I generally always use 1 and,  2 and, 3 and, etc when marking my sheet music, or even playing. I know that quarter note beat gets the 1 and. If it has a dot, I know to count the 1 and (the beat as is) and add the 2 (first half of the next beat). Since the 2 does not include the "and", the next count is "and". 

I don't know if starting out with considering them all as 1 and, 2 and, 3 and, 4 and, will help, but just thought I would toss it in. If there are different timings needed, I adjust from there.

NOTE for those who have already viewed this topic. I edited the topic title from, "Quick Question" to the "Reading Note Counts in Music", as seen above in case someone in the future is looking for something along this line.