Seeing a 3D Movie...through the Eyes of Riley World

Going to movies has not always been a “desired” activity in Riley World. Oh the stories I could tell. It has taken years and YEARS to get to the point where we are today. So if you’re thinking it’s never going to happen for your child…he/she may surprise you one day. Riley sure did.

And thanks to Pixar and DreamWorks the era of animated movies has made going to movies an outing at any age.

Yesterday Riley and I went to see Finding Dory in 3D. The last time I went to a 3D movie I wore the cardboard glasses with one blue and one red “lens”.

Not exactly comfortable nor effective. Tell me you didn’t sit there closing one eye…then the other…then tilted your head to the left…then to the right hoping it made a difference. Am I right???

Well with Netflix and On Demand TV these days, spending the equivalent of a bottle of wine, popcorn with that awful “golden topping” AND having to get out of my “home clothes”…not exactly motivating for me.

However, truth be known…I couldn’t wait to see Finding Dory! With summer break upon us and the weather less than ummmm “summery”…what better time to get Riley out of the house and satisfy my Ellen and Pixar fixation.

Did you know now-a-days the 3D glasses look and wear like real sunglasses? They do. Look…

I digress. Riley, being the more experienced movie goer of the two of us, paid for the movie, led me to the movie theatre and found us a seat as I followed behind in my usual menopausal fog. I did help him get the glasses out of the who-brings-scissors-to-a-theatre plastic wrap. Yesch!

He waited for the instructions on the screen before putting on his glasses. I contemplated taking a picture of R wearing his glasses but decided the flash might be a bit distracting to the other movie goers. I'm thoughtful that way. I, on the other hand, kept flipping my glasses on and off, on and off, on and off. Yea. I’m 55 going on 6.

Finally the movie started. I’m not giving anything away but in a flashback when baby Dory comes on the screen…OMG…she is soooooo cute!  Look. At. Her!!!

No reaction from Riley. Nada. Zippo.

Same when young Dory appears.

Not until the Dory with Ellen’s voice appeared did Riley get excited, looked at me and said “DORY! Look, it’s DORY!!!” 

No matter the progress Riley makes, I am still caught off guard sometimes. It's the seemingly small yet important details...the not being able to associate Dory at her different stages in life that are still such an abstract concept for Riley. Still...so many different dimensions to figure out in Riley World. 

Guess we'll just have to keep swimming.  

   

Best Caricature EVER!!! #Wordless Wednesday

A grad present that had even Riley looking twice!

www.stooart.com

The Results...10 Movie Quotes #WordlessWednesday

Here are the quotes/clues for those who missed them on Monday.

1. “Don’t bother me with details. Just GIVE ME THAT HAT!”  



ANSWER:  "E"


2.  “Go away. I’m not home!!”


ANSWER:  "G"


3. “OK, grab shell, dude!”


ANSWER:  "A"



4.  “Sarah Baker, off, now! Don’t make me come up there!”



ANSWER:  "H"




5.  “Oh, my butt is itching up a storm and I can’t reach it in this monkey suit.”



ANSWER:  "I"


6.  “Excuse me, you’re biting my butt!"



ANSWER:  "J"


7. “Now, I’m warnin’ ya.”



ANSWER:  "D"


8. “I want the job done tonight!”


ANSWER:  "B" - Quote at time 8:45




9. “Ah, forget it. I think I’ll sleep in my own bed tonight!” 



ANSWER:  "F"




10. “I set certain rules and I expect those rules to be obeyed.”



ANSWER:  "C"

So....how did you make out???  For those of you who left their answers on my Monday's Listicles post, looks like Les from "Time Out for Mom" nailed it!   Woo-hooo...CONGRATULATIONS!!!  

10 Movie Quotes from Riley World...#Monday Listicles

This week’s topic “10 Movie Quotes” was suggested by Ally who blogs over at Just a Normal Mom. Since Riley is the movie fanatic in this house, I decided to add a little Riley World twist to it. 

Did you know it is not uncommon for individuals with autism to exhibit echolalia in some form? Riley has used this "method" since he was young to help him communicate his wants and needs to us. As he got older, if he was sad/angry/happy he would recite a sad/angry/happy line from one of his videos with the same inflection and intonation as the character in the movie. While this was a positive step in his communication, when you are standing in line at a crowded store..."Shut up you stupid lady" would be a little ummm awkward.

Back to this week's Monday Listicles topic at hand. See if you can match who said what for these 10 movie quotes from Riley World that we have heard over...and over...AND over again:

1.      “Don’t bother me with details. Just GIVE ME THAT HAT!” 

2.      “Go away. I’m not home!!”

3.      “OK, grab shell, dude!”

4.       “Sarah Baker, off, now! Don’t make me come up there!”

5.      “Oh, my butt is itching up a storm and I can’t reach it in this monkey suit.”

6.      “Excuse me, you’re biting my butt!” 

7.      “Now, I’m warnin’ ya.”

8.      “I want the job done tonight!”

9.      “Ah, forget it. I think I’ll sleep in my own bed tonight!”

10.   “I set certain rules and I expect those rules to be obeyed.”

a.      Crush the Turtle – Finding Nemo (2003)

b.      Cruella De Vil – 101 Dalmations (1961)

c.       King Triton – The Little Mermaid (1989)

d.      Grumpy – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

e.      Professor Hinkle – Frosty the Snowman (1969)

f.       Alvin – Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009)

g.      Gru – Despicable Me (2010)

h.      Tom – Cheaper By the Dozen (2003)

i.        Shrek – Shrek the Third (2007)

j.       Marty the Zebra – Madagascar (2005)

I hope you will come back on Wednesday to see how you made out with your answers. Until then, pop on over to Stasha's to see if your favourite movie quotes made anybody else's list. 

Going on His First Date...

Riley’s going on a date this Friday night.  Yup you read that right. He is going to a movie with a member of the opposite sex! Let’s call her LE. Apparently R asked LE out this past Friday at school.  I know…shocking isn’t it!

Here’s the thing.  LE was Riley’s SEA (Special Education Assistant) last year. OK so technically it’s not a “date”…more like a night outing. Potato…Po-taaah-toe.  =D  Hey would you have been as eager to read this post if it was entitled “Going on his first night outing”???  I think not.

Sooo…as far as asking LE. Wellllll let’s just say he basically went up to LE and said “Madagascar 3??”  Knowing R so well, LE responded with “Oh, you want to go see Madagascar 3?”  R replied with his thank goodness she got it/happy as a clam voice…“Okay!”

Now I’m pretty sure Madagascar 3 would NOT be on the top of the list for most 17 year old girls so I am thankful that Riley has quite the endearing personality which definitely works in his favour with "older women". Tee hee. Even better and of course always looking on the positive...LE drives so I don't have to play chauffeur!  

Are you looking forward to your son's first "date"???  Where do you think he'll want to go?

A "Shrektacular" Christmas

We made it!!!  School’s out for the holidays!  Is it just me or is everybody else about ready for a break too?  Decided what better way to start the holidays than with a FF (Fun Friday)!  This is not to be confused with #FF which in “Twitter” lingo stands for “Follow Friday” (something my old brain still has a hard time grasping).  I prefer my definition of FF which involves appies, alcohol and inevitably lots of LOL. 

The three of us (G, R & I) planned to watch the Grinch, Shrek the Halls & Elf together (a very rare request from R) when I got home.  Unfortunately we couldn’t find Shrek the Halls or Elf so R agreed to try “Donkey’s Christmas Shrektacular” since anything Shrek-based is acceptable.  The scene opens with Shrek lighting a fire before guests arrive.  The three of us sat there watching and waiting.  Finally a few characters appeared on the screen, had a very brief scene and disappeared again.  We waited patiently for something else to happen.  After a minute (which is extremely long when nothing’s happening) the same thing happens…characters appear; brief scene; they disappear.  After about 5 minutes of the same thing R gets impatient and "ff’s" to the next brief scene.  This goes on 20 more times!!!  WT*! 

Now had I not been at FF prior to watching the movie, I may have clued in a little quicker than this morning that something was not quite right as opposed to it being a very bad movie.  In my defence, G just thought it was a very bad movie.  Apparently we were watching Shrek’s Yule Log, the description being:  Heat up your holiday party with this hilarious virtual fireplace. 

Can’t believe we sat and watched a kids’ version of Rogers TV Holiday Fireplace for over 10 minutes before turning it off!  *heavy sigh*

 

Christmas comes Early in Riley World...

It’s less than 2 weeks to Christmas and R’s portable DVD player has stopped working.  R can be very hard on DVD players (portable or otherwise) and particularly on the remote controls.  It's hard to believe he has difficulty with his fine motor skills when you consider the accuracy required to rewind to the exact same spot or at least within one nanosecond in order to watch the same 3 second sequence over and over again. 

Of course he hasn’t mentioned it’s not working.  The last time he came to tell us his DVD player was broken, we “fixed it” using duct tape (thanks to Uncle Stoo).  Hey…it was only about a month old at the time and just the hinge was broken. 

FYI…duct tape doesn’t last forever.  I found this out when I discovered R’s DVD player propped up against the dresser leg.  Part of me felt bad that he had to do that to watch anything and then I thought…how smart am I!  I’d, albeit unknowingly, presented R with an opportunity to practice his problem-solving skills and he passed with flying colours!  Gosh I’m he’s amazing…tee hee.

Luckily we always have a “spare” player on hand.  I was planning on wrapping it up as one of his Christmas presents (even R can only act so surprised after the 6^th package of Mr. Noodles). 

Guess I’ll have to spring for another box of Cheerios.  *sigh*  D

Age "Appropriate" Movies

If it were up to Riley, he’d probably still be watching Caillou, Thomas the Tank and Winnie the Pooh.  Actually…he discovered YouTube a number of years ago so he continues to watch episodes since we can’t monitor his every waking moment.  *Sigh*  I somehow justify all the Disney movies (101 Dalmatians, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Little Mermaid…you get my drift) as “Classics” therefore watchable and appropriate at any age. 

Around the time that R was in grade 6 or 7, “I” decided it was time for him to start watching more “age-appropriate” movies.  After all he surely must be getting tired of watching The Land Before Time and their bazillion sequels?!?  OK…I exaggerate slightly.  There are only 13 of them as of today on Wikipedia.   

The question…what comes next???  The next step…”real” people movies.  This, of course, needs to involve toilet humour and all sorts of hopefully improbable situations such as leaving your child behind at Christmas and not noticing until you arrive at your destination airport or something like that.  One of R’s favourites of this genre was Kindergarten Cop.  Watching it through R’s eyes is truly an eye-opener.  Even though you can probably count the number of swear words on one hand and most kids (parents for that matter) hardly notice…yup…you got it…R seemed to zone in on one of those select few words.  It starts with a B; ends with a D; has 5 letters in between and is defined on the on-line dictionary as “a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate child”.  The scene goes something like this…the woman is extremely upset and frantic and yells “B*****d” at Arnold.  Now on the upside…R uses it only when he is extremely upset and frantic which is a positive in that he is relating to the feelings of the woman.  On the not-so-upside…when you’re in McDonald’s and they run out of “small brown bags” for his french fries, it’s a Saturday afternoon and there’s a whole bunch of families with small children deciding on what Happy Meal toy they want…not so good. 

Think about it…D