True Grit's most famous scene Rooster (John Wayne) is facing those four men across the meadow, and he takes the reins in his teeth and charges

February 20th: Duke learned about brushing his teeth last week in class. He's cool with the big tooth brush, but his turtles brush is one for looking at and trying to paint the wall. Note to self...need to get bigger toothbrush.

"Have you ever heard of some fellows who first came over to this country? You know what they found? They found a howling wilderness, with summers too hot and winters freezing" John Wayne

February 18th: We had a touch of snow in Maryland, and by touch I mean 18". It has been exceptionally snowy this winter and it was the first time Duke has been able to enjoy it. He's not a fan of eating the snow or being in it too long. He loves watching it out of the window and the concept of it, but being in it...that requires him wearing shoes and mittens and he's not always down for what will keep him from getting sick.

What you don't see is there is a batman party going on, but as the party winds down all he wants is to watch the snow.

The backyard covered!

Duke is standing on top of a mound of snow so it's not a true showing of how deep the snow was.

Duke loves to ham it up for the camera, he thinks its funny to mimic videos and cartoons, here's him being real in the snow.

"Help"

John Wayne Trivia: "The Greatest Cowboy Star of All Time" was the caption to a series of comic books dedicated to him. The "John Wayne Adventure Comics" were first published in 1949.

February 4th: Duke is killing it at school and by killing it I mean he is sitting during circle time and not being as disruptive... I'm so proud of my little man!

"I'm glad I won't be around much longer to see what they do with it. The men who control the big studios today are stock manipulators and bankers. They know nothing about our business. They're in it for the buck. The only thing they can do is say, "Jeez, that picture with what's-her-name running around the park naked made money, so let's make another one. If that's what they want, let's give it to them." Some of these guys remind me of high-class whores."- John Wayne

January 21st: Duke is in the phase where he is not a fan of clothing. It could be negative zero and he would want to run around with no clothes on . I can't tell you how many time I have woken up to this little man in bed naked, my next thought is I am praying for no pee on the bed or worse.....well you know. Recently he has taken up acting like a Ninja turtle and showing off his sweet fighting moves (or not so sweet if we are doing them at daycare or school). His cousin who is taking martial arts classes saw these and thought Duke would be a good sparing partner. I am happy to say Duke held his own and Rockey was impressed with his little moves.

Duke and his cousin who were rough housing without shirts on...

Here is a snip-it of Duke's latest progress report "Duke is making great progress at school, especially in terms of his behavior but also in academics and communication too! Today I was working one on one with him and he sorted two colors apart all independently and sorted two shapes apart completely independently! We will keep working to increase to total independence but that is amazing!"

"Westerns are closer to art than anything else in the motion picture business."

December 29th: Wrapping up the year with my little elf. He had a wonderful year with a lot of progress. He is able to say sentences, he is working on potty training and is an avid runner. In the next year we are going to be working on our normal things, stubbornness, temper and how to be more awesome than the next year. Duke is going to have an awesome 2014.

There are several adults around him ready to catch him.

Merry Christmas from the Duke!

December 24th: Duke's teach has been very creative with projects for the class for the holiday season. FYI some of the pictures are cropped because he has kids in his class (who are adorable) but I don't have permission to show their pictures, just my little guy.

Mini Gingerbread houses make around milk cartons

Lessons planned around reindeer.

Special Reindeer food to lay out on Christmas eve.

 

Sad John Wayne Trivia Fact: Although it has often been written that Wayne was dying of cancer when he made The Shootist (1976), his final film, this is not actually true. Following the removal of his entire left lung in 1964, he was cancer-free for the next 12 years. It wasn't until Christmas 1978 that he fell seriously ill again, and in January of the following year the cancer was found to have returned.

December 17th: Duke love Santa. he was so excited to see him and it was hard, like holding back a wild stallion for him when he was next to see Santa and had to wait his turn.

 

Santa got out of Duke that he wanted a Ball, love this kid!