Autism Watch: 2007

Ds has been asking to see Wall-E since it came out, which is when we were in SC/NC/VA in early July, and seeing a movie on vacation just wasn’t in the cards. (But mini-golf, beach’ing and other fun stuff definitely was!) Youngest dd left this morning for a mission trip for the next six days, and ds was uncharacteristically loving towards her, giving her (stuffed) animals aka ‘friends’ to take on the trip, hugging her, and sleeping on her floor last night. We promised him a lot of activities during the time she was away, because what else will he do with the time he normally spends fighting with her?

Hence, tickets to Wall-E. Disney did it again — a movie that’s entertaining for adults (though nothing beats Monsters, Inc. or The Incredibles, imo) and kept ds happy the whole time. He LOVED this movie. He felt adequately empathetic when necessary, and it was ironic to me that these were robots, people with no facial cues and only voice tones and arms to gesture when they were upset. He was sad when appropriate, and excited the rest of the time, including giggling hysterically several times, even when it was only moderately funny to the rest of us. But, he stayed awake, the entire time! (It’s such a reminder that 3 years ago, he’d have slept through 3/4 of it because he was too overwhelmed to do anythin else.) He was double-fisting the popcorn, and squirming in his seat as long as he could last, not wanting to miss the movie until he absolutely had to. He also chewed has his weight in bubble gum, but whatever it takes, right?

Wall-E’s a great movie for little guys like ds. Not overwhelmingly loud/bright/confusing, with basic characters and a cute plot to follow. And just the right length! Well-worth the overpriced movie tickets and crumbly popcorn. (And it was sure better than sitting home bemoaning the sudden expense of having to replace my SUV windshield this morning after a flying rock took it out.)