John Wayne Trivia "He was offered the lead in The Dirty Dozen (1967), but went to star in and direct The Green Berets (1968) instead. The part was eventually given to Lee Marvin."

March 29th: Duke has been having a rough time of potty training lately, and it's one of those things that is frustrating, but you have to remember he has extremely low muscle tone, so we can hold it...it's hard for him. He loves when he does go on the potty and the temporary tattoos that it means are coming his way.

Duke has recently become OBSESSED with Star Wars, Darth Vader and I'm okay with that. With the new Start Wars movie coming out Duke had gotten to enjoy Darth Vader yogurt for him to eat, Star Wars Rebels for him to watch and Darth Vader apparel for him to wear. He had the light saber...and then hit people with it...so that's in time out.

"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. People like my pictures and that's all that counts." -

February 22nd:  In school this week Duke wrote his name without assistance. He is also working on words that start with B and has an awesome singing robot to go along with.

 Duke has taken up lip syncing semi professionally. Okay if there was semi professional lip syncing Duke would be all over this. He is so great with music and his latest GEM had me dying. Enjoy!

"You can't whine and bellyache because somebody else got a good break and you didn't."

December 25th: Duke was all about Christmas this year. He was into the shows and the specials. He knows the traditions (his elf which he changed his name to Chippy this year, the gingerbread house at school and looking silly in elf PJ’s on Christmas Eve). 

 

Duke knows about Santa, but he calls him Ho Ho, which I don’t correct him on, because it’s adorable. He knows about the reindeer and the North pole. He knows about Baby Jesus and his Ma Ma (Mary) and Da Da (Joseph), but he really loves playing with the animals in the manger.

 

Duke got up at 3am asking if Santa was here…on the hour…no one was amused. He did a good job opening gifts, but really just wanted to play with his transformers and nothing else was as interesting. He played from the time toys were fully out of packages until it was lunch time…at which point he collapsed from exhaustion and slept on his PopRock’s lap like he did when he was a baby (he loves his grandpa).

"Life is Hard; It's harder if you're stupid" JohnWayne

December 6th: Duke is able to recognize Santa....he doesn't get that he needs to tell Santa What he wants...but he knows who he is...My heart melts!

"There were periods when you could blow the valve and let off some steam. Like Halloween. You'd talk about it for three months ahead of time, and then that night you'd go out and stick the hose in the lawn, turn it on and start singing Old Black Joe or something. And when people came out from their Halloween party, you'd lift the hose and wet them down. " John Wayne

November 3rd: Halloween and Duke are a magical time. He loved dressing up and he has so many costumes he has gotten/ had passed down to him. This year was very different from other Halloween's though...this year he liked candy...he likes candy a lot. My pockets can not handle any more dental bills for his poor teeth this year with his low saliva, one of the many reasons I don' let Duke eat candy. He's tried every day since Halloween to negotiate him being allowed to eat more then the budgeted two pieces of candy. He is very funny in the process as she points to the candy and asks as he pretends to throw a piece in the air and catch it in his mouth. He is a funny kid!

Duke at his field trip

Duke and his classroom pumpkin

He has the funniest expressions

DC Comics vs Marvel Comics

Bumblebee at night and Hulk during the day

Trivia: John Wayne was born in Winterset Iowa

October 5th: Duke has taken to liking transformers and actually makes the noises as they transform, which cracks me up EVERY time. This weekend we celebrated his 4th birthday with his cousin Abey. It's funny That Duke's baby shower was the same day as Abey's 1st birthday and here we are 4 years later and they are sharing their birthday. We kept the party small their cousins and our cousins. I love that all these guys have had the opportunity to grow up together and so many of them are about the same age. It is always great to know how loved Duke is, even when he has a breakdown mid party over a toy and needs a nap (everyone understands. Thank you to everyone who made this day so special.

Trivia: Mentioned in many songs, including JimmyBuffet's "Incommunicado", Tom Lehrer's "Send The Marines", RayStevens' "Beside Myself", Paula Cole's "Where Have All the CowboysGone?", Queen's "Bicycle Race" and Bruce Dickinson's (of Iron Maidenfame) "Sacred Cowboys".

August 17th: Duke’s love of music is exciting to me. When he is in the car with me he wants music. He will sometimes let me know who he wants “Katy” “Gaga” are the two artists he knows by name…but though he asks for them it could be someone else and he’s meaning someone else. I’ve gotten into a good pattern with him, knowing what songs he wants in the morning and the evening. There are some songs I hear on the radio and I hear him humming or singing in his own way

Singing, I couldn't get video because he would stop singing.

 

This is the list of songs Duke is able to “sing” and by sing he knows some of the words and belts those then just dances for the rest of the song.

Hot and Cold by Katy Perry (to be honest he has been singing this song since he was a newborn)

Dark Horse by Katy Perry

Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson performed by Alien Ant Farm

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen performed by The Muppets

This is Gospel by Panic at the Disco

Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen