Not Your TYPICAL Movie Experience

A couple months back we attempted a movie together as a family at a movie theater and it didn't quite go as we had hoped.  At that movie Charlie barely made it a half an hour into the movie and had a massive meltdown in the lobby of the theater.  I guess it didn't surprise me too much as I had tried taking the boys to movies on my own in the past and I knew Charlie couldn't sit still, but it was the first time we had gone as a family.

I'll call this 'Happy Wrestling'

Today we decided to attempt the movie theater again.  The boys are getting a little stir crazy with this cold weather and we needed to get out of the house.  The boys chose the movie Jumanji and unlike last time, this time we were prepared.  We were armed with many tools to make it a successful trip.  Our tools included Charlie's blankie, noise canceling headphones, a handful of M&Ms, a stop at the concession stand for popcorn and Icee, and of course-Sunny.  We also did a lot of prep talk with Charlie before going to the movie and talked about ways to stay calm or ask for help if he got overwhelmed.

Thankfully no one was sitting directly in front of or behind us- they may not have enjoyed everything we needed to do to get through the movie.  We got settled in, ate some popcorn and the boys enjoyed their Icees.  Before long Charlie started movin' and shakin'.  He was really restless in his seat, turning around and facing backwards, talking, and bouncing around, asking to go sit over there then over here.  I found that continually engaging him about the movie helped keep him interested.  Several times Charlie got down with Sunny and snuggled her (she was laying right in front of him).  It definitely wasn't your typical movie experience, but you know what.....it worked for us.  No one else was disrupted, but we got through it the way we needed to, and sprinkled a little happy Autism along the way.

Unfortunately no pictures from the theater came out clear enough to see.  But Sunny did beautifully as well.