Bolt

"Cat and dog one, Mommy?" 

It all started with a simple request. Jackson had seen a commercial on TV for a movie; however, he must not have caught the title of the picture -- Bolt. A minor detail. In need of a late afternoon activity, I suggested we walk to Blockbuster and look for the "cat and dog one." Forty-five minutes later we came out empty-handed (well, not exactly we did rent Lady and the Tramp). Not without effort -- Jackson thoroughly  searched every corner, every shelf of that store. He even asked the young man behind the counter to look. "Cat and dog one, man?" he demanded. I'll give the Blockbuster guy credit -- he did produce a movie actually titled "Cats and Dogs." Jackpot!  But no, this was not the movie in question Jackson confirmed. 

Then I actually saw the commercial, and the mystery was solved. Which gave us another late afternoon activity the following day -- walk to the cinema and find out what times Bolt was playing. The fact he could not see the movie "now" was beyond Jackson's understanding. You can't blame the kid -- he has grown up in a TV world run by inventions like DVR and TiVo (God Bless their inventors).  So we took home a flyer with movie times, agreeing we would talk with Papa that night and decide a time Jackson could go see Bolt. 

4:40 p.m. Thursday. Jackson could not wait. I even had to find trailers online that he could watch over and over again to partially satisfy his appetite for this movie. He took an early nap, woke up, got dressed, filled his wallet with Australian coin. He couldn't have been more ready. As I watched Drew and Jackson walk into the cinema from the car, I could see him proudly holding out his wallet as he approached the ticket counter. And of course, being a mere mortal mom and tears quickly filled my eyes as my baby boy experienced this first. 

But Bolt was something Jackson wanted to do, not to watch. As Drew tells it, they never actually sat down -- just watched the previews from outside the door until the ushers had to shut the doors. Then Jackson told Drew he wanted to go  home. Maybe all he really wanted was the blue Gatorade and popcorn that he brought home. (It has been a full two weeks since we splurged on our daily serving of movie theatre quality popcorn at G&G Parker's.) 

In any case, with all "firsts," Drew and I are learning our expectations may not match our three-year old's. And sometimes it is the journey he enjoys even more than the final destination. I think it will be very easy to forever remember the title of the first movie Jackson ever "saw" at the movie theatre. Bolt.