Iron Man 2

Heidi has a tendency to be overly empathetic which causes her to be upset by just about every movie she has ever watched.

The first feature length movie she was able to sit through was The Simpson’s Movie. I know it’s not a kid movie by any stretch of the word but that didn’t stop me from letting her watch it about 73 times.

Then she discovered The Chipmunks when my parents took her to see The Squeakquel. She rotates between The Simpson’s Movie, The Squeakquel, and the first Chipmunks movie.

On Sunday, Ryan and Jess asked if we wanted to go see Iron Man 2 with them.

Heidi is a huge superhero fan but I had assumed it was only in theory. She likes to play Spiderman, she even has a costume. And we like to play Transformers while driving. We all pick which Autobot we are and then we pretend all the oncoming traffic is actually Decepticons.

I was very nervous she would freak out during the movie and we would have to leave. I care about my daughter but I am also very cheap. I do not want to pay $21 for the three of us to see a movie only to have to leave half way through. Leaving a movie or missing parts is also very bad for my OCD.

I left the decision up to her. I asked her if she thought she could sit through the entire movie. I told her it would get loud and fighty and things would explode. I think that made her want to go more!

She said “Mom, you know movies are pretend. That stuff can’t happen in real life.”

So, we loaded up the car and went to the movie.

And we LOVED it! I am not sure how much of my love for this movie was due to the actual movie (very loud, fighty, explody, and funny) and how much was from watching how mature my daughter has become.

About 40 minutes into the movie she said “Is it almost over?” I said “probably just less than half way.” She cheered.

Then with 20 minutes left I said “Ok, it’s going to get all loud and fighty now. Then it will be over. Get ready.” And she cheered. Not because it was almost over but because she wanted it to be all loud and fighty!

Not only did she sit through the entire movie, she paid such close attention and commented on things I had not even noticed.

I never was into reading comic books and I didn’t watch comic book inspired cartoons as a child. I was into the Smurfs, The Jetsons, Care Bears, My Little Ponies, and other girl friendly shows and the only comic I ever read was Archie or printed in the Sunday paper. What I do know about Marvel and DC Comics has come from watching movies as an adult (equal parts superhero and Kevin Smith). Oh, and of course the Superman movies as a kid!

Since I have limited superhero knowledge I had no clue the relevance of Nick Fury. I also missed the S.H.I.E.L.D. reference and had no idea what that meant.

But Heidi. She caught on quickly. She made the quick correlation between the Burger King toy she got last week (a bracelet) and the bracelet worn by Blackwidow late in the movie.

The kids immediately went home and played Iron Man. Willy and Emily were Iron Man, Heidi was Blackwidow, Shawn was Ivan Vanko, and I was Pepper Potts. Basically I just stood back and said things like “Oh, you are worrying me!” and “Please don’t get hurt!” My perfect roll!

I am amazed on a daily basis how much Heidi is maturing. I am also very impressed she is equal parts Girly Girl and Tomboy. Being well rounded will take you places in life and now we get to see more loud, fighty, explody, and funny movies!