Origami Joe

As Joseph is rapidly approaching his sixth birthday, I wanted to commemorate this time in his life with some photos of him and one of his current obsessions interests: origami.  I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it in the past, but his interest goes on and on... he has more or less left paper airplanes behind, although a hand-me-down of a paper airplane book has renewed his interest somewhat.  Dad and Cathy gave Joseph a "Page A Day" origami calendar (so 365 sheets of paper with origami instructions on them), at the end of May or thereabouts.  I think there is no more than 50 sheets of paper left.  (He has not done all the origami instructions that came with it, but he has used the paper.)  Not to mention all the other pieces of paper he folds.  And he will help himself to rectangular paper and scissors and turn it into square paper.  He is making up a lot of his own figures now.  Some of them are very creative.  Not surprisingly, (to me anyways), he makes a lot of birds.  Birds are another one of his prime interests these days, and we enjoy watching birds come to the bird feeder and referencing his field guide and identifying the various species.  We've started a list of species we've seen just in our backyard, and we're up to about twenty.   Plus many others that we see out and about in the city.  He is really hoping to see a double crested cormorant when we go to Hilton Head since he knows they live on the coast!  He also loves insects, metamorphosis and butterflies.  He has asked me multiple times for a "metamorphosis birthday."  (I think he's asked for some other things too, but they escape me at the moment.)  I have had a nice respite from Star Wars talk for a few months now.  Although his LEGO Star Wars T-shirt is still his favorite and he would wear it every. single. day. if I allowed him to.  (I'm glad when it gets dirty so we can take a break from it for a few days!)

As for his birthday - I am too excited not to share already... but I found him a book I think he will just LOVE!  It is "The Bird Song Bible" and it is huge and probably weighs at least 20 lbs, maybe 30...  I don't even know if he'll be able to carry it... but it has an electronic player that plays I think a thousand bird songs of north american birds!  And it was only $25!  (The sticker says it retails for $125.)  I was ready to buy him a similar and much smaller book, with fewer bird songs for about the same price.  I'm so happy I found this!

The other thing I am working on for his birthday is a hand-made butterfly metamorphosis toy.  That has been his most often requested birthday present.  And I looked around online and didn't find anything that was quite right.  Then I found a pattern on Etsy for making such a toy!  And it will include a leaf with an egg on it and a big cocoon (chrysalis) for the reversible caterpillar-butterfly to fit into.  But you know for Joseph, it can't just be any butterfly.  It must be an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.  (And I know it is just his favorite for the moment and that it will almost certainly change, so I have to prepare myself for future disinterest, despite all my hard work.)  So, I actually altered the pattern a bit to make it look as much like a tiger swallowtail as possible.  And I chose colors for the caterpillar that are like a tiger swallowtail caterpillar.  (I know with Joseph no detail is overlooked... he will probably tell me that the leaf is not the right species and the chrysalis is not the right shape.  But I can only do so much!)  So I hope that it is like what he has been imagining all this time.  I will take pictures when it's all done.

Oh yes, I almost forgot - the anecdote that brings me back to the title.  We have a nickname for Clara.  We call her "Puddum" or "The Puddum" (coined by Michael.)  One day Joseph asked me if he could have a nick name too.  After thinking about it for a couple of days, I asked him, "How about if we call you 'Origami Joe?'"  Well, he replied that he just likes to be called "Joseph."

Here are some photos of some of his original creations that I think are particularly good and/or interesting:

 In the above picture, he is holding a macaw that Auntie Rachel made for him, which he loves.

This is Joseph's "Short Legged Heron" that he created and gave to Rachel as a gift.

And while I'm at it - bonus photos:

 Clara likes to play dress up.

Super Simon on the 4th of July

Chatting with police officers on the 4th of July.  No crimes were perpetrated in the taking of this photo.

 Another hilarious version of dress up for Clara.