This was probably the most anxiety I've endured about taking Mia to the theater. It was the first time that we wanted to see a film that probably wouldn't interest her. Despite our various gaming consoles, she's not shown much enthusiasm for video games, which is fine by us. So the film's material had me wondering just how much she would even care. But whenever one of us says "We're going to a movie," those eyes light up, so I take that as a good sign...though I know it's just for the popcorn.
We had planned for the first 2D screening of the day, but since I can't read the online movie schedule, we showed up a half hour late, and I'm too cheap to shell out for the 3D tickets. Plus we all hate those stupid glasses anyway. So we opted to wait till after nap time and catch a late matinee, which we were still late for, because I had a harder time getting up from my nap than she did. So we walked in halfway through the Paperman short everyone's going crazy over. I hope to catch in full someday.
Since we were so late to a matinee on opening weekend, we didn't even bother trying to search for good seats and took three on the front side aisle close to the door: great access for us to jump up for potty breaks and more concessions, but bad for us since everyone else who needed the same crossed right in front of us.
She was a in mood where she just had to sit in my lap and not her own seat, which I didn't mind, but she got kicked in the back by her little sister for a majority of the film. Sibling rivalry already. And as the movie began, the popcorn, soda and candy flowed, Brad and I laughed while she sort of just sat there. At first.
I noticed she really was into the film when I laughed really loudly and she turned around and ssshhh-ed me. Or she was just embarrassed. Not sure which. But the (quiet) questions about who was who and what was what started, and I could tell she was genuinely paying close attention.
Of course the absolute measuring stick was that she didn't once ask to go to the bathroom, and during an almost 2-hour film with lots of soda, that's simply a damn miracle. Of course it freaked me out, causing constant checks of my lap to verify she had not forgotten her bladder altogether. But we managed to escape accident free.
The highlight during the film was when the "bugs" from Hero's Duty came out and started to attack. To keep her steady in my lap she was sharing with the belly, I had my arms around her stomach, but when those bad critters were on screen, she would grab my hands and pull them up close around her chest for protection. Simply awesome.
And over a week later, she's saying she wants to be a race car driver instead of a princess, reminding everyone that Ralph was both the mean guy and the good guy and declaring "I'm gonna wreck it!" at every turn. In hindsight, all that anxiety was unnecessary, because I'd call this our biggest success yet.
[For my actual thoughts on Wreck-It Ralph, go back and check out my review here.]
Awesome! Wish I could have been there.
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