Is color real?

I had a metaphysical discussion with my two-year old son this morning. I put a stool back in the room where it belonged (the chair kind of stool, not the other kind).

My son says, "Want orange stool."

So I retrieve the stool and say, "Jason, it's not an orange stool, it's a red stool."

He says, "Orange."

I go and get an obviously red drum stick and an obviously orange toy building. Showing him the drum stick, I say, "Is this red?"

"Yes."

Pointing to the toy building, I say, "Is this orange?".

"Yes."

Pointing to the stool, I say, "So Jason, see how the color of the stool is like the color of the red drum stick? So the stool is red."

"No, orange."

So my son and I are clearly having a serious metaphysical disagreement. Surely the stool has to be one color or the other. Can the stool be orange for him merely because he thinks it is orange?

Before you take the objective or subjective side of the dispute, here is a further puzzle about color. When we buy a can of paint, it has the name of a color on the label, such as "Red". However what is the color of the paint inside the can when the lid is on? (Note: there is no light inside the closed can). Also, when the can is opened under normal lighting, what is the color of the paint for a blind person?

For my solution, see Part 2.