Toy Story 3

Sydney's first movie in a theater was actually Horton Hears a Who, but that was back when she was about twenty months old, before she decided that loud noises are something to be afraid of and therefore that theaters are scary.

Since then, we tried to see Up twice, leaving before the Pixar short at the beginning of the film was even halfway through. We tried an IMAX ocean movie while we were in Galveston a few weeks ago, thinking that ocean scenes are calm and soothing, not realizing that the film would have lots of waves and storms and was actually terrifying.

I really wouldn't care if Sydney hated movies and never wanted to go to a theater ever. But knowing that she loves movies at home and becomes immersed in them, I hate that an unspecific fear of loudness might cause her to miss out on an experience that she would otherwise find fun and exciting.

So when I knew that Toy Story 3 was coming out so soon after she had become obsessed with Toy Story 2 and was collecting all of the characters, pretending to be Buzz and making her dad and me be Woody and Rex (respectively), I started looking for ways to make the theater experience do-able.

The local Alamo Drafthouse does a "Baby Day" showing of films on Tuesdays where they keep the lights up a bit, keep the volume down a bit, omit the normal pre-previews of upcoming adult-ish Alamo Drafthouse showings, and expect everyone in the audience to be patient with the normal noises of everyone else's young children.

As added protection, I had Sydney bring her latest favorite Toy Story toy, Slinky Dog, and a "buh" (security blanket).

Still, I don't think she would have made it if it weren't for the Fords.

We had invited Jenny Ford to come with us and she knows kids very well and is a Sydney fan, so she knew about the loud noise issue. She often comes at things like I would as a parent and she probably would have thought of the Baby Day idea and the security objects and I'm certain mentioned these to her husband. Paul Ford, on the other hand, hasn't spent a lot of time around young children and came at the problem from a very logistical mindset. If noise is a problem, thought Paul, then muffle it. So he sent Jenny with two different sets of safety ear muffs (normally used at a gun range) explaining that either one should provide "a 25 decibel reduction in sound."

Brilliant! The Alamo did keep the sound pretty low and the pre-show was no problem, but even at the Alamo, the previews are somewhat louder than the rest of the show and during the preview for the new Tron, I could tell Sydney was ready to call abort until we put the ear muffs on her.

We could tell they were working when she said, "HEY DAD! YOU WERE RIGHT! IT'S NOT TOO LOUD!" Jeremy tried to quietly shush her, but since the ear muffs did apparently provide a 25 decibel reduction in sound, the whispers to quiet her were amusingly not effective.

Eventually, the movie started and she stopped talking just due to rapt attention to the film.

Without any spoilers, I will say that Sydney did lose it at one point. Woody was in peril and she just couldn't take the high intensity emotion of the scene. She cried as though she herself was in jeopardy and continued crying as her daddy took her out of the theater.

My bold brave girl, though, agreed to return to the theater. Unfortunately, Woody's peril wasn't all the short and he was still in trouble when she came back in, so out she went again.

Still wanting to see the film, though, she tried a second time and happily this time the worst of the worst was over and she was able to finish the movie.

Overall, Sydney loved the movie. She was so excited to see the further adventures of her friends Buzz and Woody (and all the rest). We are currently potty training using Toy Story toys as an earned incentive, so she is very interested in all of them. She chose to bring Slinky Dog as he is her current favorite (and most recently earned toy).

I wanted a picture of her all cute in her Buzz t-shirt with Slinky Dog. She hates having her picture taken, but she knows how important it is to me, so she said, "I'll sing so I don't get bored."

This is Sydney having finished her rendition of "You've Got a Friend in Me."

I am so glad we decided to go and were able to make it work. Her excitement during the film and her willingness to come back into the theater after she was scared tell me how much she loved seeing the movie.


****All pictures courtesy of Jenny Ford, who was awesome enough to bring her own camera when I called in a panic because I had already left the house and had forgotten mine. Jenny was also sweet enough to bring her camera and card reader over to my house the same evening so that there would be no delay to the blog. Thanks, Jenny!***