We made it through a movie!!!!..........................almost.

Adam likes movies. He likes movies a lot. When he likes a movie a lot, he will watch it obsessively. Adam does not like movie theaters. He does not like them, Sam-I-Am.

But, he really likes Toy Story, and he's been on a Toy Story 2 kick at home. So I thought Toy Story 3 might be enough of a familiar scene to make an attempt at the theater. Jason had rain checks from trying to take Josiah & Dakota to the first showing of Sorcerer's Apprentice (reels were spliced poorly at the end), so I took Josiah & Adam. We got there right when the show was supposed to start, and were stuck behind at least 12 people. And then the teen in front of us had the rest of his family join him in line. One of the workers came out and told people they could use a credit/debit/gift card at the kiosk in the lobby. I took a chance on the rain check cards and failed. So we left, because the line was going to be another 30 minutes long once we got back to it, which would mean missing the first hour of the movie.

We came back for the next showing. Standing in a (much shorter) line this time, Adam started early with telling me he was scared. And that he wanted popcorn. But he was scared. We got into the theater and he started to really freak out. "I SCARED!!!" And then he settled down. He actually sat down in the chair and waited through the previews. Waited impatiently. He kept trying to point out that he was there to see Toy Story 3. Previews are apparently not part of his movie-going schema. Then the Pixar screen came on and he visibly relaxed into his chair. And then they ran a short. "I see Toy Story threeeeeeeeeeeeee." Which translates into, 'Why am I not watching it right now?'

He did pretty well. We played musical chairs... about every 30 seconds. Sometimes it felt like less. It was either trade chairs with him, or let him disrupt the movie for everyone in front of us. He did a headstand between the aisle seat and the (thankfully, empty) seat in front of us. He took off his shoes. He rolled his Transformer car down the aisle. (Sorry elderly gentleman across the aisle.) He loudly announced his need to use the bathroom. He loudly announced that he was DONE. He lasted about an hour and 10 minutes in the theater. It was not a calm and relaxing hour, but he was processing it fairly well.

I can't keep him in the theater once he's done and yelling. So we went into the hallway and I watched the movie through the window in the door. We could have left, but I wanted Josiah to get to finish watching the movie. And I wanted to watch it, too. So Adam threw himself on the ground a little. Kicked off his shoes again. Walked on the stacked booster chairs. Asked to be held up. Kicked to be put down. Asked to be held up. Wanted to go back in the theater. Did NOT want to be in there. Wanted to go back in. Ate his apple, between bites of which he cried at me that he was hungry. That's not very convincing, Adam. Wanted to go back in, immediately wanted to leave. I called it quits on the back and forth and we finished the time in the hallway.

So, in conclusion, I've determined some rules for movie-going with Adam:
1) Pick something familiar. Don't spring something new. Go for a topic of obsession (Toy Story, Cars, Nemo, ocean) or you will never have his attention.

2) Don't go to a big theater. The theater we go to is the size of the older theaters that are used for the dollar shows - except this one has current movies (not for a dollar). My idea on this is that the darkness in a smaller room will adjust to his eyes more quickly than a larger room. Plus, smaller spaces are more limiting, which can be comforting.

3) SNACKS.

4) Something short, no more than an hour if possible.

5a) Don't bring extra people.
5b) If you bring extra small people, bring an extra big person.
5c) " " ", have someone on-call to pick him up so you and extra small person can finish the movie.

6) Be patient

and finally...
7) Bring a sense of humor for the unknowing who glare at a child for making some noise in a kid's movie.