For Father's Day today we decided to take Rachel to see her first movie--we went to see the Disney movie, "Up." We haven't gone to a movie in the past because she's pretty scared of loud noises, and doesn't like it when the TV or music is turned up very loud, so we figured it would scare her. We warned her ahead of time that it would probably be loud and that Mommy or Daddy wouldn't be able to turn it down. We also told her it would get dark when the movie started so she would get scared about that either.
We hadn't anticipated several things, though.....
*she's too light to keep the flip up seats in the down position!! When she'd scoot back in the seat it would flip up and her knees would practically be in her face! She thought it was great fun to rock back and forth to make the seat move up and down.
*the previews add extra time before the movie actually starts, so by the time the movie started, she had already been sitting for at least 30 minutes and was starting to get a bit antsy.
*she always stands at the coffee table and plays with a toy or a puzzle when she watches a video at home. Why didn't we think that she would want to stand instead of sit to watch a movie in a theater? She kept getting down off her seat and holding onto the seat in front of her, bothering the woman sitting down below.
*at home she can talk and ask questions....so why not in a theater! She would talk in a regular voice, often during the quietest parts of the movie. We kept telling her she'd have to whisper, so she would, but then forget again the next time she had something to say.
*at home when she's scared we can skip that scene and go onto the next. Since we couldn't do that in the theater she screamed twice during the "scary" parts and yelled, "I don't LIKE this part!"
I was ready to bury my head in the sand. It was a good movie, but sadly, I'm sure we probably ruined it for the people sitting around us. So much for their happy father's day. Rachel, on the other hand, loved the whole experience. All during the movie, as she ate her popcorn, she'd sigh and say, "This is GREAT!" But it will be quite some time before either of us wants to try and take her to see another one!
Oh man, I totally forgot about the previews...what a pain! Although it may not be a happy memory for you, I'm sure it was for her.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about the other people. They'll live. Just think about the times she said, "This is GREAT!"
ReplyDeleteAlso, I've taken Aaron to one movie and they had special chairs for little kids to put in the seats so it didn't fold up on them. Next time you go (and I'm sure there will be a next time) ask someone at the theater if they have booster chairs for toddlers.