Remember your book 'Spaceman Sam'?

Was looking through some of your old children's books that you loved so much and came across "Spaceman Sam," a book you loved me to read to you even when you were an infant and couldn't understand the words. Part of the book's appeal was that pieces of it could be moved as Sam went through his adventure of taking a rocket into space, and you always enjoyed moving all of the controls around and opening the spaceship's door. The big surprise came at the end, though, when a you could press a button and release a spring that shot a mini rocket-shaped version of the ship into space! You would do that over and over. Some of the interactive parts of the book are a little ripped and broken, but I'll try to tape them back together for you. Maybe one day either you or I will get to read it to your children!

Your favorite TV shows as a little boy



Curious George

As you know, Kieran, I raised you during most of your toddler and preschooler years. During that time, I kept track of just about everything I could about you: your height, weight, favorite songs, favorite books to read, etc. etc. I thought one day you might want to look at such lists, to jog your memory as you recalled childhood, a period that dims over time as we find ourselves preoccupied with schoolwork, careers, lovers and eventually children of our own. Today I've included a list of your favorite TV shows - those programs you loved to watch when a toddler and preschooler.

My own favorite shows when your age included "The Flinstones," "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," and "Star Trek," all of which were shown back-to-back every afternoon beginning about 3:30 p.m. when I was five or so. In the morning, I'd usually watch with my mom "Bewitched," "I Dream of Jeannie" or "My Three Sons." I also liked "Daniel Boone" and "The Wonderful World of Disney" during primetime and "Dark Shadows" during the early afternoon. "Casey Jones' Roundhouse" and "Captain Kangaroo" were early morning favorites (They didn't have a lot of children's shows like they do now; "Sesame Street" first went on the air when I was four!).

Anyway, here were your favorites.

Age 1
Elmo’s World (Sesame Street)
Curious George
Sid the Science Kid
Calliou

Age 2
Curious George
Super Why
Calliou
Fireman Sam
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Kipper
Franny’s Feet

Age 3
Curious George
Calliou
Star Trek (TOS, TAS)
Batman (Brave and the Bold, The Batman)
Justice League
Scooby Doo
Fireman Sam
Star Wars movies/The Clone Wars
The Six Million Dollar Man (late)
The Bionic Woman (late)
Samarai Jack
Ben 10 (late)
Beatles cartoons (late)

Age 4
Callious (early)
Phineas and Ferb
Ningago
Scooby Doo
Transformers

Fireworks we've seen together in the past

Lat night was the Fourth of July fireworks, and I was very sad that we weren't able to be together for them. This was supposed to be my year to have you for the Fourth of July.

We've seen a couple of fireworks shows before - most notably the Halloween fireworks at Legoland in 2011; we also saw the New Years Eve fireworks on Dec. 31, 2011, but a fog rolling off the ocean made watching really difficult (remember how they gave us 3-D glasses to wear so that the fireworks would look like exploding Lego bricks?).

You always begged me to take you to the Disneyland fireworks, and I promised I would when you were older - the fireworks were late at night,  and I'd knew you'd be too sleepy to really enjoy them, plus getting out of the theme park is very difficult after the fireworks, making for an extremley long night for both of us. How I wished last night that I would have taken you to those fireworks at least once...

But don't worry, Kieran - we'll see lots of fireworks in the days ahead, I promise.

Places to show you in Wisconsin

I've arrived back in Wisconsin today, Kieran, so that I can better continue the legal battle to regain custody of you, to ensure you are protected, and so ensure that we can see one another again. While I will miss California and all we could do there - Disneyland any day we like, the ocean beach, Legoland, the mountains, the many aquariums and museums, the desert hikes, the festivals galore - so long as I am with you, it doesn't really matter where we are.

I always planned to take you back to the Midwest just to show you where I'd grown up but had hoped to wait until you were a little older so it all might be a little more meaningful. I grew up on three different farms in Wisconsin - one near Plum City, another near Elmwood, and the other close to Menomonie (this is where I spent most of my childhood, from second grade until I graduated fromhigh school, and is where your grandparents still live). I'd love to show you those places and the main streets and stores in Plum City and Durand and Menomonie where my parents shopped when I was a child, and to show you the "ancestral valley" where your great-great-great-great-great grandfather and his two brothers came to Wisconsin; they being among the first pioneers in the state. I want to show you where I went to school - elementary school in Elmwood and another in Knapp,  junior high and high school in Menomonie (yes, Jane went to school there, too), and on to college in River Falls. I'd like to show you the dorms I lived in during college and my first apartment in Red Wing, Minn. (where I held my first full-time job out of college, as a newspaper reporter covering Wisconsin news), and the newspapers I worked at in Red Wing and Prescott. I'd like to take you to all of the carnivals and festivals I went to as a little boy - the Durand Fun Fest and the Dunn County Fair and the Minnesota State Fair. I'd like to show you a thousand other places that I've been to and always wanted to go to but never did.

We will do all that and more one day. Don't be discouraged, my son - time is on our side.

Building Bioncles at Legoland

Remember how we used to build and then play with Bioncles at Legoland in San Diego? Sometimes we'd spend an hour there trying to construct the robots and then would make up these elaborate stories as our good and bad guys battled one another (Usually ending with my bad guy falling into the trash compactor if I recall!).

The last time we were at Legoland was New Years Eve for the fireworks. That day, we sat at a table with another father and his two children, all constructing and playing with the Bioncles together. Anyway, yesterday he sent us pictures of you and me that he took that night. More than seven months had passed sinced then, and I figured either the photos didn't turn out or he'd lost my email address. I've posted a couple of the photos here.

One time I purchased for us two set sof Bioncles that we could. When we got back to our trailer in Encinitas, you wanted tobuild them, and so we each started on a package. I was certianI would have to help you, but you followed the directions all on your own and constructed the Bioncle in no time flat! I was so proud of you, of how you looked so closely at the pictures, and even after making a mistake, backtracked and relooked at the instructions, only to put it together correctly all on your own.

I can't wait until we're together again to build (and battle) more Bioncles. This time Lord Zoltar will be victorious and conquer the Earth!

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!

Some advice for you, my son

I know, Kieran, that you must feel a great emptiness not having a father in your life. I certainly feel a great emptiness without my son in my life.

When one feels such emptiness, often bitterness sets in, and to release those feelings, we lash out at others or their property. By doing so, though, we only hurt ourselves far more than we do the other person. That may not be apparent at first as the other person cries or their possessions lay broken, but in the long run we lose the love and trust of them when we behave this way. I speak from personal experience, and when we are together again, I will explain all of those incidences to you should you wish. The one example I'm sure you will be familiar with, though, is Jane, who we both loved very dearly but who through my anger I drove away.

Do not harden your heart, Kieran. I know that is easier said than done. But I will be there again to fill the void  that our forced separation has temporarily created in both of our lives - and I emphasize the word temporarily because each and every day I and your grandparents are working within the limits of the law to correct this egregious error that others have committed to harm our well-being. So remain strong and remain kind and loving to others - even to those who have done you wrong - for in the long run that will serve you far better than taking the easy way out, which is bitterness, anger and a hardened heart.