Toy Story

Toy Story 3 is coming out this month. I kinda want to see it and I feel Emma might want to see it too. I got her a Mrs Potato head last month and she really likes her. Granted she puts the eyes where the mouth goes and the arms in the eye sockets but she likes it. Being that Mr and Mrs Potato Head are featured in the movie, I feel she might find it entertaining. I couldn't remember if I had ever seen Toy Story, so this past lazy Saturday I decided to test the waters and see how Emma would reacted to watching Toy Story. If she showed interest in the characters and was able to sit through the whole movie, then it would be a good, not sure, but good bet that she would tolerate going to the movies. So we are watching it and Emma right off the bat starts saying "Olivia". I don't even correct her, I just wait and watch her. At first she is a little confused when she doesn't see Olivia or Ian but is quickly intrigued and entertained. She gets excited when she sees the dog and ball and some of the action sequences make her jump from her seat but she is smiling and really invested in the movie. Time hadn't registered on us and we realize that it is now 8pm and the movie is only half over and she still needs her bath. Luckily there is a point in the movie where the main boy is put to bed. I know I can get Emma to walk away by simply saying "night time" since all her Olivia cartoons end with Olivia going to bed. However, the scene right before the boy goes to bed is of Woody and Buzz trying to get out of the bad kids room and back into the good boy's room. You see the good boy, Andy, looking for his beloved toys and he is upset he cant find them and has to go to sleep without them. As I tell Emma "night time" and pick her up she looks at me and points at the tv and says "night time" but in this heartbreakingly soft voice. I look at her and her eyes are filled with tears and she she keeps saying night time and pointing at the tv. Her face is red and I have never seen Emma cry like this. It wasn't even crying crying it was more of a visceral cry, where she was silent and whimpering. I cant really explain it but it definitely was not her crying because "I don't want to go to bed cry", or her "I'm upset b/c I want to watch more TV" cry. Emma , like all kids, has distinct cries for different reasons. She has her "I'm hungry cry", "I'm tired cry" and her "I'm going to throw a tantrum cry". I can truly say I have never heard or felt her cry like this. It was as if she was being empathetic with Andy. I really believe she understood what was going on in the movie, that she didn't want to go to sleep knowing that Andy was looking for his toys. So I start to cry and decided that today would be a special day and Emma would get to stay up past her bedtime. We finished watching the movie and it calmed her down. She was happy to see everyone reunited in the end. I'm looking forward to Emma's first movie going experience.