Math Brain

Mariel and I hit math kind of hard today, and tonight she is experiencing 'math brain'-- you know, when you are going innocently about your business, and smack!!-- math hits you between the eyes.

I first found out about it as we started the van to go pick up Cornflower's prescriptions. The van's digital clock read, "7:28".

"Seven, twenty-eight. That's a fact family," Mariel murmured.

"Hmm?"

She gave a little yelp, like she had been stung. "Mom, I'm seeing math all around me. Argh! I just saw a prime number!"

It continued as we drove down the highway to the nearest Walmart. Another little shriek, a grimace, and-- "There's another one! Wait-- Mom, is thirty-one a prime number?"

"I believe so."

And so it went. "Look at all the numbers! I can't escape! Mom, what's the difference between two for four dollars and a dollar ninety-eight each? It's just two dollars, right?"

As we drove back home, every so often she jumped a little.

"Another one?"

"Yup."

She. Is. So. Funny. I love this girl. And I think we've finally got her on the math. After all, this afternoon when I had to tell her that one is not prime, she argued with me. She even referenced one of the Murderous Maths books. I had to pull out the Usborne Math Dictionary, the answer key to her math text, and get Triss to back me up in order to convince her. She finally acquiesced after hearing Triss' answer, a quote from the I Hate Mathematics book: "You may wonder why one is not a prime number. Well, it just isn't. Mathematicians are so picky sometimes."

Triss thinks we should buy her Math Curse for a present.