Odd vs. Even

"Is seven an odd number?" Ethan asked not long after his seventh birthday in November. I wondered if they'd been talking about that in school. I told him yes, and I told him Anna was 10, and that was an even number.

"I'm on odd's team now," he announced, as if we were talking t-ball or something.

"That's right," I concurred.

After that, I caught him counting the letters in words. A lot. The boy was super happy to learn Chloe was on his "team," and Anna was not (age and letters in the name, that's a double-even!). Mom was on his team and so was dad. And one of our cats. He was teasing Anna about this, that she was so outnumbered, and since Anna and Ethan pick fights with each other about everything, she actually started to get cranky about this...

...until she started creatively adding letters to things to bring them from the odd to the even side. And so, for example, Timothy, our cat, if you called him by his middle name, too (yes, we give our cats middle names, why do you ask?) was actually Timothy Jones, and that was 12 letters, and so really he was on even's side.

A number of odd vs. even arguments have ensued. Ethan got to taunt Anna because XM radio was an odd number of letters. But then Anna yelled back that June, her birthday and favorite month, fell into the even category.

Normally, I'd be supremely annoyed by another one of these "let's find the craziest thing in the world to get mad at each other about" kind of sibling arguments, but in this case, I'm taking it a little more in stride. The way I look at it: they're counting and spelling while they're fighting. That's got to be good for something.

Yesterday both of them had dentist appointments, one right after the other.

"Can I go first this time?" Ethan asked. I complied; it was indeed his turn. He looked completely happy, and I figured this was a typical yay-I-got-to-go-before-my-sister victory moment.

The next day, he fessed up.

"You know why I wanted to go first yesterday?"

"Why is that?"

"Because 1 is an odd number, and odd is on my team."

Ahhh, why didn't I think of that?

Now, if only we can avoid him barreling over everyone in his path at school to be first because it's "his team," we should be okay.

I think I need to use this theory on him when it's time for everyone to take baths, or maybe get shots. I need to hurry. Only nine months to go until he switches teams.