Right in the kisser . . .

Since I am removing my Facebook presence more or less, I am experimenting with different ways to put my pictures of Jack on the web. Looks like Picasa is it, with the ability to stream a slidehow of an entire album onto a blog. This is an album from way back in January, waiting for the shuttle to the Rose Parade Floats on New Year's Day. Jack went crazy giving Mommy a zillion kisses. I used on of these for a special print I had framed for Genevieve for Mother's Day.

Little Elton

Biker Boy

Jack busted out the wheels today, well under his own steam (and a little of Dad's) on the street for the first time. Genevieve got some great pictures, which you can click here to see.

Ansel Adams, eat your heart out

I just got done uploading a bunch of pictures from Jack's kid camera, complete with his comments on them. Click here and enjoy!

Happy 4th of July!

Had an awesome family trip to San Diego for the holiday weekend. We don't get away much -- at all -- on little fun family trips. That's changing this summer for sure! Click here to see all the photos.

Father's Day 2009

Had a totally awesome Disneyland Father's Day with my wife and my boy yesterday. Click here to go to a small album of photos of the day and enjoy the video below in which Jack creates a new genre -- the Father's Day carol, much to the delight of passersby at Disneyland who clapped and danced as we walked past.

Transform and Roll Out!

Jack and I went to the Botcon in Pasadena last weekend and what an awesome time we had! Botcon is Hasbro's convention for fans and collectors of Transformers toys. We were there for hours and had a wonderful time. A bunch of pictures are on Facebook here.

Indiana Jack is Back!

Over on Facebook, there's a bunch of photos of a certain intrepid archaeologist who made an appearance in our yard following a long absence.

Click here to check them out.

Welcome back, Indy. It's been too long.

Happy Birthday, sweetheart.

So even though most of the updating these days goes on over on Facebook, I'd be extremely remiss to not post something on this, the occasion of Jack's 4th birthday.

To think back to when Genevieve and I loaded up a Budget rental truck and her Beetle with all our stuff and set off for California is to think of a time when we never expected, for lots of reasons, some of them medical, to have a little guy like Jack running around less than a year later. Here we are now, five years on, and life is better because he is here with us.

I will always remember the unforgettable moment when Jack was born. Right up until that second, regardless of whatever I thought or how earnestly I believed otherwise, I was at the center of my little universe. When he appeared the sensation was one I can only describe as every point of reference I ever had for anything suddenly shifting and dizzyingly centering on this tiny little baby drawing his first breath.

I don't need to repeat the details of the first few days of Jack being here -- the joys, the worries, all the common stuff first-time parents experience -- because it's all well-documented, almost minute-by -minute, right here. All I can say is, I never imagined myself being a Daddy and yet here I am, assembling and reassembling Transformers for a little person who is immensely clever, witty and self-possessed for a 4-year old, for whom I have nothing but a kind of loving feeling I never knew I was capable of before he arrived. Not that I don't love my wife, my mom, and so on, but parents know what I am talking about. It's like suddenly a little switch turns on and you have the ability to have a new and really intense emotion. It's rather something to come across this in your forties, to find that there's a whole set of feelings waiting for you. It's like popping your head up through a drop-ceiling tile and finding, instead of a ceiling, an entire beautiful universe up there. And it's been up there the entire time, waiting for you to come and see it, and you didn't even know.

Now, at nights, when I stop by to check on Jack and I look at this sweet, silly, smart little boy sleeping so peacefully, I find that if anything, these feelings are richer, deeper, becoming more burnished and resonant with the passage of time. Jack, I never expected you, and how you've made me a better person. Your mommy and I love you so, so much, sweetie. Happy Birthday.

Lots more birthday photos here and here.

Happy St Patrick's Day

By request

Made a print of this and had it framed for Genevieve for Valentine's Day.

More fun with Megan

Jack is a lucky duck! Hs new best buddy Megan had her plane to Chicago get cancelled due to the heavy weather, so her departure was delayed. And that meant more big fun in the Batcave!

And plenty more fun with Megan's iPhone which she bravely shared with Jack. He especially enjoyed the lightsaber.

It's saying a lot for Apple's interface design, to say that my 3 3/4 year old had a good handle on how to use it within an hour of picking it up.

Jack and Aunt Megan

From Aunt Megan and Jack

Genevieve's wonderful sister Megan is visiting and for Jack that means just one thing: a playmate! They were out playing in Jack's sand-table today so I grabbed a few cute shots.

Interview with the Batman

In a rare coup, the Batman himself invited us into the Batcave for a tour and interview. He introduced us as well to "Johnny Whoa-Whoa," who, according to Batman, is a "brand new superhero" who even has his own theme song. Due to a camera malfunction Batman's performance of this song got cut off but for those who are curious, this is how it goes:

Johnny Whoa-Whoa, come out of the wall!
Johnny Whoa-Whoa, come out of the wall!
Johnny Whoa-Whoa, come out of the wall!
Johnny Whoa-Whoa, come out of the wall!
Johnny Whoa-Whoa, come out of the wall!

It goes on like this for some time, actually. And no, we have no idea what it means, either.

The Kissing Bandit

We went to view the Rose Parade Floats on January 2d in what has become a family tradition. While waiting for the shuttle bus Jack decided to give Mommy what he called "really big kisses!" which involved smashing his face into hers and smooching her over and over again. For your enjoyment, here is a web gallery of his smooches.

From The Kissing Bandit

Dark Knight, Sunny Day

From Batman At Home

So I was trying to do some housecleaning today and I left Jack watching some of the incredible Batman: The Complete Animated Series shows his Aunt Megan and "Uncle" Tom got for him for Christmas, wearing his Batman Suit from Uncle Teige, Aunt Becca, Rose and Cormac, and he looked so freakin' cute alternately acting out the action and solemnly taking it in, that I had to grab the camera and fire off a zillion photos. It would take too long to post them all, but you can go to the link at the bottom of the pic and see them for yourself. Enjoy.

From Batman At Home

Christmas 2008

Christmas dawned a little late for the Sheehan family -- we slept in until an incredible 8:30 am or so -- but that didn't diminish Jack's energy one little bit. Once he popped out of is door to see his Santa-swag, he was off to the races. Here's a video sampler of his orgy of presents, with a few random pics to follow:

Batman is the big thing this year (did you get that from the video above?) and Santa and Genevieve's folks and Nanny dialed in big in that department. Indiana Jones is still hanging in there too ---

--but the shadow of the bat is rapidly eclipsing him. Jack loved putting the uniform on but couldn't wear it too long because he couldn't quite sort out seeing through the eye-holes.

Loads of Bat-swag today . . .

. . . along with a much-desired Thomas table courtesy of Genevieve's folks. This will really get us off the hook when we walk down Myrtle Ave past the toy shop here in town. They have one of these and woe betide us if Jack wants to pop in there after a movie or something. We really have a job getting him out of there.

Even when Jack was opening non-Bat-related presents Batman (or several Batmen) had to "stay there and watch," as below:

The traditional kid reaction to receiving clothes as a gift:

. . . unless those clothes are Batman jammies!

It rained almost all day and it was cold, but that was kinda nice in a way -- made this California town feel more Christmas-y. Then as a bonus we got this massive rainbow right across the street. So glad I still had my friend's good camera I'd borrowed to grab some pictures before it disappeared.

These pics are mostly for my Mom, to show her how well her Christmas present for Genevieve worked out. But they look all kinds of Christmas-y too, so enjoy.

All in all we had an excellent Christmas and we hope you did too. 2009 promises big changes and big things, so let's bring that sucka on!

It's bird! Its a plane! It's Super Jack!

So lately Jack has been getting very big into Batman and Superman. After bath time he often becomes . . . Super Jack! With his little coweled bath towel he streaks throughout the house writing wrongs and occasionally upending something valuable . . .

. . . until he catches me taking his picture and bellows at me NO!!!!!

I guess he is worried about his secret identity.