If Only 13 was Onety Three

Aaron is getting to like numbers. He likes counting things and he enjoys writing numbers. One to ten was easy to teach him. I think he's known them for close to a year now from the count down to end a nursing session.

Once he could write and recognize the numbers one to ten, we went further. Eleven and Twelve were ok. Thirteen to twenty were manageable.

It wasn't until I started introducing all the numbers above twenty that he started to get confused with all the teens.

After learning about double digit numbers like forty five or sixty seven, he started to draw a blank whenever I wrote a number beginning with '1'. I also need to lead him a little for the twenties and thirties.

I've been telling him to look at the first digit, for example in 53, say whatever that number is, "five", and add a "ty" on the end. After that, just read the second digit normally. If that number is a '0', you don't need to say anything.

Of course, this only works for numbers 40 to 99.

There is some sort of explanation for all the confusion here. Unfortunately, the link to further information seems dead.

But wouldn't it have been easier if they just did this:

10 - Onety
11 - Onety One
12 - Onety Two
13 - Onety Three
etc

20 and 30 can be twoty and threety. That sounds pretty cute. Doesn't it?

Cute doesn't cut it though. Tomorrow we'll have to persevere with reality.

On a separate note, I wanted to show off the new award that Bilbo passed on yesterday.

I think I started reading Bilbo's blog around August 2007 and have done so almost every day since. He's full of funny stories and colorful rants. I never thought we would end up pen pals as well. Thank you very much Bilbo!