A childhood belief about counting

Me? I used to NOT beleive.

On my mother's forty-fourth birthday, when I was four, we did the thing where you shout, "ARE YOU ONE! ARE YOU TWO! ARE YOU THREE! . . ." All the way up to forty-four. And that was how I learned to count to forty-four.

Later, when I was counting to four on my own . . . I asked my older sister what number came next. She told me that the same pattern as with the previous numbers continued, and that forty-five came next. It made sense, I'll admit. It was a logical reply. But I didn't trust her, because she was always playing tricks on me.

So for a very long period of time, I refused to beleive that forty-five DID NOT come after forty-four, and anyone who told me otherwise was just trying to trick me.