I took McKenna to the movies the other day and although this was not her first movie in a real movie theater, it was the first time that I had taken her to see a movie. It’s still new enough to me that I get excited about these things and marvel at her good behavior. I’ve taken her to a few live performances in the past (Laurie Berkner, Backyardigans, and the Nutcracker), but I considered that it might be a little more difficult to hold a two year old’s attention for 2 hours with a movie . Part of me was expecting one of those catastrophic meltdowns. You know, one of those uncomfortable scenes where the tension builds and builds until finally you forget the $15 you just spent on the movie, and you quickly excuse yourself before the other movie patrons organize a lynch mob to get you and your kid. My fears were not based in fact, but nonetheless they were there.
Monsters vs. Aliens
No such excitement. She did great. She was quiet as a church mouse and just sat there all “big girl like” snacking on her popcorn and following the movie. We saw
Monsters vs. Aliens. I know that the movie has not received the best reviews, but I actually liked it. It might have been a little cookie cutter piece of
Hollywood fluff, but what the heck do you want from a kid’s movie. Friends of ours raised objections to the movie because there were guns and explosions and stuff. I wonder if perhaps we’re too sensitive about that stuff nowadays. I saw the original (non-Politically Correct) version of ET in 1982 when I was 10 years old and I survived.
I was more impressed that the lead character Susan was the hero of the movie. She wasn’t saved. She did the saving, and when she figured out that her fiance was a narcisistic dweeb, she kicked him to the curb. Good to see.
Anyway, today’s movie outing was more about getting to hang out one-on-one with my big girl. She has to share our attention with Aubrey most of the time and she does a reasonably good job of keeping the jealousy under wraps. Perhaps the most amazing part of the day came after the movie. We went to the
Tower Theater in South Hadley and after the movie we stopped in the
Odyssey Bookshop. McKenna browsed for a while before settling on a
Toot and Puddle book. Then McKenna she said to me, “We have to get one for baby Aubrey too.”
I guess the next time she’s being a little pin head, I’ll have to remember this and cut her some slack.
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