A Cowgirl Does Origami

A couple years ago, Number One and I got the brilliant idea that we could amuse ourselves by making various origami creatures for H-Bomb. We ordered a book called Origami Zoo and some paper from amazon.com. And we took one look at the book and its complexity and put it and the paper up on a shelf. So much for "amusement," it just looked like "frustration."

As luck would have it, H-Bomb ran across the book and the paper the other day. "Mommy! Daddy! What's this??!!" He was soooooo very excited. He's been bugging us to make animals for days now. We finally bucked up last night. Number One attempted a dolphin.

Number One made it to about Step 3. I'm not joking. This so-called "dolphin" is the very first animal in the Origami Zoo. You'd think it might be easy. Or remotely do-able. H-Bomb brought the paper over to me. "Daddy can't do it," he said.

"Ok, Daddy, what have you done here?" I asked. "Oh, Step 3. Wow."

I attempted the dolphin as well. I used to do origami in college. It seems like I vaguely remember I could make a crane with flapping wings, without instructions. I should be able to do this, right?

I got stumped around Step 6, at "petal fold." I turned the page to see what else was coming...Twenty-Five Steps Total. Uhhhhh. I told H-Bomb we'd have to try again in the morning.

Bright and early, brain like an elephant, H-Bomb started in on the origami. Today he wanted to make a bird. I thumbed through the zoo book, Penguin? No. Swan? Um, No. Owl? Are you kidding me? Goose--like a crane, right? NO.

I looked up instructions for making a crane on the Internet. I fumbled through the instructions, had to go to another instruction site for a different view when it didn't look right around Step 22. But, I finally finished an acceptable crane (for a 4-1/2 year old, anyway).

You can see it above. But, unfortunately, it is not the wing-flapping crane of my relative youth. Apparently I still have some work to do.