Numbers

My daughter will be turning four years old in May, and as any firstborn child, she is expected to excel in everything there is to possibly excel in. Okay, not really, but as much as we don't want her to grow up too fast, we want her to be the smartest little girl she can possibly be. She lives up to this expectation most days and often surprises us with the information she retains effortlessly. But for probably a year now, Lucy has been leaving "15" out of every counting sequence that we have heard her sweet little voice recite.

A few nights ago, John -- being a numbers guy -- decided to work with her on this. Over and over again at the dinner table they counted together.

They started from one, but by the time they reached 15, she had long since forgotten to include it.

So then they started from ten. Still forgot the 15.

Then he tried to have her repeat this sequence: "Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen..." Her response: "Fourteen, sixteen..."

Seriously?! All three of us were in fits of laughter that this wasn't working. She thought it was a joke, and we thought we were in the Twilight Zone.

Some time ago a friend of mine said her daughter had the same problem with the same number. Coincidence? Perhaps. But then I saw an episode of Sesame Street where the number of the day was...you guessed it, 15. I snagged the opportunity and tried to draw extra attention to it and make sure Lucy watched and listened closely. The weirdest part was that one of the segments was an animated bit with the number 15 singing a song about how everyone forgets him and leaves him out!

Coincidence? I think not. Weird? Definitely!