Kung Fu Panda

Just a quick post before I head off to bed, since it should be way past my bedtime, but alas is about my normal bedtime because I can't seem to get myself in bed much earlier than this!

We had a fun day today. We took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda. Movie outings that involve all four of us have been, up to this point, a real rarity since it's hard to predict how much is too much for Nicholas and a place where quiet is expected is not usually a place to take a kid who gets loud when he goes into sensory overload. We usually stick to activities that, if Nicholas gets a little loud, don't draw murderous glances from other people. I'll admit it, I'm extremely intimidated by the thought of taking Nicholas places where his autistic behaviors/traits draw attention to us. I know I shouldn't be like that, but I am. Most likely because I've encountered times in the past where people made not-so-quiet remarks about his behavior. I've had people say, intentionally loud enough for me to hear, that I should invest in some duct tape for my kid's mouth. :(  I've also had worse encounters that I don't even want to recount. I'm easily irritated by the fact that it seems I need to pin a sign to my son's chest that says "I have autism" in order to not bear the brunt of others' misplaced judgement. In fact, I get pretty pissed off that I have to explain myself, or him at all. And believe me, the meltdowns themselves can be hard enough to handle without stares, disapproving looks, or unkind words. These types of reactions just make it worse and make me want to run for home into our little cocoon where it doesn't matter if a particular noise makes Nicholas scream for 15 minutes.

But, that all aside, Nicholas did really well. We had a couple of minutes that had me on edge, thinking I might have to take him out of the theater but he pulled it together nicely and enjoyed the experience as a whole.

Madison is a dream to take to the movies. She has no problem sitting for an hour and a half without chattering or needing to use the bathroom or even laughing too loud. Her first movie theater experience was Finding Nemo when she was about 2 years old and she was just as good then, on her first trip, as she is now. This means that she's often invited to see movies with Grandpa who is an avid movie-goer that expects fellow patrons to observe polite movie behavior. I'm quite proud of that. :D  When Grandpa says that she's a great movie companion I know we've taught her good movie theater manners. :)

The movie itself was very good. Fun for kids and entertaining for adults. I foresee it making it's way into our dvd collection when it's released.

Well, that's about it for me. No scrapping news today because I didn't scrap. ;)  I was too busy having family fun!

Remember...live, laugh, love and scrap, people!