alex shut up.

At one point, I started whistling a tune that was playing in a video I was watching. It was a theme song to a show I watch, and I was catching up on the latest episode. I hadn't noticed that I was whistling until I looked down at the birds, and saw that they abandoned their toys, and walked over to the bed. I ignored them to see if they'll go back to playing. After exploring the little section of the floor they had migrated to, they got bored, and flew to me... Well, kinda.

Alex flew to the bed, and Lucy just kept flying upwards, and ended up in the closet. I wanted to see if she'll fly back, but before she made up her mind, dinner was ready and I had to put them back in their cage.

I might try and conduct another experiment like the last one, and see if I can successfully take Alex away from the toys with Lucy continuing to play with them.

Aside from observation and behavior analyzing purposes, I'm doing this to encourage their instinct to explore, as well as encouraging independent play. Being curious is a great way to exercise the mind, and since Alex and Lucy are both still young, I'd like for them to stay curious and open minded about things. It might keep their confidence up. Alex does seem to have some emotional issues due to his past, and I feel that the mental exercise may help him grow out of it. Lucy's been a good help with that too since she seems to keep him occupied to some extant, and at the same time, Alex is helping Lucy get used to things she's not used to.

Though Lucy and Alex are already good with independent play (since they play with everything), I'm hoping to use what I've learned from observation to help Dudley, since he doesn't know how to play with toys. Granted, he is a different species altogether (he's a pionus, whereas Lucy and Alex are cockatiel) but I'm hoping that I might get something out of it, that I can use towards helping Dudley out.

One thing to be cautious about is that playing on the floor can be dangerous. Humans don't always notice that there's a bird down there, and the birds are used to humans walking around so they don't always fly off when you approach. Unfortunately birds do get stepped on sometimes, and I lost a budgie this way myself when I was a kid (my grandmother stepped on him). I don't encourage my birds to play on the floor but they go down there sometimes anyway, and I have to watch my step. There have been some near misses.

I don't usually let this happen, unless if there's no one else in the room but me. Hence, why I let them do it in the bedroom. Since I don't want them to be so used to the dog enough to do this with him around, this is why I don't have the dog in the same room.

I'll try to keep this to a minimum though. I don't want any accidents to happen.

Ive had near miss's with birds on the floor... but my Parrotlets luv to be on the floor... I tell everyone when they are out and Im very careful... but accidents do happen...
I use to use a babies playpen, for the birds on the floor was good too...