Bonnie let me stroke her tummy and her beak for quite a long time, and she even chirped at me while I was petting her tonight. When I tried to get her to step up, she scooted down the perch but she didn't hop over to another perch as usual, just moved to the side, and didn't seem unduly upset. I can't figure out how to get it through her head what I want her to do. When I press gently against her tummy and say "hop on" (that's what I said to teach Clyde and now I don't even have to say anything, just offer the finger and up he goes) and she'll look at my finger like "WHAT are you DOING?" but she won't step up. We sit in front of her cage with Clyde with him sitting on a finger and she's VERY interested. I keep hoping she'll make the connection and think, "OH. Finger = perch. I see!" but so far no soap.

Any suggestions?

The good news is, she's stopped freaking out when I change her paper. She doesn't seem to mind hands in her cage much. I changed her paper tonight and she didn't even bother to hop away as usual. She just sat there and observed. She doesn't boss the job, the way Clyde does , but not freaking out is a major improvement.

I never had to tame a bird from scratch before and it's taking longer than I thought it would!

It sounds like you're making great progress! I'm so proud I don't always comment on your posts, but every time I sign on I'm always looking for a Bonnie update. I can't wait to see pics of her all snuggled up to you getting scritches.
It sounds like she's really getting comfy with having you touch her. Keep trying to get her to step up- if you do it right she either HAS to step up or hop over to another perch. You could also try putting some treats or just seed in the palm of your hand and holding it in front of her. Sometimes they'll just tip-toe on out on your hand to get the goodies.
Keep up the good work- you're getting there

This is what I've done for budgie training. I take them out of their cage, and get them comfortable to being in my hands. I grab one of their perches, and aftera little petting and chatting, I offer the perch for the bird to step up on, and give the command. After that I praise them, and then offer them my finger and issue the command. If they don't respond. I take them off the perch and back to sweet talking, and then perch and command again. Honestly budgies are uber easy to train, but they're nervous birds. It seeing clyde stepping up an d perching on your finger won't do much for little bonnie because to her clyde is driving a car and she can only drive a bicycle. The bird pretty much thinks it's out of her league, and doesn't have all the wires connected.

Well, the thing is, we can't take her out of her cage until she'll step up. I'd have to towel her or just out and out grab her and that would freak her out and we'd have to start all over earning her trust. I do think that eventually, and maybe very soon, she will step up. She has tried putting one foot on our fingers, sort of like she's testing the idea out, but she won't keep it there very long and she won't try both feet. She's quite the little mimic, though, and has already learned a couple of whistles and "pretty bird" or maybe it's "pretty girl" -- you know their tiny little voices and how fast they go when they're chattering, so it's hard to be sure WHAT she's saying, but she's definitely saying something. Last night Clyde was walking around carrying my reading glasses and she saw him doing that and decided she'd better play with something, too. She'd look at him for a minute, then grab one of her toys and shake it a little. Then she'd watch him again, and grab her toy again. And she definitely knows her name. If she's being quiet and I call to her by name, she chirps. She doesn't do that when I speak to one of the dogs or to Clyde, so she must know "Bonnie" means her. She ought to by now -- we constantly say "Pretty Bonnie" and "hello, Bonnie!" and "little Bonnie!" and stuff like that to her. Hubby also calls her "Tweety" sometimes but not as often as we say "Bonnie." And my, but she loves football. The crowd noise just sets her off and she sings and chirps and whistles and gets so excited.