Cinema

Yesterday D went to the movies for the first time in her life. Although we were quite strict about not letting her watch DVDs until she was 2, she has since become a big movie fan. On a typical day, she's allowed to watch a "short movie" (like an episode of Cornemuse, or a couple segments of Max & Ruby, for instance) when she gets up in the morning. On some special days (or when we're rather desperate to keep her occupied for some reason) she gets to watch a long movie (like Shrek, or Shrek 2, or Shrek 3, or Shrek 4, or Snow White. She loves Shrek. More on that in an up-coming post).

Anyhow, so yesterday we went to the 11am showing of The Lion King (not the 3D version). Baby A and LePapa came with us so that I could nurse A just before the movie started. D munched on popcorn while I breastfed. "My work is to pick up the popcorn if it falls on the floor and eat it!" she told us. A and his papa went to wander around for a while and D and I went into the theatre. I thought D might be alarmed by the darkness or by the loud sound, but she was unfazed. She was adorable sitting in her big theatre seat, her little body not quite heavy enough to weigh it down properly.

Things that surprised me:

• the amount of popcorn that D ate! I totally should have gotten the medium.
• the number of times that she said, "this movie is too long!"
• how easily I had forgotten that The Lion King actually has a lot of scary scenes and a rather mature plot (i.e. mean uncle guilt trips his nephew into thinking that he's responsible for his father's death). I think a comic princess romance might have been more appropriate

At one point I wasn't sure we were going to make it through to the end of the movie because D was on my lap and quite restless. Normally she has an impeccable attention span for movies but I guess this one didn't grab her as much. Still, it was fun to accompany her on a new experience. Her favourite aspects: the preview for the Puss-in-Boots movie, and playing with the arcade machines outside the theatre.