Birth Year Confusion

JULIA: Mommy?  If you were fourteen, would you be born in 2004?
ME: Like, if you're fourteen right now?
JULIA: Yeah.
ME: Well, if you were already fourteen right now, you'd have been born in 2003.
JULIA: But what if it turned in January?
ME: What if what turned in January?  You mean, like you turn fourteen when it's January 2018?
JULIA: No, like...(seeming at a loss for words to explain what she means)
ME: So if you were born in 2004, you'd be 13.
JULIA: But *could* you be 14?
ME: What month?
JULIA: What?
ME: What month do you turn 14?
JULIA: (suddenly evasive) I dunno...

Then it dawned on me.

ME: All right.  Which Mintz is 14?
JULIA: (a self-conscious smile spreading across her face) LILLY Mintz!


Lucky for me, I know Lilly Mintz's birthday!  (This is a bit sad.  I actively can recall the birthday of an imaginary person from an imaginary family that my daughter made up and still imagines about.  I might need to get more of a life.)

ME: Okay.  So September 1, if Lilly was born in 2004: on September 1, 2014, she would be 10.  On September 1, 2015, she would be 11.  On September 1, 2016, she would be 12.  And on September 1, 2017, she would be 13.
JULIA: But what about someone born in January?
ME: They would still be 13.
JULIA: But-
ME: What is it you need to figure out?
JULIA: I just need to figure out what YEAR Lilly and two of her FRIENDS needed to be born because they're 14 now!!

Sheesh.  She coulda just led with that.  It would have made this whole confusing conversation go much more smoothly.

After the clarification, we figured out that Lilly was born in 2002 and her friends friends with January birthdays were born in 2003.  Phew.  Glad we got that one solved.