"I've always had deep faith that there is a Supreme Being, there has to be. To me that's just a normal thing to have that kind of faith. The fact that He's let me stick me around a little longer, or She's let me stick around a little longer, certainly goes great with me -- and I want to hang around as long as I'm healthy and not in anybody's way." John Wayne

September 30th: Duke's 3 year check up. This big boy is on the 20th percentile for weight and height, WOO HOO. We knocked out his flu shot and he didn't make a peep during the evaluation.

John Wayne Trivia: The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, issued a proclamation making 26 May 2007 "John Wayne Day" in California.

September 25th: Duke did much much better. Here's a picture from Duke's Blog that Duke's Teach creates, So cute!

"There's been a lot of stories about how I got to be called Duke. One was that I played the part of a duke in a school play--which I never did. Sometimes, they even said I was descended from royalty! It was all a lot of rubbish. Hell, the truth is that I was named after a dog!" John Wayne

September 24^th:  Happy Duke’s first day of Pre-K, I’ve been looking forward to and dreading this day for months. It’s a change so I’m anxious because I have loved his therapists, who have been with him the past year, and love the structure that Michelle gives him with Day Care. It’s not for a lack of information or comfort, it’s a change, it’s new, and I’m an anxious person. 

 

            Duke was ready today with his cute dark jeans, “I’m the Real Deal” Shirt, hair parted very neatly and Superman Back pack. Michelle and I walked to where he was suppose to be picked up at the "bus stop".........15 minutes after the pick up time....no bus. So I took Duke to school and on the way called to let them know he was late, the school said they knew, the bus had a sub and it was running a half an hour late (there's more to that story, but I'm not getting into it).

            So Duke and I got into school, Duke ran down the hall like this was HIS SCHOOL and he was the boss. The teachers were there to meet him and started teaching him his school routine of putting up his jacket and back pack in his area. They got him in and I was good, no tears he was as I expected there and good, not clingy or asking for me, he leaves that for when we are home.

            A few hours later I got to work at get the message from Michelle, that the bus drove by the house for Duke's pick up...and down the street to drop him off at someone else's house. I want to die, throw up and scream in unison. Die because I feel terrible that Michelle had to take all the kids from daycare down the street to get Duke; throw up because of the thought of my 3 year old being somewhere He and I don't know; and scream because this wasn't the plan....and he's 3. So what do I do.....I call the director of transportation for the county.....and expressed firmly I am not pleased and he needs to be picked up and dropped off at daycare. Now he is being picked up and dropped off at day care, and if it doesn't happen again tomorrow....I will Not Be Pleased.

            Later in the afternoon I got a text from Duke's Teacher about how good he was in school today and that he was very interactive. Getting on the bus was a bit of a struggle, but she worked with him and hugged him to help him feel more comfortable, and now I am calm. Duke trusts her enough to let her comfort him, that's a step in a good direction because he will need that as he learns new things and fights the system. With that I am good and feeling content with the day.

Happy Birthday Duke!

September 13-16th: My little man has turned 3, and I am more in love with him daily. In the morning he gives me a kiss and he hangs in bed while I get ready, One of his favorite phrases is "Let's Go" and he let's me know when I am taking too long for him in the morning. His accuracy with throwing a football is crazy, he can hit his target 95% of the time with a football and about 75% with the lacrosse stick.

Friday-Photos and Class Tour: Duke as usual was great with his photo shoot, he is so photogenic and when music he likes is playing we get classic pictures. After his pictures we went to see his new Pre-K class for a tour. Duke was already interactive with the class and I feel within the first week of the new class he will get the structure down and will be amazing at school.

Saturday- Jessie's Wedding: Duke's been to 3 weddings, so it's not a frequent occurrence for him. He's not big on sitting when he was told to sit so we had several ways to bribe him as well as a great short ceremony.

When the music started (which was Kenny G) Duke was on the dance floor. He didn't stop until exhaustion hit him and it was laps around the farm for him.

Sunday- The Zoo: We went to the Washington Zoo for his Birthday party, I made the kids their own capes and Uncle Charlie was the tour guide, the weather was very warm and Duke was done by the elephants, but got it back together. It was great to see him interacting with all of his cousins and see how much they are all alike and different.

Monday- BIRTHDAY: Morning at Day care with Lion Cupcakes and an evening of opening tons of gifts. He went nuts over all of his Superman, Toy Story, Power Ranger and TMNT presents.

John Wayne Fact: After meeting the late Superman (1978) star Christopher Reeve at the 1979 Academy Awards, Wayne turned to Cary Grant and said, "This is our new man. He's taking over.".

September 8th: Duke had his first IEP (Individual Education Program) on Wednesday. In this meeting we got his first goals for his Pre-K experience and it made me revisit almost 3 years ago when Duke was given goals from Children's Hospital. It made me reflect on how much he had grown and changed.

       From September 21, 2010:  Now to take him home means he has to do the following 1. Breathe on his own 2. Maintain his temperature 3. Be able to feed via his mouth. These are goals I know Duke can achieve because with him only being 5 days old he is pleasing the doctor with ever stride he makes. Before leaving they will still need to do a hearing test because often times babies born early have some hearing loss and we will need to see if and how much he has. We will also have to start testing him in a car seat to ensure he is comfortable and there are no problems with him in his seat.

        From September 4, 2013: This meeting had 9 people talking about Duke's Goals

1. Academic Communication: Given Verbal and visual prompts, Duke will produce the p,b,m,n,w sounds in 2-4 words utterances  with 80 % accuracy. (This one was increased in the meeting because Duke is saying full sentences.)
2. Academic Early Learning Skills: With fading verbal and visual prompts, Duke will participate in circle time activities for at least 10 minutes, by performing motor actions to familiar songs and finger plays, completing early learning activities and taking and waiting for his turn.
3. Academic Early Learning Skills: With a verbal prompt and fading visual supports, Duke will follow two step directions to complete classroom activities, with 80% accuracy.
4. Academic Social Interactions Skills: When given fading adult facilitation to independence, Duke will participate in interactive play and learning experiences with peers, for increasingly longer periods of time.
5. Physical Gross Motor: Duke will access his school environment with supervision assistance on 2-3 trials.  

       We have a walk through of Duke's Pre-school class on Friday and he will be going Monday- Friday for 2 hours a day and he is going to going 5 days a week. With his new love of Superman we made sure to get him a superman back pack, now it's just what does he wear for his first day of school.

Duke feeding a Geese

Duke feeding a Goat.