Well, about a week before the big event, Nicki mentioned that perhaps I should take Sophia to see Madagascar 3 with her Dad and Cooper. Although the idea did sound like fun, I was reluctant. I know my daughter and know how much trouble she has being still and quiet for extended periods of time. When I expressed this concern to my wife, she immediately turned my concerns around, telling me I have no faith in our daughter and never want to take her to do anything fun. A bit extreme of a reply I thought, but the guilt trip worked and I decided we would try to make the best of it. I had Sophia somewhat excited about the adventure and she even would reply "Be Quiet" when I asked her what you have to do at the movies. I was actually starting to be a little optimistic that maybe this would go better than I thought, and with her Grampa and Cooper there too, it should be a really fun time. Nicki loaded me up with little bags of snacks for the movie, just in case. We dropped off Nicki, picked up Grampa and Cooper and were on our way. We were on time, so decided to swing by McDonald's to have a snack before the movie. This was another first for Sophia, and even though we are not hardcore about what she eats, we do make an effort to be somewhat healthy, so McDonald's has never touched her lips. We got a 6 nugget happy meal to share with a Sprite for me to drink (she already had water). She ended up eating about half a nugget with no breading and maybe 2 fries. She did want to try the Sprite, because it was in a little kids cup, and I figured we are having an adventure today so I was ok with it. Sophia however, was not ok with it, as she immediately let the Sprite fall out of her mouth as soon as it hit her lips. Although a little messy, I am glad that she does not enjoy the empty calories of soda. Anyways, we were back in the car and on the road to the movies.
We arrived to see the last 2 previews. We grabbed a seat near the aisle, just in case, and settled in. Cooper, being the veteran movie-goer, settled in well, sitting on Grandpa's lap the whole time quietly. I attempted to get Sophia to sit on my lap, but she did not want to, so she had the seat to herself. She looked quite cute sitting in the big chair, and I thought, I will be sure to get a picture before we leave to send to Nicki (I didn't take a picture at the time because the theater was already dark and a flash would be annoying to other movie patrons). Well of course the two previews we saw were some of the scariest previews at a G rated movie, or at least Sophia seemed to think so. In her defense, the first one was something about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and others fighting evil, which was portrayed as a scary, shadowy looking man. Needless to say, that didn't go great, so I opened up the fruit snacks and mini marshmallows and prepared myself for the next 90 minutes.
The movie started and Sophia did ok. A little noisy, but nothing inappropriate. I was already tearing fruit snacks and marshmallows in half before giving them to her on a continuous, but slow-pace, because I realized as long as she thought another snack was coming, she was pretty good. After about 20 minutes, Sophia became scared, not sure if it was the noise, or the dark, or just something else in general. I believe a few of the things said were "Where's Mommy?", "I like it no", "Turn it off", "Go Outside". I tried a couple techniques...bribing her with more treats, and reasoning with her...neither worked well, and she was starting to become louder and more upset. I was not going to torture my daughter nor ruin everyone else's movie, just to get her to sit through the movie, so I told her we could go outside. In my haste, I left both my cell phone and the diaper bag in the theater. Luckily I was sitting next to Grandpa, so I knew they were safe, but I had no way to text my wife "I told you so". After about 5-10 minutes sitting outside of the theater, Sophia was calm and seemed receptive to the idea of getting back in the movie. That lasted about 3 minutes, but I was able to get my phone so the remaining hour or so I knew we'd be sitting outside wasn't as bad. I decided against any "I told you so" texts, though I was thinking it in my head. I figured it would be better to share in person anyways, when we got back to her parents house.
Sophia was really good during our time outside the movie, being her cute self. A couple times we made it through the first door of the theater, but never through the second. She enjoyed walking around, talking to people, and just exploring. She did take a liking to the Finding Nemo advertisement, so I told Sophia she could go see that in the theater with her Mommy, which she surprisingly seemed ok with. I did take a few pictures of Sophia playing during our time outside the movie which I am putting at the bottom of this post. I used IMDB to get the movie length and confirmed with the attendant exactly when the movie would end. About 5 minutes before this time we headed back in. I was able to give her some gummy bears, which helped those minutes remain bearable.
After the movie, we headed back to the Nicki's parents house. I was prepared to tell her that my hunch that Sophia was not ready for a movie was correct and even though she guilted me into the movie, she was wrong. Unfortunately, I didn't get that chance, as we arrived to a better surprise party than I could have imagined. When I did bring up that I was right, Nicki's response was "I thought the same, however I had to get you out of the house for the party". Anyways, I am glad I got to take Sophia to her first movie and even though we didn't watch it, I did have a really good time hanging out with her outside of it.
Just Hanging Out, this is more fun than in there
Going for the High 5
I'd like that ice cream cone please
Hahahahaaaaaa!!! Even though I already knew the story, it was so funny coming from you. You should do more of these guest posts, Michael! And that is weird that Coop sat on my Dad's lap the whole time. He never does that with me anymore, unless he is very cold (or I am and want to use him as a blanket!). Glad you were able to experience that "first" with her. Not many dads can say they have had that experience!
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