"You may think all my parts are the same. That's just what I want you to think. You get lost on the screen if your personality doesn't show through" - John Wayne

September 15th- Duke decided the night before his 2nd birthday he wanted to stay up and not go to sleep, which I found funny because he will usually fall asleep as soon as he hits the bed. On this night he said....nope I'm holding onto my youth. I am sorry my love you are getting older and bigger! You are spectacular!

John Wayne Fact: Though he was the Singing Cowboy, he didn't sing it was a voice over.

November 2012: The boy is obsessed with Wreck it Ralph, when we put the Tattoo on his belly he would show everyone and this was a great way to teach him body parts!

"[on his third wife Pilar Wayne] I can tell you why I love her. I have a lust for her dignity. I look at her wonderfully classic face, and I see hidden in it a sense of humor that I love. I think of wonderful, exciting, decent things when I look at her."- John Wayne

Trip #2 Airplane to Boston, then a Taxi to a Hotel and a Wedding (5 new things)
My son is 98% of the time an angel. He is sweet, content, happy and funny, I don't know why I would doubt this for a plane but I did. I was scared the 2% would come out where he is a bit whiny and wants to roll around when it is not the time to roll around. I have heard the horror stories starting with Bill Cosby's routine about the little "Jeffrey" on the plan with his mom alone. Duke fell asleep 10 mintues before take off and slept until we were flying over Logan to look at the boats and smile. I love my son.

The wedding was beautiful. It took place outdoors at the Hotel Marlowe, where Aunt Laura and Uncle Nathan looked great and in love. The weather has never been better for a wedding, I was nervous after the heat wave and storms from the previous two days. I had multiple people offer to take pity on me with Duke on turns to watch him (he's going through seperation anxiety a bit so it didn't last long). Duke played with Lilly and Quinn who were also babies at the party, but we are going to have to work on the slapping......poor Quinn.

I love this picture becuase if you look at Duke he is cutting eyes at Nathan and I'm not sure why.

"I'm an American actor. I work with my clothes on. I have to. Riding a horse can be pretty tough on your legs and elsewheres.- John Wayne

New Trip #1- We went to the Baltimore Zoo with Aunt Candi, Rockey, Abram, the Cote Family and the Gentry Family. Yes, Duke went the Zoo last month, but not the Baltimore zoo which means his first time with a tram, the interactive zoo and Penguins. All three of these new things.....Duke was not a fan of. My poor sister tried to get Duke some interactions with the turning turtle shells and Duke threw a fit about the shells and would not go to my sister for the rest of the day. The Tram freaked Duke out and I think it was because of the wind and the bumps. The penguins were cute.

 

Photo credit Candice Jewell

"Talk low, talk slow and don't talk too much." John Wayne

May 24th- Duke's first trip to the National Zoo was with myself and his Uncle Charlie. Charlie knows the zoo inside and out and all there is to know about the animals so he was the perfect tour guide. We had a very lively animal day with the Orangatangs on the trail (which Duke thought was unreal and was glued to watching them), the lions were playing, the gorillas where out and about and the crocodile was outside snarling and pacing.  We managed the day with no sunburns, which I was sure was going to happen, but thank goodness for SPF75.

John Wayne Trivia-His nickname of "The Duke", was picked from his favorite horse, that he personally named Duke. He rode Duke, during the filming of Western movies, while acting, in his earlier years.

May 10th- Duke has a few loves and they are highlights of the joyful child he is. First off Duke will wake up from a dead sleep if he hears music. He loves drums and guitar and those are some of his favorite toys. He rocks out to music whenever he hears it and wiggles around when sitting. He's starting to get into cars and is making a vroom vroom noise. He recognizes how to play with them without throwing them. Which is a great relief. I will say Duke's newest habit of unloading the toy basket...that's getting old. I liked it when it ws fun for him to pu things into the basket.

"When people say a John Wayne picture got bad reviews, I always wonder if they know it's a redundant sentence, but hell, I don't care"- John Wayne

April 1st: Every month I take Duke someone where he hasn't been before. March I got his trip in just at the buzzer. Duke's March trip was to build a bear in Annapolis Mall (yes he has been to that mall but not to Build a Bear). Duke was so excited to see Kermit, but he already has a Kermit doll so I told him we would look for another option. I put a bunch of the animals in the stroller and he chose the bunny from Hop. The outfit for the Hop bunny includes drumsticks.....

Today he is all about the drumsticks from the Bunny and wrestling with the Bunny (Look out MMA fighters)

Trivia: John Wayne's real name was Marion Robert Morrison.

March 29th- Duke is doing a great job with starting to pull himself up to a a standing position. He will stand for some time then realizes I'm getting laughs so I'm going to sit and clap. Clapping has become Duke's Cryptonite.

"I made up my mind that I was going to play a real man to the best of my ability." -John Wayne

March 21st: One of my earliest memories is singing with my father Rainbow Connection in the car. I've loved music and have always had a song in my head or one out of my lips as I am walking. Duke and I have been excited about The Muppets movie for months. Duke has practiced his standing against the couch as we watched the preview. For Christmas he got a Kermit puppet and we have used it to sing with him and now he initiates play with it. Last night Duke initiated play with his new finger puppets and we all enjoyed how he carried poor Gonzo in his mouth and Combat craweled to Miss Piggy (which would have been true to form for Gonzo).

Another area Duke has taken on personalitywith is with his singing, or his interpretation of singing, which is screeching, which is similar to my singing (have to work on that). His dancing, as in the video, could use some work also. At first I thought he was fighting but realized he was dancing.

"I don't act . . . I react." -John Wayne

February 18th- Duke is super excited about everything now. Puffs...excited, Rolling....excited, Socks.....excited. Lately he is getting more vocal and when he sees something new once he has determined it doesn't move he will start to loudly talk/ yell at the item (I think it is to show he is dominant.) When things do move, he sits up and plays with them for long periods of time. He recognizes his toys when the are on the tv (The Muppets and Elmo) and looks for me to acknowledge that I recognize his toys too.

I love Cupcakes!!!

Happy Valentines Day!

Trivia: In John Wayne's Movie Flying Leathernecks the Leathernecks of the film's title is military slang. Leatherneck is a common nickname for marines of the United States Marine Corps (USMC).

Each month of this year Duke and I are going to visit somewhere new he has never been before. This month we went to the John Wayne Museum in Bowie Maryland. How is there a John Wayne Museum in Bowie, well allow me to tell you how Bill Atkins was in Flying Leathernecks with John Wayne when he was 19 years old. Bill has turned half of his real estate office into a mini museum with items from the movie and stills where you can see Bill in shots of the movie with The Duke. When we came to the door I introduced Duke to Bill and he was tickled/ surprised by my son's name. He was very excited to talk about the different items and had a partner he use to work with who was a John Wayne impersonator.

I asked Bill if he would mind taking a picture with Duke and he didn't mind, but didn't think he would come to him. Duke, as usual, took to Bill and cuddled with him as Bill talked with him. I was only nervous because I wasn't sure if my baby may have been to heavy for Bill, but Bill walked around and showed Duke pictures. At the end he gave Duke and I a "John Wayne Dollar" he makes for all visitors. He was a sweet man and I loved that this was our first adventure for 2012. For information about going to the John Wayne Museum you can call Bill at 301-262-0153 and make sure you tell him Duke sent you.

 

"[on being asked about his "phony hair" at Harvard in 1974] It's not phony. It's real hair. Of course, it's not mine, but it's real." John Wayne

January 16th: Guess who learned to Raspberry.....

"[on America] I can tell you why I love her. I have a lust for her dignity. I look at her wonderfully classic face, and I see hidden in it a sense of humor that I love. I think of wonderful, exciting, decent things when I look at her . . ."

January 13th: Duke is a wiggle worm in bed he starts in the same position when he goes to bed (on his belly with his hands up, but everymorning he is in a new area of the bed. At times it is like he is doing sleep breakdancing. We have switched from him waking me up to me waking him up in the morning to ensure he is getting his full bottle. I love when I see him and playing with his toys in the morning. The bear he had in the hospital melts my heart when I see him playing nosies with him. Nosies is the game his PopRock came up with Duke, it is where Duke touches noses with different things.

Merry Christmas

December 25th: I was nervouse about Christmas this year because on Christamas Eve Duke had a fever, but it cleared up by Christmas morning. Duke's Second Christmas was more interesting for Duke. He loves wrapping paper and giftbags with tissue paper he can take out. He got lots of noisy gifts and several cute toys that melted my heart that he loved them.

Duke's favorite things lately he will actively go to, and he lets everyone know if he doesn't like something now. He is still happy 99% of the time, but when he isn't pleased that 1% of the time...you know.