Lear has been counting down the days until
Transformers 2 came out. He has been practically drooling in anticipation. Every time he saw a commercial for it, he would start screaming hysterically, then rewind the tv, and DVR the commercial so he could watch it over and over. Cory and I would find some weird show on the DVR that recorded for about 4 minutes, then find out that all that recorded was a Transformers commercial. (That boy can work a DVR almost better than I can - I think he definitely uses it more.)
So, he's been moderately excited to see it. My brother Bronson was also a raving Transformers fan in his youth, so he promised Lear that they and Cory would see it opening night. Lear was reeeeeaaaaaallly looking forward to it. The night before it came out, a friend who had advance tickets texted me to tell me that it was very scary, and probably not ideal for a five year-old to see.
(Here, I need to explain something. Lear is a timid movie-goer. He's terrified of Sleeping Beauty. He refused to finish watching The Little Mermaid after Ursula's first appearance. Spider Man caused him to run out of our living room screaming, after which he hid behind his bed. We have to ambush him to take him to any movies, and we only go to very kid-friendly movies like Up. Which he thought was scary. Transformers 1, however, he loved. Go figure.)
Anyway, we talked about it. We definitely don't want him to see anything scary or bad, but we had already promised him that Cory would take him to see it. My brother Barton, who was visiting, pointed out that Lear may not remember the movie when he's older, but he will definitely remember that we broke a promise that was important to him. We think it's important for Lear to know that he can count on us, so Cory took him to the movie. (Mental note: don't make promises that you'll regret later!)
Lear spent the whole day trembling with excitement. I think he was more thrilled to see Cory come home from work than I've ever seen him. He left our house chanting "I'm going to see Transformers!" over and over. This mood didn't last. Cory said that Lear spent most of the movie clutching Cory's arm desperately, and sometimes with his face buried in his arm, too. Cory offered to take Lear home several times, but Lear refused, and toughed it out. When they got home, he ate the Happy Meal that Cory picked up for him because he looked "shell-shocked" quietly, with a zombified look on his face. (Side note: I suggested that Cory take him to Burger King, where they have Transformers toys, and Cory said that he thought it wouldn't be a good idea, under the circumstances.) After a little time, he felt more like himself again, and we sent him to bed. Oddly enough, he didn't have any nightmares.
Now, we and Lear have an agreement: Daddy will preview all movies, and then decide if it's too scary for Lear to see. Lear was the one who suggested it. I wish it didn't take a bad experience for all of us to come to this conclusion, but we're not perfect parents, and we're definitely still learning. At least we kept out promise.
P.S. He still loves Transformers - just the toys and cartoons, though.
Lear quote: "Oh, snap!"
Ella quote: "Ella to the rescue!"
Lear has had a front tooth that was shorter than the other. I thought that he had ground it down, but the dentist pointed out that if that were the case, both of his front teeth would've been shorter. What actually happened is that sometime Lear fell on his face, and jammed the tooth into his gums. I have no idea when it happened. My guess is that it happened at preschool, and they forgot to tell me. Anyway, when he jammed the tooth in, the root broke. By the time we got an x-ray of it, the root had already reabsorbed into his gums, and all he had left was the crown of the tooth. The dentist said to try to get it out, and if we couldn't do it, we'd have to have it pulled. So, we wiggled it, we pulled on it, and we tried to tie a string around it, but nothing worked. I took Lear back to the dentist so they could give him some laughing gas, numb up his mouth, and pop the tooth out. We probably could've skipped the laughing gas and numbing altogether and simply took some pliers to it ourselves, because it popped out so easily the dentist was surprised. Now, however, since the tooth came out accidently and not naturally, he'll be toothless for a year or so because the permanent tooth is so far up in his mouth. At least it wasn't his permanent tooth that was covertly destroyed.
