Oh gross

School started again on Monday, so Jack and I are back to taking our morning walks in the cooler air.
Earlier this week we came across this GIANT cicada on the street.
I figured we would look it over and move on.
Jack says, "Hey Mom, can we take it home?" Errr. Sure. I guess.

And then he went and did the unthinkable and asked me to carry the gross little bugger home. I tried to be all cool about it* and just say that if he wanted it, he had to be the one to carry it. But he was insistent that I touch it. So still trying to play it cool I told him it was a little bit scary.
His reply? "Mom, it isn't even an animal anymore."**

"Look at it's eyes! See them wiggle?" And then he proceeds to wiggle the eyes at me.

And that is where I nearly ran away screaming. LOL

God cicadas are gross things. Yuck, yuck.

So he carries it home and promptly deposits on his nature tray. And the neighbor girl comes over after school and picks it up. The first thing she says, "Hey Sarah, for a minute I thought this was real and it was really gross."

And my reply? "It is real."

And then she throws it down and runs away screaming. LOLOLOL

Did I mention they are gross?

*I don't want Jack to get unnecessarily freaked out about stuff, so even if it is freaking me out, I ALWAYS try and play it super cool. And yes, I am a biologist who is freaked out by a dead bug. My husband seems to think this is either a) ridiculous or b) hilarious.

**I have no clue where he got the idea that a dead thing is no longer an animal. My guess is school, since we are unlikely to have given him that idea here.