We started to prepare the triplets by watching the first two Toy Story movies over and over, and over, and over... you get the idea. Kids this age can watch the same thing two million times and love it the same each time. I don't know how they do it.
We didn't go to see the movie on opening weekend, for a few reasons including the fact that we were out of town, and who wants to try to wrestle three toddlers in a crowded movie theater? Not me. We waited a few weeks and decided to go on a Wednesday afternoon. We figured the theater would be somewhat empty, and we were right.
My sister came up to help out, so that we had one adult per child. When the movie started, there was one other family in the theater with us. It was perfect. This way if the triplets started to get antsy or loud, it wouldn't bother a whole theater full of people.
Now, I had read some of the reviews and blog posts about other children getting upset and scared by the movie, especially the beginning. I decided not to worry about it. I've been realizing lately that we've been protecting out little ones a little too much. We need to let them fall a little so that they learn to pick themselves up, both figuratively and literally. Take the toddler swings that I recently replaced with big kid swings. I realized that I put recycled tire mulch down in the play set area so that when the kids fell, they wouldn't get hurt as bad. Problem is, I wasn't letting the kids fall. I was strapping them into toddler swings so that they would stay securely in place. And then there's the booster seats at the table. Same thing. I was strapping them into their seats so that they wouldn't try to get out of their seats and possibly fall and hurt themselves. But if we don't let them fall and get hurt a little, how do they learn not to do those things? How do they learn to pick themselves up and try again? If I don't take them to a movie that might scare them, how do they learn that sometimes scary things happen, and that it's okay to be scared?
My mother always says that "first we give our children roots, then we give them wings". This is so true. I just didn't realize how quickly we had to start giving them wings.
In the end, I was right to not worry about the movie. The kids didn't get scared at all. From what I could tell, they loved it. They were mesmerized. Juli even kept her 3D glasses on for most of the movie. KJ and Elisha, not so much. They got a little antsy towards the end, but that's to be expected.
And as for the end of the movie - if you've read any posts or reviews of the movie you probably know what happens to some adults who watch it - let's just say I was glad I had my 3D glasses on.
Here are a few pictures from the theater. I took them with my iPhone, so please excuse the quality.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
