When the kids were in grade school, we acquired a small aquarium and gradually filled it with little creatures. We really liked getting something in different classifications -  an arthropod, a mollusk, reptile, amphibian… I’m such a home schooler.

The snails started laying eggs. The cases were about 1″ x 1/4″, stuck on underside of the aquarium lid. Everyone was excited for baby snails – except K.  She didn’t want anything to do with them. Several weeks went by before she was able to verbalize her concern: “They’ll be all in my room!” No, I assured her, they were small and aquatic and stay in the tank. “Too many!” She said. I thought, well, we do have a half dozen egg cases now, I will remove all but one. She became hysterical at that point, refusing to even go to bed. I removed all of the eggs and she calmed down.

Later I learned that the particular species of snail would lay 2,000-3,000 eggs in each case. If I thought carefully and did some multiplication, I believed it. However, K had understood with one glance at those eggs, and the sheer number frightened her. What an amazing brain!