Turtles

I took Beckett to the park today. As we walked around, he decided not to run and play, but instead to hold my hand. As we walked around the covered picnic area, I could feel his body tense up. He stopped walking and squeezed my hand. He refused to go any further. 

 

I leaned down to him and asked him if he was okay. "TahDuh" was all he could muster in his broken English of toddlerhood. I translated it to be "turtle", although I had no idea what he was talking about. He confirmed my guess as I scanned the horizon for said turtle. Nothing. He remained frozen, and could not be persuaded to move forward. As the wind blew, I noticed a plastic cover (what could have been a table cloth at one point) taped to a square picnic table fill with air. All at once, I saw what looked like a GIANT turtle. 

 

I eventually convinced him to walk around it - giving it some good distance. As he cautiously moved forward, he whispered up to me "TahDuhs eat peepowh." 

I have never worked so hard to suppress laughter. "Turtles eat people?" He gave an emphatic head nod and an "Uh Huh."

We had a breif talk about how turtles don't eat people, and how that wasn't really a turtle. He was comforted that turtles no not, in fact, eat people. He seemed to believe me too. I picked him up, and took some steps towards the table. He tensed up again. I explained that it was only a table. I walked over to it and pulled up on the plastic. He clinged tightly to me, but refused to touch it. 

Poor Boy.