Mouthwash Charades

I'd like to introduce you all to someone very important in my life. Please meet The Information Technology Husband (the ITH)!

He is a little ridiculous.

I'm not entirely sure how this first started, but at some point long ago we were getting ready for bed and the ITH took a swig of mouthwash and then decided there was something he needed to tell me immediately. This quickly became a Charades challenge which has turned into a game we play multiple times a week. Typically the message is very mundane. Its more about playing Charades.

Last night this happened:

ITH: mmm mmmmu *points at me*

TDE: me.

ITH: MMMM mmmu

TDE: me?
clearly he's trying to communicate the first word, but emphasizing the "mmm" really doesn't help.

ITH: *squats and sticks his butt out* MMM!

TDE: Poo.

ITH: *nods, but does that hand circling thing that means "please elaborate"*

TDE: poop?

ITH: *pushes palms towards each other clearly indicating "shorten it"*

TDE: poo?

ITH: *shakes head*

ITH: *starts making barking and howling sounds*

TDE: Dog?

ITH: *nods*

TDE: Dog poo?

ITH: *shakes head somewhat defeatedly*

ITH: *has "aha" moment and starts a new thought process*

ITH: *puts hands near the bedside lamp*

TDE: lamp?

ITH: *shakes head*

TDE: light?

ITH: *nods*

ITH: *holds hands as if he's holding an invisible orb and holds this over his head*

TDE: Light bulb?

ITH: *shakes head, points to the window*

ITH: (while pointing to the window) mut-mide
This was surprisingly easy to understand.

TDE: outside.

ITH: *nods*

ITH: *holds hands as if he's holding an invisible orb and starts to move it in a big arc*

TDE: the sun?

ITH: *nods*

ITH: *takes invisible orb and makes the orb "set" below a shelf*

TDE: sunset?

IHT: *nods*

ITH: *puts wrists on the bed and sticks fingers up*

TDE: *stares blankly at this*

ITH: mut-mide *does fingers thing again*

TDE: something growing?

ITH: *nods*

ITH: *rubs hand along the bed*

TDE: something growing out of the bed!
I knew he was going for "ground" but it's fun to mess with him

ITH: *shakes head and looks defeated*

TDE: the ground

ITH: *nods and does the fingers again*

TDE: grass?

ITH: *nods*

ITH: *does the sunset thing* mmmen *signs grass*

TDE: the sun sets THEN grass

ITH: *nods*

ITH: *takes a finger and rubs it on the kitty's mouth*
This one, once I knew what he was trying to do, is just absurd.

TDE: (because I have NO idea) kitty puke (she puked a few times this past week)

ITH: *shakes head and then tries to stick a finger in MY mouth*

TDE: *shakes head and covers mouth*

ITH: *indicates that the finger that was just on the kitty's mouth is NOT the one headed for my mouth*

TDE: I don't care. I just put on chapstick!
I didn't want him to wipe off the chapstick

ITH: *leaves the room, goes to the bathroom, does NOT spit out the mouthwash that he has been swishing for significantly longer than required. Instead, he gets his hands wet and comes back and does the "grass" sign again.*

TDE: wet grass?

ITH: *nods*

TDE: The sun sets and then wet grass

ITH: *holds palms up and shrugs a little* mmy? (inflection clearly indicated a question)

TDE: Why?.....   Condensation.
Yep, of COURSE I said "condensation." This could have been another case where I was just messing with him, but I really wasn't, which makes it even funnier.

ITH: *stares at me with a look that says "seriously?" and asks "why" again*

TDE: dew?

ITH: *nods enthusiastically!*

TDE: dew

ITH: MMM mmu *points at me*

TDE: Do you! Do I?

ITH: *nods enthusiastically!*

TDE: You did ALL that just to get to "do"?

ITH: *nods*

TDE: Do I what?

ITH: *pause*

ITH: *realizes that he has completely forgotten the rest of the question.*

TDE: *starts laughing hysterically as she puts together everything he was trying to do just to get to the word "do" and then laughs more that he's now forgotten what he wanted to say.*

ITH: *goes to bathroom and spits out mouthwash*

ITH: *comes back to the bedroom where the TDE is still giggling*

IHT: I don't remember what I was going to ask you. At all.

And really, that's OK. Because, Mouthwash Charades is rarely about the message, its about the communication process.