Remember your Batcave playset?

One of your favorite toys to play with when a prechooler was the Batcave by Imaginext.

The playset unfolded, had two levels (four if you count the floor and the cave roof), boasted an elevator, a chamber that could be closed, and several entry points. We bought a bunch of accessories with it, including the Batcopter and some of the Batman villains.

We used the playset for lots of fun besides playing Batman. I remember on many occasions it became part of the rebel base for our Star Wars character or somehow was incorporated into other storylines using our other action figures.

Above left is a picture of the Batcave playset we had!

Remember going on the swings?

One of my fondest memories of us together is when being able to push you on a swing when we went to parks. Oddly enough, for me it was very relaxing and seeing you have so much fun brought great pleasure to me.

Often you'd pretend you were a fighter pilot or were one of the Rebel pilots trying to shoot down the Death Star. You'd be making all kinds of fire and explosion noises and talking in your mic to the other pilots. I didn't mind it a bit - I did the same thing when I was a little boy!

A fun ritual we always had when you wanted to get down from the swings was that I'd pretend to try to catch your legs but would miss and say "Too high!" Then I'd pretend try to catch your legs again but would miss and say "Too low!" Then I'd connect with your legs but not grip them so you'd slip right through. Finally, as you were now going slow enough, I'd actually grab your legs but pretend that you were dragging me as you swung back, and go "Oh no! I'm going to go airborne!" You always had a big smile on your face and would laugh as I did that.

What are the best movies ever?

Tonight I went to see the James Bond movie "Skyfall" at the movie theater. It was a lot of fun to watch, and because it was the 50th anniversary of James Bond movies, the film made a lot of references to past Bond flicks.

The James Bond movies certainly are among my favorite movies (I especially like "For Your Eyes Only"). So , of course, are the "Star Trek" movies and because of all the times we watched the "Star Wars" films together, so were they.

Last winter we started seeing a lot of fun movies together, going to see "The Phantom Menace 3D" and "Journey 2 the Mysterious Island" together. You really liked "The Lost Island", and we even played it and made up stories about it afterward!

What movies are your favorites? I can't wait to find out and to take you to tons of them in the years ahead!

My email sent to you on Nov. 10, 2012

Here’s a copy of my email sent to you on Nov. 10, 2012, just in case you don’t receive it:

Hi Kieran,

I had fun seeing you, too, and am glad you liked the toys and candy. I will bring the Battleship game and some Christmas presents from Grandma and Grandpa Bignell the next time we get together.

I’m glad you got a chance to “vote”! Did you know that you actually voted for President Obama when he ran for office in 2008? I took you to vote with me and let you push the “buttons” on the screen for the candidates I wanted to vote for! Voting is very important and something we should do every election, so I’m glad you’re getting into the habit.

I can’t wait to see your Ninja costume pictures. I bet you looked cool! In the past, you’ve gone trick or treating as a Jedi knight, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, a doctor, Elmo and as Tigger (when you were a baby).

Speaking of Jedi Knights, I believe I mentioned that three new “Star Wars” movies will be coming out. The first one will be in movie theaters 2015, or three years from now. That’s a long time to wait, isn’t it?! A “Star Trek” movie comes out next year in 2013.

I’m glad Como Park Zoo has refurbished its kids’ area. When I was a little boy your age and went there, they had a cool kiddie roller coaster. My cousin Barry always got sick whenever he went on it, so his dad would take me instead. I always held my hands high up in the air when we went over bumps. In fact, I think your mommy and I went on that kiddie roller coaster together just before they closed it down.

I am a little concerned about this bully Logan you told me about. You should tell your mom about him so she can bring it up to the teacher or principal at your school, okay?

I had fun building and playing Bioncles with you on Friday. I hope you take them on lots of adventures! And I can’t wait to see your new skateboard. You always liked to watch the older kids do skateboard tricks when you were a toddler and we went to the park in Santa Clarita.

I love you and miss you very much! Have fun this weekend!

Dad

Recall your shuttlecraft Galileo toy?

Do you remember the fun shuttlecraft toy with Captain Kirk action figure that you used to have? Here's a picture of it at right.

When you were two, you discovered that in the garage at the green house (in Lancaster) that I had all of these old Star Trek action figures and toys in totes. You begged me to let you play with them, and I figured there was no need to keep them in packages anymore, so I let you have one a day. Among the larger sets was the cool shuttlecraft and Kirk figure from The Original Series.

We'd often take them on adventures to other "planets" - namely the beds and tables in the house - where they'd have to fight off pillow monsters and strange alien action figures. Often you put your Star Wars action figures in the shuttlecraft for a Clone Wars adventure!

I don't have the shuttlecraft anymore, but I'm fairly certian that I still have your Captain Kirk action figure.

Comic III from 'Darth Vader and Son'

You might remember from a few days ago that I told you about the book, "Darth Vader and Son" that I purchased for us. Here's another comic from it that I think you'll like!

New book: 'Darth Vader and Son'

I bought you (well, really "us") a new book yesterday while shopping in downtown Hudson: "Darth Vader and Son," by Jeffrey Brown. It's a series of comics about what Darth Vader would have been like as a dad if he had raised Luke Skywalker as a little boy!

Besides being very funny, the book seemed really special to me as we both like "Star Wars." You might also remember that one Halloween we went trick or treating together with you dressed as Luke Skywalker and me as Darth Vader. And I'm certain you'll recall all of the great light saber battles we had in which you were Luke and I was Vader!

Some of the comics might not make too much sense until you're a daddy yourself. That's okay - I'll be sure to save the book for you to enjoy with your own little boy one day!

During the next few weeks I'll post some of the comics from the book here for you to enjoy. I can't wait for us to get together again so we can read the book together!

Decorating your new room

Went shopping this weekend with your grandma and purchased some items for our new house. I'm gettting excited about making the purchase and decorating the place the way I've always wanted my home to look; in the past, I either was just out of college and so had no money to outfit a home or I was living with someone else and had to compromise with their tastes - not that I ever disliked any of those mutual design decisions, but I always had to go with my second choice on everything.

I'm waiting to buy anything for your room, though - I want you to have a say in how you decorate it, such as the bedspread and posters and bathroom fixtures (yes, there's a half bath for you - sink, toilet, shower stall). We'll have lots of fun looking for stuff and decorating it.

Your nursery was a Classic Pooh and very cute. But it mainly was decorated to please your mother and me. I have a few of the items from the nursery and some pictures of it packed away. When we lived in the green house in Lancaster, your room had Star Wars decor and was red, white and blue. Jane and I were going to decorate your room at the Palmdale condo in football decor; she had picked out (and even purchased) this wonderful bedspread, lamp and other items, but we all know how that turned out.

Anyway, I'm thinking football again - except you had asked for an NFL helmet design. But I'm wide open to whatever you might like. And if you can;t decide, I may go with a surfer look! :)

Remember our R2 Trouble game?

Probably your favorite game to play as a preschooler was R2 Trouble. It had an R2D2 in the popmatic center where the dice was, and if R2 was standing after you popped it, you got to go again. The pieces also had little stickers of Clone Wars characters on them.

Because of your age, I had to simplify the rules for Trouble. For example, you didn't have to roll a six to go to start; you could go anytime you wanted.

The big problem we had with the game was that you didn't like when I landed on one of your pieces, sending you back to start over. So I made a rule that so long as we agreed not to send each other back to start, we couldn't move our piece on top of the other's. Sometimes, though, you couldn't resist sending one of my pieces home, and though I had ask to reconsider because that meant I could then do the same to you, you'd still send me back to start. Boy did you ever get mad, though, when I then did the same to you!

Because of the rules, the game really just became a race to see who could roll the highest numbers to get our pieces home first. Despite that, the game was a good way to teach you how to count, about the same rules of game playing, and learning how to deal deal with losing and adversity.

Later, as you learned how to use a scissors, you'd cut up pictures of Clone Wars action figures and tape them to the pieces so that we'd have new sets of characters to play with!

Remember all those fun bathtimes?

One of the thousands of great things about you as a preschooler was that I never had trouble getting you to take a bath. Of course, I made sure it was lots of fun!

First, we had lots of bubbles. Bubble bath always was on my list of items that had to stay in stock in the house. And I wasn't stingy with the bubble bath, either - we went through a bottle a week! We'd fill up the bathtub with water, and good couple of inches of it were bubbles!

Next, I made sure you had lots of bath toys to play with. There were foam letters and numbers that you could stick to the wall when they were wet. There also were plastic Star Wars characters that you you could have adventures with. And there were some Thomas the Train engines, a crocodile, and a Little Einsteins rocket ship that all were water-worthy.

In addition, though I'd ask you over and over not to do it, I let you splash water all across the bathroom floor. I was only really concerned if the water got onto hallway carpet, which is why I had to keep you from "oversplashing." Usually I just cleared the rugs out of the bathroom befor eyou got into the tub and let you splash to your heart's content - it was a good excuse for me to scrub the floor (actually, I was just drying it!).

Finally, I didn't waste a lot of time fussing over you with a good cleaning. We quickly washed your hair and then I'd have you close your eyes while I took care of your face. But you spent so long in the bubble-filled bathtub splashing around that the dirt just came off you all on your own accord!

Remember our many Play-Doh sets?

You always loved Play-Doh when a preschooler. What kid doesn't, though? As an adult, its aroma is the scent of childhood, in an instant can flood the head with a thousand wonderful memories of its innocence.

You had four wonderful Play-Doh sets that I purchased for you - one to make hamburgers, a second to make Star Wars figures, another to make ice cream cones, and a fourth to make Transformers characters. You loved each one in turn and could spend up to an hour rolling the Play-Doh through your tiny hands and squishing it into the casts that came with each set.

We also had lots of Play-Doh colors and implements that I purchased separately for you. With them, we could make penguins and sharks and turtles as well as spell out your name. You always liked the orange plastic scissors and would cut up the Play-Doh slabs into smaller pieces.

As you grew older, you'd make me Happy Meals with the hamburger set, create an army of Transformers to battle one another, and pretend you were one of the Beatles making ice cream for another of his band mates. I think we had more fun playing with your Play-Doh creations than you did making them!

Do you still love 'Star Wars'?

Heard a report on NPR about an effort to "Save Tatooine" and instantly thought of you! The sets for Tatooine, specifically Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle's homestead and the area where the Jawas and the Sand People attack the droids, were built in and filmed in Tunisia. Some "Star Wars" fans often go there to see those sights. But recently a fan found that the house was rapidly falling apart - and so he started an effort to raise money for fixing Luke Skywalker's house. He succeeded, too! A very admirable man, he is, for helping to save something that is so important to so many people.

You were a big "Star Wars" fan as a preschooler. Remember how we used to collect "Star Wars" action figures? Watch it on TV and DVD together? Have light saber battles? Or you'd dress up as a Obi-Wan Kenobi when we went to California Adventure and together we'd pretend to fight battle droids inthe Redwood Creek obstacle course? One Halloween you even went as Luke Skywalker and I as Darth Vader for trick or treat!

I saved some of the action figures as well as some of those comic books for you. I also have our two light sabers - many great "battles" for control of the universe await us!