Luke's First Movie!

Just a quick post here about a special first of Luke's: on Saturday, he saw his first movie in a theater, Monsters University! An awesome mommy from Luke's "little school" (BWF) coordinated a group of us to see the movie with our kiddos. Luke's cousin Sophie was in town and was sweet enough to join us. (I'm not sure she totally knew what she was in for... but she joined us nonetheless!)


I can't say the pictures are great, but I wanted to record the moment as best as I could. 

Here's Luke's in his seat before the show begins. 

Here is Sophie on his left (and I was on his right.... I wanted to do whatever we could to contain Luke!). 

We sat on the back row (in part to be far from others in case Luke and his friends got restless), and before the show began, Luke was really digging the view. I think he looks like a king surveying his kingdom! :D

The whole thing was two hours long from previews to the final credits. I came prepared with a TON of his favorite snacks and Capri Suns stuck in my purse (sorry, theater) to occupy and distract if I needed to. I truly had no idea what to expect. That's the thing about typical outings with an atypical child*; this could have been a disaster easily.

*I'm sure some of you would say, "Well, any child gets distracted during a movie." And I appreciate that sentiment to a point, but my fellow autism parents can attest to the fact that it's just different. I didn't know if Luke would love, be indifferent to, or loathe the experience. 

About 10 minutes into the movie, Luke did get a little whiny, so he spent the rest of the movie in my lap. But you know what? He made it THE WHOLE TIME. I confess I got choked up as the movie wrapped up because I felt so proud of him, and so hopeful. That may seem silly, I'm sure. But when so much of life with "the big A" feels atypical and difficult, the prospect that we can do normal things like see a movie in a theater as a family put a big ole lump in my throat and smile on my face. I just couldn't be prouder of all the ways Luke continues to amaze me!

Here are Sophie and Luke after the movie. Two hours in darkness followed by a camera flash does not a great photo make, but doggone it, the moment needed to be preserved. :)

We will have to get Kate a sitter so Daddy can join us at our next movie! (On a selfish note, I'm so glad because the previews of upcoming kids' movies look AWESOME!) 

I loved my morning at the movies with my favorite little monster! Can't wait to do it again!