For several months, D (that's my husband, btw) and I have been debating when to attempt to take the little guy to his first movie in a theater. I said that we should wait until he was at least 2, so then D got online, did a quick search, and discovered that Toy Story 3 would be out during the summer following the little guy's second birthday. After his mild obessesion with the Pixar shorts DVD, it seemed like Toy Story 3 was the perfect choice for a first movie.
We did a trial run at home with the first Toy Story movie, which we borrowed from my parents (trying to buy a copy the week that the third movie came out was a bust). The little guy seemed interested at first, noted that it looked like his Pixar DVD, but probably only paid attention to a third of the movie. However, he asked to watch the second one, so I took this as a good sign.
This week, we decided to go for it and headed to the theater. One of the pluses of my current work-from-home schedule is that we can do things together as a family when D is off during the week (he very rarely has an entire weekend off) and I can still get some work done when the little guy is napping. Thankfully the 11:15 show was almost empty and we got there after all of the previews were over, cutting down the amount of time required for the little guy to sit still. He sat on my lap enraptured by the big screen when that familiar Pixar intro came on, then pointed to the Toy Story characters when they appeared. Between the characters, the popcorn, a box and a half of M&Ms (which I shared with him to avoid a major toddler sugar rush), and sips from my Sierra Mist, he pretty much sat still or stood in front of me or D for an hour and a half of the roughly two-hour movie.
For the last half hour or so, I stood in the aisle at the bottom of the theater holding him. He was starting to get antsy and not even the action-filled climax of the movie could distract him from trying to pick up all of the popcorn and other bits of garbage off the floor and disposing of them in the row in front of us (which was thankfully empty). It was also approaching naptime, so he spent a good chunk of the time I held him laying his head on my shoulder. So when it was time for Andy to leave for college (I don't think I'm spoiling anything here), and the mom grabbed her son in a sad hug, as I'm holding my son, well ... let's just say some tissues would have been nice.
However, we made it through the whole movie without any screams, tears (from the little guy, that is) or need to leave the actual theater. And after not really wanting to watch the last part of the movie, he sat still in his own seat and insisted on watching all of the credits (he has a weird thing for credits on any TV show or movie). Then at the end, he asked for "more." So I'd say it was a successful outing. I wonder what other kid movies are coming out soon ...
