JINX!!

Just so you know, I can't talk.  I've been jinxed.

Much thanks goes to my 13 year old who learned how to do this and shared it with my 10 year.  Thanks again to the 10 year old for sharing it with the 8 year old.  And, yeah, the 6 year old bought into it BIG time. 

Don't remember how jinxing works?  Two people unintentionally say the same words at the same time.  One yells, "JINX," thereby muting the second person.  The jinxed or muted person cannot speak until someone calls his or her name.

I was first jinxed this morning by saying, "I love you," to my child.  Not a bad way to go since he had told me he loved me at the same time.  I finally got out of that silencing when his brother was unhappy with his breakfast options and opted to whine my name repeatedly.

Later, two of the boys and I began to nag the oldest boy.  "Come on," gave way to simultaneous, "JINX!!!" and somehow the three of us were all silenced. 

We've been pantomining for an hour now.  We've pantomined all the things we will do for the 10 year old if he will simply say our names. 

This 10 year old, who spent much of the first half of his life silenced by severe speech issues, loves solitude and quiet.  And this 10 year old boy just smiled at us and walked out of the room all without ever saying our names.

At this point we are wondering, do giggles count as talking??