Your Moment of Zen

Olivia bounded down the stairs this morning and pronounced, "You said today we could figure out how to make a crane."

Me: "I what now?"

Olivia: "A crane. You promised."

"I promised what now?"

"You promised we'd look on the computer thingy and figure out how to make a crane."

Dawn breaks on marble head. Olivia has been into making origami swans. They are all over my house. But she wants to advance to cranes because of the symbolism attached. Olivia is a junior peacemonger.

Well, you know what? Folding cranes is hard, ya'll!

We tried several different sites for directions before we decided to blame our instrument. This wasn't gonna work as long as we kept trying to fold square-cut pieces of computer paper. We needed some origami paper. We headed out to the craft store where Olivia was a little overwhelmed by the selection of origami paper available to her. Shiny, patterned, bright, pastel - what to do, what to do? Ah, smart child, she chose the one on clearance. Originally the most expensive, now the cheapest. It's exactly what I would've done and she did it without prompts. Nature or nurture? Ha! Trick question! Her action made sense from both perspectives!

Home we go, to try these cranes again with her beautiful tie-dye patterned paper. By the end of the third try I am laughing so hard I can barely see the computer thingy anymore. Laugh or cry, ya'll; laugh or cry. This is the pattern we were using. We liked it better than the others we'd tried because it included an animation. How could we go wrong?

How indeed.

This sad little thing is the best mutual effort we could come up with, and his coming into being involved a lot of hysterical laughter and perhaps a frustrated tear or two.

I said, "I give up."

Olivia: "Don't EVER give up, momma. We can get it if we keep trying!" (When did my child turn into my mother?)

Saved by the bell! At this point, the doorbell rings and it's Olivia's friend. Olivia tells her about our crane-making and invites her to give it a try. Her friend, bless her heart, says, "Let's just make swans."

And make swans, they did.

After her friend left, Olivia said, "The swans are nice, but I like that cranes are wishes for peace. What do swans mean?"

I said, "Swans mean grace and beauty."

"Oh. I like that. But not as much as peace." (Nature/Nurture? Huh? Huh?)

And just when I thought it was over, she added, "Maybe we can
try the cranes again soon."

And because I didn't get this published fast enough... Olivia mastered the crane this morning. TADA!