For some time now, Radha has become more accustomed to watching a movie in its entirety at home. Earlier this summer, when I found out about the new "Winnie the Pooh" movie to be released, I wondered if it would be the right opportunity to finally take her on a trip to the movie theatre. Once the movie was released and I found out it was approximately 65 minutes long I knew that the opportunity had come. On July 20th, she and I set out to see what new adventures Pooh and company had in store for their fans. I have loved that "silly old bear" and his stuffed companions ever since I can remember my mother reading the original literary works to me in my youth. While I haven't yet read the stories to Radha, I most certainly plan to do so in the very near future.
Even though I had told Radha that we were going to see a Winnie the Pooh movie, I don't think she was prepared for what "seeing a movie in the theatre" meant. The first thing she seemed surprised by was the size of the screen. It was a lot more impressive than the 42" television she is used to viewing at home. Shortly after that surprise, she discovered that she didn't weigh enough to hold down her folding seat. She actually turned this into a game by pushing back on the seat with her legs as it tried to fold up on her. Everything can be turned into a game, it seems. Once the trailers started, she was singly focused on every image shown and word spoken before her. I found it very sweet how she would pat my arm and smile at me after each trailer as if to ask, "Are we going to see that too?" She paid close attention, for the most part, to the feature presentation's story which mainly focused on finding a new "tael" for Eeyore and the search for Christopher Robin after the gang found a note which they misinterpreted due to their undeveloped reading skills (they are just stuffed animals, after all). She asked a few questions along the way and got a little restless near the end but overall behaved unbelievably well for a child viewing her first feature on the silver screen. She even sat through the closing credits (a frequent habit of mine) but it turned out to be worth it, as the Backson that Pooh and friends had been searching for throughout the movie finally made his appearance.
At the end of the day, I knew that this had been a good decision and time very well spent with my little girl. I look forward to a time when we can make more frequent trips to the theatre on a hot summer's day. It's just going to have to be for about an hour at a time for right now.
