Theaters; A Brave New World

For about the last year and a half my husband has been itching to take our sons Lash (3 ½) and Remy (2 ½) to the movies. Based on the toddler regime which rules my house and my days I have cock blocked this idea to no end. The fact that my kids can barley sit through their 30 minute cartoons or any movie on DVD led me to believe movies at a theater were not in our immediate future and had resigned myself to the fact we would not be enjoying theater flicks as a family until the little dudes were well into high school. Because of this resignation no one was more surprised than said husband when, last night, I gave in and agreed to take them to see How to Train Your Dragon this afternoon. Now, being an ex teacher and therefore trained in the fine art of preparation, I took some time last night to show my little guys the movie trailer online as well as a picture of what the inside of a theatre looked like. Then, my husband and I explained theater conduct and expectations along with how the day would go leading up to the movie (if my 3 year old does not have a schedule laid out prior to a promised event he will spend the day asking when we are leaving so advising “after nap” or “before lunch” buys us some peace prior to any outing).
This afternoon after a less than sufficient nap, a reiteration of conduct/expectations, and the required potty break we were off to the Orleans hotel and casino to take in our 2:40 matinee. We were all excited, even yours truly who had cringed at the mere thought of such an adventure in recent weeks. As my husband drove he expressed his excitement at the prospect of spending several of the upcoming 115 degree Las Vegas Saturdays in a movie theater with our precious offspring.

We arrived 10 minutes before the movie and got in line to purchase our tickets. That’s when Remy spotted the Kid Zone (a place for parents to drop the kids while they watch a movie alone) and here is his reaction to being told we were taking in a movie instead of playing there:

Lash on the other hand could care less about Kid Zone and wanted to get his movie on.

After purchasing tickets and calming Remy we got popcorn, soda, and each child got to pick a candy. Then we rushed to the theater (in the farthest reaches of the place) and sat in our seats. I exhaled a sigh of relief when I looked back into the theater and saw it was mostly empty. That meant few people to annoy should anyone’s attitude go downhill (present company included). Here are my cuties watching the previews:

I am now going to do something amazing and admit I was totally wrong. Our toddlers are badass. We made it through the whole thing which I had thought was impossible. Lash peed 4 times and both boys ate half a box of Junior Mints each. Toward the end of the film they had to stand and watch but we were in our own row so this was fine and at 2 and 3 years old completely expected. The movie itself was good but the fact they can now go to movies is even better. Las Vegas in the summer does not make for an enjoyable park experience unless you like heat exhaustion and 3rd degree slide burns.

I think for the next movie we’ll aim for a longer nap and less candy because Remy had a fit filled come down and Lash became completely deaf to any directions upon returning home. Being tired wasn’t a total loss though because my husband made a great dinner and the boys went to bed early allowing us to watch Strikeforce on CBS in peace (hopefully Hendo wins to celebrate his migration from UFC). This mom thing isn’t so hard. After patronizing a movie successfully I think I’m ready to conquer my fear and loathing of the kiddie mosh pit they call Chuck E Cheese. Or maybe we’ll just see another movie.