the movies

Movies are a big treat for the boys. Neland saw his first movie the summer he turned 3 (Toy Story 3). Teague was about 5 months and slept through most of the movie (with a blanket covering his ears).

This past fall, Grandma and Grandpa took Neland to see the Winnie the Pooh movie, which he loved. And this past month we took both boys to see Chimpanzee. We weren't sure how Teague would handle being in a movie theater, but it was a short movie so we felt we had time on our side. From the time we entered the theater and settled down with M&Ms, fruit snacks and popcorn the boys were captivated. Teague talked through the whole thing, but was totally on topic telling us what was happening, "Monkey sleeping,""Monkey playing". It took me half the movie to get him to say "Chimpanzee" which then came out as "Panzee Monkey" (I hope people didn't think he was insulting monkeys). Teague loved the movie except right before something bad would happen the music would change. The minute the music grew dark and heavy he'd say, "I don't like it." But once it passed, he was fine.

This past weekend Neland was invited to a drop off movie theater party. It was just him and four other kids with two parents. Chris and I debated letting him go. It was a PG Pirate movie. Chris was not a fan of the PG rating and we both knew Neland was not a fan of pirates. I really wanted him to have the experience of going to a movie with his friends (but honestly I guess he could have had that experience a year from now). Chris and I agreed he could go and I'd stay close by the theater in case he grew uncomfortable. He was super excited to go and I dropped him off and watched him bounce into the theater. I returned a little early to wait for the movie to end and when it did, out Neland came with his buddies. The mom who was with him said he missed the last 20 minutes of the movie. There was a scene with a guillotine and right when it came on he said he had to go to the bathroom. When he was done he asked her if he had to go back in, she said of course not and they sat on a bench and talked for the last minutes of the movie. He told her that he wants to go to Tennessee when he grows up and be a reporter and a daddy. He likes the color orange and football and he doesn't like Carolina or basketball (so much can change in a week, just two weeks ago he LOVED Carolina, hopefully he'll change back). The other mother said that he did well, he knew when he'd had enough of the arms falling off and swords and as she put it "something just didn't sit right with his soul". What a wonderful way to word it, because it's so true. He has the most sensitive soul.