Sunday, May 22, 2011

More Than Meets the Eye

A few days ago Boo caught me watching trailers for summer release movies on the internet. When he walked up I was watching one for Transformers Dark of the Moon. He was very interested in what he was seeing. I was concerned that the dramatic fighting sequences would be too much for him. But he did not seem bothered. He asked a lot of questions and we talked a lot about what the transformers are and what they do. He asked to watch the trailer again. Then he noticed the thumbnail below for the Cars 2 trailer and asked to see that. We watched both of the Cars 2 trailers and talked about that.

About a month ago my dad had told me that Cars 2 would be coming out in June and said that he wants to take Boo to see it. I thought that sounded great, as I had already decided that I would like to attempt Boo's first movie theatre experience this summer. But I was concerned as to how well my dad would handle it. I have been discussing this with my mom and we decided that we need to start discussing it with Boo. We haven't really learned how to write social stories yet but we hoped that we could prepare him for what to expect just with discussion. So when he was all excited about the new cars movie, I decided to introduce the idea.

We talked about what a movie theatre is and what we do there. We talked about the fact that Cars 2 will not be available at Walmart. It will only be at the theatre. We talked about the fact that it will come to theatres on June 24. Boo was very excited. Every day since that he has asked me immediately upon waking if it is June yet. He showed both of the Cars 2 trailers and both of the Transformers trailers to his Mammo and told her all about them.

At church today Boo decided to join the children with Pastor up front for the children's message. He insisted I go with him as usual. The message was way over Boo's head, but he sat quiet and polite (mostly) while Pastor spoke. At one point, he whispered to me, "if I say 'excuse me' will it be my turn to talk?" (we have been working very hard to curtail his habit of interrupting) I told him that it would not, and that he must wait till Pastor finished the message and then he could talk to him. As soon as the message was done and the children were dismissed back to their parents, James said "Pastor?" The entire church sat silent and Pastor leaned down toward his little parishioner. "Yes, Boo?" And then Boo surprised me by suddenly launching into a description of Transformers, who they are, what they do, what they are called. I was trying to steer him away but he would not be dissuaded. It can be near impossible to stop him in the middle of one of these type of speeches. Somehow, perhaps by divine intervention, Pastor managed to say exactly the right thing. "Can we talk about it after church?"

All of this, of course, was broadcast for the congregation via Pastor's lapel microphone. We returned to our seats amid stifled giggles and grins. Boo was (mostly) good throughout the rest of the service. The instant that church was over, he just couldn't get to Pastor fast enough! He had not forgotten, and he was anxious for his promised chance to continue the discussion. When we finally got through the line and it was our turn to shake hands with Pastor, Boo gave quite the informative speech. He told Pastor that the good Transformers are called Autobots, and that the bad ones are Decepticons. You just never can tell what's going on inside that little mind.....

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