I’ve been thinking about when it would be a good time to take Ben to his first movie. My ex-coworker, who has two kids, told me to go as soon as possible to get Ben used to behaving in a theater, so I decided it was worth a try.

Dave came home from work on Friday, and suggested we have a family outing. Usually during these family times we go to the zoo or Chuck E. Cheese, some place we know where Ben would have a good time. I suggested going to a movie - Kung Fu Panda (because, of course, I want to watch it, too!) and we packed up some snacks and juiceboxes and headed to the theater. We were a bit nervous - Ben could either go super-crazy and be a total brat, or he might be totally into the movie and behave.

Turns out, he fell asleep in the 10 minutes it took to drive to the theater. We got our tickets, nachos and drink and found some seats at the edge of the row, just in case we had to make a quick getaway. The previews started, and Ben was still sleeping. The movie started, and Ben was still nestled and softly snoring in Dave’s arms. We tried poking him to get him to wake, but he was out like a light. Finally, after about 15 minutes of sporadic poking and prodding, Ben woke up.

…and had NO idea where he was.

I guess it would be weird if you fell asleep in a car and woke up in a dark place with a HUGE screen showing a fat panda running around, with the sounds of little kids laughing somewhere in the room. He was a bit confused, and was constantly looking around. I handed him a nacho and he just held on to it, staring at me in the semi-darkness. Then he realized that there was something interesting showing on-screen. He started enjoying the movie, laughing when he saw the Panda do silly things, pointing out the turtle, tiger and other animals he knew. He crawled over to sit in my lap and drink some juice, and I gave him a little play be play of what was going on.

In the end, he loved it. No break downs, no screaming. I loved the movie as well - the casting of the Panda was PERFECT with Jack Black. We also found out that our theater has special showings for kids - once a week during the day. I’ll probably send Ben to one of those with his grandparents.

Next up: Wall-E. We’ll see what happens!

Tags: Ben //