2009 TEAM NICHOLAS (L-R FRONT ROW) AUNT YVETTE, COUSIN CHRISTIAAN, AUNT ROSA. (L-R BACK ROW) UNCLE MIGUEL, COUSIN DIANA AND DADDY.   

TEAM NICHOLAS 2009 RAISED OVER $2500. THANK YOU FOR YOU SUPPORT AND DONATIONS TO TEAM NICHOLAS.

TEAM NICHOLAS BANNER FOR THE CANCER WALKATHON WAS DESIGNED AND DONATED BY ADRIANA'S UNCLE MIGUEL'S FAMILY. THE BANNER WAS DESINGED BY DIANA AND ALBERTO RIOS.

TEAM NICHOLAS DURING THE 2009 WALKATHON AUNT YVETTE, COUSIN CHRISTIAAN, AUNT ROSA, FAMILY FRIEND OMAR, UNCLE MIGUEL, COUSIN DIANA. 

2010 TEAM NICHOLAS POSING AS GROUP START OF WALKATHON. NICHOLAS 3RD FROM RIGHT.

TEAM NICHOLAS 2010 RAISED OVER $4500. THANK YOU FOR YOU SUPPORT AND DONATIONS TO TEAM NICHOLAS.

2010 TEAM NICHOLAS WALKING DURING WALKATHON.

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK EVERYBODY FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND KINDNESS TO NICHOLAS AND FAMILY AS WE GO THROUGH THIS DIFFICULT TIME AS NICHOLAS BATTLES TO CONQUER HIS CANCER SINCE HE GOT DIAGNOSED WITH "ALL CANCER" BACK IN SEPTEMBER 2008. WE ALSO WANT TO SEND OUT A SPECIAL THANKS AND PRAYERS TO THE "CHEMO ANGELS" THAT HAVE ENTERED NICHOLAS' LIFE THAT HAVE BROUGHT HIM JOY, SMILES, HAPPINESS AND OVERALL BUILDING UP HIS CONFIDENCE.

Nicholas taking a break during Sunrise Day Camp Walkathon.                                                                                                                                                  November 21st: Another fun day for Nicholas. Yesterday he spent the day with his cousin Christiaan, today he is going to his summer camp for the Sunday Fun Day they have once a month. Nicholas took the bus with his fellow campers. The camp had a inside pool and gym and he had a blast. He went swimming, played and ran around the gym, made a train during arts and crafts and shot basketball and threw a ball around with the camp staff and volunteers. When Nicholas came home, he was tired coming off the bus that once he got home, he ate, watched Toy Story 3 and slept.                                                                                                  Nicholas throwing football during Sunrise Day Camp Family Day.                                                                                                                                        November 20th: Fun family day for Nicholas. First he had a visit from his Aunt Yvette who came in from Boston for visit and later his cousin Christiaan will spend the day and sleep over. Mommy and daddy didn't tell him about Christiaan. He had fun with his aunt Yvette. Later on in the afternoon when Christiaan, Nicholas eyes lit up of happiness. He was happy to see his cousin and they played and brought every toy they could find around the apartment. When it was close to bedtime, they still had energy and mommy made them do a puzzle until they felt tired and went to sleep.                   Nicholas throwing football during Sunrise Day Camp Family Day.                                                                                                                                        November 19th: Today was a happy and sad for Nicholas. Today was the last day that Nicholas was going to have physical therapy with Ms. Monica since today was her last day at the hospital. Monica was happy to work with Nicholas and she was happy with the hard work he gave her every time she had for therapy. She started him out playing basketball in which he broke the the backboard. He started shooting first and then he just threw the ball instead of shooting and broke the backboard. After basketball, they did speed walking, red light - green light, even bars which included climbing over blocks, zig zag and side stepping, trampoline, motor skills, throwing and kicking a medicine ball that wasn't to heavy and focusing on his left leg and arm, ups and downs and to finish off the class, fun time and he took pictures with Monica before saying goodbye. The next physical therapy, Nicholas will start working with Ms. Jeanne. He was tired after the workout and just wanted to sleep. Mommy made him lunch and after eating, he slept for hour before getting ready for class. Class was productive today and Mr. Stephens is seeing improvement in different areas during his time with Nicholas. Today Nicholas wrote his name with no lines or dots and did a great job. They later worked on site words which he knew 77 words, colored, worked on words of letter P, sounds of the letter I, patterns and finished off class working on money. He learned the different coins and sorted pennies and counted the pennies. When class was over the family did some food shopping. Nicholas got another good workout walking around, the one problem Nicholas has to learn is pace himself instead of speed walking. He gets tired and with no stroller to sit on, he knew he had to pace himself and not get tired to fast. After shopping, Nicholas got home and went straight to sleep and it was only 7pm.                                   Nicholas during aquatic therapy at YMCA with instructor.                                                                                                                                             November 18th; Dentist day today. From the time Nicholas got up in the morning, he knew later on in the afternoon there wasn't no class and had a visit with the dentist. During the day to calm him down, he had class with Ms. Goldie. Goldie worked on him with conversation speaking with questions and answers, the meaning of Thanksgiving and what is he thankful for, name writing, drawing, coloring and blocks. Nicholas was thankful for his trains, mommy and daddy and the battle he is going through to beat his cancer. When class was over, he rested a little and later got ready for the dentist. This time around the dentist used a inhaler to calm Nicholas down which worked. The dentist took his xrays, gave him a cleaning and saw that he does need a filling for one tooth in the front. He didn't want to do the filling, because he will need to inject Nicholas to get the job done. Nicholas has already seen enough needles and the dentist just wants to take it day-by-day and keep Nicholas smiling and happy when he comes to the dentist. He was happy leaving the dentist and got his little prize. Once we got home he took his seven chemotherapy medication, watched some television and went to sleep.                          Nicholas with mommy's family. (L-R) Aunt Maria, cousin Licha, Nicholas and mommy.                                                                                                                                       November 17th: After a long day yesterday, Nicholas slept into good and didn't get up until around 8am instead of his usual 630am time. Nice relaxing day for Nicholas today. During the day, mommy had him do some writing letters and numbers to improve on the letters and numbers that are giving him problems. Later on in the afternoon he had swimming class. Nicholas had a good day at the pool today. He is getting more confidence of floating by himself instead of hanging on to the instructor. The instructor was happy with the progress and he is kicking more with his left foot in which sometimes he doesn't put all the force into that leg. The instructor also saw how swimming is doing good for Nicholas and she saw it in his walking out the pool and using his legs to get out the water. After swimming class, he just rested, watched some television and went to bed.

November 16th: Long day for Nicholas as he has physical therapy and class. Nicolas met his future physical therapist today when Ms.Monica leaves. Monica was sick today so Nicholas did his therapy with Ms. Jeanne and she worked him hard that you could see the sweat in his face and eyes. They worked on ups and down, jumping off both legs, throwing but mostly with the left hand, trampoline, red light-green light, speed walking, squares, kicking the medicine ball from his left most of the time and blocks. When the session was over, Jeanne could see what she has to work on with Nicholas and continue to build back up his left side strength. When class was over, Nicholas and mommy went ARRIBA to say hello and get paper from the oncologist so Nicholas can go back to the dentist. Once they got home it was lunch time and get some rest for class. Math day today. They started out working on blocks using it to skip count by 2, used dominoes for addition, number writing 1-thru-10 and Nicholas needs to work on numbers 2,3,7 and 8, patterns by 2 in which he did by himself, clock reading and finally read a book. When class was over, Nicholas was a little unhappy, because he has to realize that sometimes in life you can't get every answer right and sometime she gets frustrated when he can't do a assignment. The attitude is right to fight every challenge in front of him, but always stay positive and work it out. He is only 4years old and with the battle of leukemia and with all the therapy and class he is doing a good job.                     Family Halloween Portrait.                                                                                                                                                                                              November 15th: Mother nature gives NYC another beautiful day. Daddy got up early to do some job hunting, but got called to do a substituting job, so Nicholas full of energy didn't know what he wanted. Mommy took advantage of his energy and took him outside for a workout. She made work on the tricycle, walk up and down the block and some speed walking. Once the exercise was over, he got ready for Mr. Stephens class later in the afternoon. Even though it is only November and there is lots of time left for the school till June, Mr. Stephens is working Nicholas hard and getting the best out of him. Today was another productive class and even though Nicholas got a little frustrated at the end of the class, the teacher was all smiles. Literacy day as they worked on his "All About Me" book, name writing in which he down to using one line, weather and date, number writing 1-thru-8, got up to 78 site words seven more from last Thursday, motor skills and finished off reading books. After class he was tired and after taking his chemotherapy medication he went to sleep                                                                                                                                                                  Nicholas, mommy and Barbara(Candle Lighter Coordinator)                                                                                                                                                                                               November 14th: Happy Birthday Mommy!!!! Today was strange and beautiful day. The weather was great and Nicholas was happy to give mommy her card as soon as the sun came up and was ready to go to early mass. Mass in the morning was beautiful and mommy was happy to get a blessing on her special day, but things changed after mass when the priest said the church will be closing on January 31st, due to lack of funds and it hurting the catholic church financially by keeping it open. The church is a small church and has a nice congregation of 40-50 people every Sunday morning for a 8am mass that is mostly retired folks. The good day went sad for awhile, but mommy was back with a smile when Nicholas gave her a nice juicy fruit cake for her birthday. Later on in the afternoon, mommy invited Nicholas' friend Kevin from the hospital for dinner and fun. Nicholas was happy to see Kevin. They played with Thomas & Friends trains and tracks, sometimes fighting over the same train, but realizing there lots of trains to play with, brought all the trucks and cars, ate dinner and then settled down and watched Thomas and Friends on television. Mommy was happy and relaxed today to see Kevin and his family.                 Nicholas & his friend Kevin after Halloween dinner.                                                                                                                                                                                        November 13th: The house was empty of food and before driving back home for daddy to go to work, we went food shopping. Nicholas loves the food shopping especially when mommy gets in the fruit and vegetable section. This is were he just talks more Spanish since he knows the fruits and vegetables words more in Spanish. After unpacking the grocery, Nicholas spent the rest of the day resting and watching television.                                                                                                                                                                                                            November 12th: Relaxing day for Nicholas. Daddy got up early for a substituting job and mommy made Nicholas do leg exercise and throwing skills. No physical therapy today, because the family was going to visit grandma before she left to go home during the winter season. Daddy came home and drove upstate. Nicholas was happy to play with all his cousin and spend time with his grandmother.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     November 11th: Veterans Day!!! Today is a holiday for Mr. Stephens, but since Nicholas he didn't see Nicholas on Tuesday and tomorrow no class, because he is going to visit his grandmother before she goes away on vacation. Class was only going to a hour and half today, because mommy's aunt Maria and cousin Licha were in town and they wanted to see Nicholas and do some sightseeing. Mr. Stephens was happy with the productive class today. Nicholas started a book project called "All about me book " from his birth till present and everyday he adds a picture that he likes. After working on the books it was a math day. The did addition, number writing, motor skills, name writing, site words in which he knew 70 words and finished off reading couple books. When class was over, the family came over. After taking some pictures, the family headed to the city. The last time Maria and Licha saw Nicholas he was nine months. The city was packed due to the Veterans Day Parade. Daddy dropped the family in midtown and then went to get a parking. The beautiful thing about today that made the day special was one spending time with family and seeing New York and watching Nicholas walked the streets strong. He walked more today than using the stroller. Even though he paced himself more today, you could see he was enjoying himself. He got a flag from a soldier, got to see a plane. visited St. Patricks Cathedral and lit a candle and when the day was done ate some chicken tenders that filled him up. Once the day was over he jumped into the car and slept all the way back to Brooklyn.When he got home he took his eight chemotherapy medications, watched some television and went to bed.                                                                      Nicholas in heaven during his visit to NYC Transit museum.                                                                                                                                                                                           November 10th: Nicholas continues to get up at sunrise and today mommy and daddy payed the price. Since daddy is getting adjusted of getting early when he has a substituting job, he gets up and leaves mommy to sleep, but Nicholas like to get mommy first and daddy next. Today he left mommy and went after daddy. So he woke up daddy and went straight for his trains. Instead of playing with his trains, he read a Thomas & Friends book with daddy, ate breakfast, watch teh morning news and once the sun rose he was happy. The only thing for Nicholas today was swimming class. During the day before swimming he did some number and name writing and site words. Swimming class was great for Nicholas today, there was only three students today so he got extra time with the instructor. The instructor was happy with Nicholas today as he floated and kicked more on his back, hung from edge of teh pool and kicked, floated a little with a ball for about 15 seconds befoee jumping into the instructors arms and everyday his left leg is getting more power back of using it. Nicholas' problem is just he is a little scared that sometimes his left leg doesn't move in teh water when he wants to kick. He knows the battle he is going through and know his strength and weakness. After swimming class, daddy jumped into the water and swam six laps with Nicholas to get more exercise into his legs. When class was over he was tired and just wanted to go hone. When we got home he ate dinner and went to bed after reading some books.

                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

 

 

Nicholas & mommy in old fashion NYC bus at NYC Transit museum.                                                                                                                        November 9th: Change of schedule today for Nicholas. Ms. Goldie who usually comes on Thursday's came today instead and Mr. Stephens cancelled because he has PTA at his school today. With Goldie coming early and no afternoon class, Nicholas will be doing exercise. The good news today, Nicholas' education director found some new places for physical therapy in which he needs to get back 100%. Mommy and daddy can do what they know, but a PT Therapist knows more how to work on Nicholas. Daddy called all the places that was given to him and now we can just wait and see to get a spot in the morning or weekends in which mommy can take him and daddy can take him on weekends. Today's class Goldie worked on Nicholas on identifying reading topics using a computer, food groups , ABC & numbers, how to use a telephone and dial the house number. In his afternoon class he was taught his home address, telephone number and now he leaned how to dial his number on a phone. Later on in class they work on patterns and solutions and finished off reading a book. When class was over he rested till later on he did some exercise. The family got some good news today as we found several rehab centers to continue Nicholas' physical therapy outside the hospital. Now we just have to get the right time that isn't going to clash with his classes with Ms. Goldie, Mr. Stephens and swimming. For the first time since Nicholas got diagnosed, Nicholas saw daddy get frustrated with everything going on, from the job hunting, finance and watching Nicholas fight hard everyday to beat his cancer.                                                                                                                                        November 8th: Nicholas gets up very early in the morning. Even though the clock moved up a hour this weekend, Nicholas still woke super early. He even woke up daddy to head out for a substituting job. Once Nicholas came back home with mommy from dropping off daddy, he did some leg exercise. Mommy made him do ups and down, a little speed walking around the apartment and did some writing and read a book. Later on in the afternoon he was pumped up for class with Mr. Stephens who he hasn't seen in a week. Sometimes when he doesn't see Mr. Stephens for a longtime, he starts off class a little frustrated, but today he was allsmiles and ready to go. To start of class he build a tower building with legos and then teh teacher made him build one color coordinated to work on his eyes and hand coordination. Then they worked on name and number writing, site words in which he knew 71 that included old and new ones, skip counting 2, 5, 10, number counting in the teacher gave him a number and Nicholas with count the next five numbers. Like Mr. Stephens would say 6 backwards and Nicholas will say 5,4,3,2,1 and then 10 and then he would say 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15. Play with the playdoe to to loosen up his hand, fingers and wrist and to finish off class was introduced to odd and even number using objects. Overall class was very productive and Mr. Stephens was happy with the progess and the homework that Nicholas did while he was sick. A normal kid Mr. Stephens would have came last week, but with Nicholas and his immune system anything could have happen. After class, daddy let Nicholas play with his tracks just for today in which the tracks only come out on weekends. Once he stopped playing with his train he took he chemotherapy medication and went to sleep. The one thing after taking a dosage of vincristine, you can see how the steriods affect Nicholas' body and you can see the puffy in his cheeks.

 

 

 

November 7th: A visit to the pediatric dentist for Nicholas today. Every time you think Nicholas is taking a big step on conquering his battle with leukemia cancer there is always a little stumble in the road. Today mommy and daddy learned how chemotherapy medication can might affect the growth of some of Nicholas' teeth. The dentist wanted to take a X-Ray but Nicholas was a little uncomfy and seeing another doctor was something he didn't want to do. The dentist explained to Nicholas what he wanted to do and showed he is his friend and isn't going to hurt him. After speaking to Nicholas, the dentist told mommy and daddy while a kid is taking chemotherapy to kill the cancer cells it is also slowing down the growth of the teeth and since Nicholas is such a young kid at 4years old, the chemotherapy medication is going to have some affect in his mouth. So the dentist wrote a letter to the oncologist asking her what type of medication he can use on Nicholas to relax his mind and body to work on a little filling in his mouth. If things go right and the dentist can work on Nicholas he is going to give him a full mouth X-Ray and work on his mouth and if Nicholas needs to see a specialist he would send Nicholas to one and start a working procedure. Mommy and daddy were a little sad to hear how the chemotherapy is affecting Nicholas, but came away positive that they know the affects now and in the long term and what has to be done. Once the dentist visit was over, we went back home to relax and rest. Nicholas' appetite was still a little low from the vincristine chemotherapy medication he took on Thursday and you could feel how hard his body was from the steroids chemotherapy medication he took on Thursday night. Like daddy always tell Nicholas before going to bed. We Will Beat This Cancer and Everyday is a Challenge and Mission.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nicholas 6th; Relaxing day for Nicholas as he spent the day just running and playing around. During the day he did some leg exercise and movement skills to get more mobility in his left leg that continues to sometimes not move when Nicholas says move. The swimming class has improved the strength in his left you can see how far he has come in walking and the balance he has on his left side. Mommy was in tears a little when she saw Nicholas working and watching how he wants to get back 100% and knows what he has to do to get his left leg moving more with his right leg. After the exercise, he did some coloring, writing, reading and watch television. Everyday is a challenge and everyday he know what he has to do to get better.                                                                                                                                            November 5th: Today was suppose to be a long hard working day for Nicholas with physical therapy and class in the afternoon, but how things change. The morning started off bad as the pick up taxi was late and Nicholas got to physical therapy 10 minutes late. Ms. Monica was all ready to see Nicholas. After stretching out and doing some shooting and throwing exercise they did some speed walking and running exercise. During the red light green light drills, Nicholas vomitted all his breakfast and wasn't feeling good. This was the first time the day after just having a dosage of vincristine chemotherapy me medication that Nicholas started to feel bad. During the summer he went twice to camp and felt greawithil no after affects. Monica slowed the therapy down and did hand motor skills for the rest of the day. Nicholas caught his breath and wanted to do more running, buMonicaca played it safe and just made him work on hand coordination.When therapy was over, Nicholas was jubilant and kept asking why Monica stopped him from running. Daddy who took breakak from job hunting and didn't have to substitute had to explain to Nicholas why Monica stopped running and why sometimes the next the medication can be helpful or harmful. Once we got home, Nicholas just started to get bored, because Mr. Stephens still under the weather wanted to play it safe not to get Nicholas sick, so he gave us homework for Nicholas to do. So with no Mr. Stephens, Nicholas site words, reading, name and number writing to call it the day. When class was over with mommy, Nicholas wanted to read some Thomas & Friends book. Daddy read the book to Nicholas until he went to sleep.

 

 

 

November 4th: Chemotherapy visit to ARRIBA today. Nicholas was full of smiles getting up in the morning knowing it was only a dosage of chemotherapy and not a spinal tap. He walked into the pediatric department and hugged everybody from nurse Nelly to his oncologists and the staff. Nelly took care of Nicholas and weighed him and he went up a 1/2 pound from 69 to 69 1/2 and a 1/2 inch in height from 47 1/2 to 48. Later they took his blood counts and gave him a total check up. The oncologist was happy in the way Nicholas was walking and could see that the aquatic therapy is working out good for Nicholas. Next week we will get his blood results during a trip to physical therapy. After getting all his medications and prescriptions, mommy and Nicholas went home. Once they got home he rested. Later on at night he has to take his seven methotrexate chemotherapy medications and mercaptopurine later on at night. Nicholas' next visit to the oncologist is on December 2nd.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

 

November 3rd: Nice and relaxing day for Nicholas. He only had swimming classes today. Today his swimming instructor finally realized why Nicholas had problems turning to the left side when he coming out the pool. Mommy told the instructor how Nicholas was battling leukemia and how the lower part of his body lost muscle ability and had to learn how to walk and run again. Now the instructor every time that Nicholas gets in the water with her she is going to give him different water exercise to work on making his legs more mobile and more flexibility. Nicholas is doing good in his swimming classes and everyday with the aquatic therapy you can see his walking is getting stronger. Once the family got home from swimming class, daddy was tired from a day of substituting and mommy just needed some rest. Even though mommy and daddy was tired they had to go a little food shopping for fruits and vegetables that Nicholas was asking for including milk in which the house was low on. Nicholas walked and jumped into the stroller. So daddy made him go three to four blocks and then if he was tired he could continue walking of jump into the stroller.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

 

November 2nd: Election Day!!! Nicholas woke up bright and early in the morning. Mommy had to head out to do some chores and daddy stayed home to do some job hunting and keep a eye on Nicholas. Ms. Goldie came today because Nicholas is having a dosage of chemotherapy on Thursday. Nicholas is connecting good Ms. Goldie and she was happy with his work and presence in class. Today they worked on patterns, shapes, solutions on finding color patterns, numbers, hand exercise skills and finished off the class reading books. His after class was cancelled today as his teacher Mr. Stephens continues to fight a nasty head cold. So with class, daddy made Nicholas workout doing balance beam exercise. For the last couple night since Nicholas is getting more into reading, he likes to read a book before going to sleep or have mommy read one in Spanish.  

 

 

 

November 1st: After all the walking yesterday Nicholas got up fresh and full of energy. The day was cold so mommy kept him inside and did some leg exercise and some reading. Later on in the afternoon his class was cancelled and he did a good workout on his balance beam. Daddy gave him a good 1/2 hour workout and most important you could see his left leg is getting stronger during the exercise.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 

October 31st: Happy Halloween!!! Nicholas went trick o treating with his friend Kevin at Bloomingdale's as they were invited by CandleLighters to spend the day trick o treating for candies. Mommy got a little gift bag and she was all happy while daddy ate Nicholas' candy. We got home separated the candy that Nicholas likes and the rest for mommy and daddy. One thing that was great about the walking around Bloomingdale's was that Nicholas got a good workout and wasn't tired. Everyday he is getting better of walking longer without getting tired.

October 30th: Relaxing Saturday for Nicholas. In the morning before daddy left for his freelance job, Nicholas did a hour workout on the balance bean. He all sorts of exercise that Ms. Angelie told us to do to improve the flexibility in his legs and putting the strength back his leg muscle. After the exercise he built his train track and played and watched television for the rest of the day.

October 29th: Nicholas has another long day filled with therapy and academics. His day started off with physical therapy and finished off with class and supervision. Daddy didn't have a interview or a substituting job to go to so he took Nicholas to therapy. Last week Ms. Monica gave us the bad news that she is leaving and today she told that November 19th will be her last class with Nicholas.  Monica did a tremendous job with Nicholas and she will be missed. Every therapy session she had she him, she made him sweat and sometimes her workouts was hard and tough for Nicholas but at the end of the day it was well needed to get Nicholas back 100%. Today she made work on his throwing skills. First he shot baskets and then threw a medicine ball from both right and left hand, do stepping and then ups and downs on the trampoline, speek walking and slight running to increase speed, stamina and endurance, step climbing and finished off with the even bars. He did
walk the bars with nothing in the middle and then he zig zag, stepping over blocks, balance on a ball in the ball and she had him walk six times without stopping. When class was over he was tired and just wanted to sit before calling the taxi. Once he got hhome with daddy was to eat lunch watch some television before getting for class. Today Mr. Stephens was coming with his supervisor to see how he was working with Nicholas. The supervisor was happy to see the productive work on Nicholas in all the different aspects of academics and was very satisfied with the teaching of Mr. Stephens to a 4years old boy. Mr. Stephens got Nicholas when he was 3 and has done a solid job of getting Nicholas to focused and most important getting Nicholas to like what he is learning. During class to shaow the supervisor, they went over everything from writing, literacy, math, reading, coloring and books. When class was over, both mommy and Mr. Stephens were happy with
Nicholas' behavior and his work. Since he did so good, mommy made him bring out all teh toys to play with.

Ocober 28th: Long day for Nicholas. First he had Ms. Goldie in the morning and later in the afternoon Mr. Stephens. Ms. Goldie did a lot of hand working exercise with Nicholas and gave him blocks and legos to built stuff. She had recite the days of week, the alphabet, weather and months. When that over he did some coloring, played a educational game, read a book and conversation. Once class was over, he sat back and watch some television to get ready for Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens broke up class today again like Tuesday. This time they started with name writing and sentence writing, then went on to play with blocksin which they used teh blocks by doing math and patterns. Next up more writing in which Nicholas self corrected himself, math skip counting by 2 up to 20, skip by counting 10 up to the 100 and backwards, conversation and finished off with reading several book. When class was over he took his eight chemotherapy medications and went to sleep.
 
October 27th: Relaxing today for Nicholas. During the day mommy made him sit back and watch television and play until it was time to go to swimming class. Swimming class was good today. The swimming instructor gave him a new floating device had him float by himself on his back and on his tummy, kicking, jumping into the water in which was hard for Nicholas, because his lower body that is not fully at a 100%. So he took his time jumping into the water and climbing out of the water. When class was over Nicholas was expecting daddy to give him a extra 1/2 hour, but daddy couldn't find a parking outside of the Y after a day of substituting so mommy just took him out the water.
 
October 26th: Mother nature gave us another beautiful day and daddy took advantage of taking Nicholas outside. Daddy didn't get called to work as a substitute today and took a break from job hunting to get Nicholas outside. Daddy made Nicholas work on climbing up in different part of the playground to get adjusted of moving his legs up and down and using his body to coordinate what he wants to do. He stayed in the playground for a good hour of just climbing and running around. When he felt tored he took a break and sat and when he was ready to run again he got and got his body moving. This was the first time that Nicholas moved around a lot. Once he got home he ate lunch and got ready for class with Mr. Stephens. Today Mr. Stephens changed up class and broke it down. Instead of starting off with academics, he started with activities. He sat back and watch Nicholas build a house, train and a animail with lego toys. When he finished the activity Mr. Stephens saw a different Nicholas that was fresh and ready to tackle any assignment given to him. They did name and sentence writing in which included the day and weather, sight words in which he knew 63 words today, math using patterns, tally numbers and counted to 31 front and back and to finish off class read several books. Today was a productive class and Mr. Stephens saw a different Nicholas while breaking up the class. After class mommy was happy  with his work.  

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

October 25th: The late October days continue to bring us sunshine and nice days and it also gives Nicholas a chance to head outside and get a workout at the playgrounds. His education director continues to look for a new rehab place for Nicholas and while she is looking mommy and daddy have to continue giving him therapy on his body to get his legs back strong. Daddy headed out for a substituting job in which Nicholas woke up bright and early. Mommy took advantage of just walking with Nicholas to work on endurance, coordination and balance of walking a good distance. Nicholas is fighting hard and everyday he is getting stronger that the doctors, nurses and therapist are seeing the hard work he is putting in that everyday you're seeing a improvement. Class today was another challenge for Mr. Stephens. Nicholas showed some frustration. After class mommy and daddy spoke to the teacher to figure out why Nicholas is acting like this. Mommy was wondering if Nicholas is getting bored, is the lost of the rehab center affecting him a little, does Mr. Stephens have to slow down on the academics and do more fun creative stuff in which he does during his classes or just Nicholas wants out some days from writing. He had his moments, but overall class was productive. They worked on name writing, weather, bigger/smaller, clock reading, math in which Nicholas did some assignments by himself, skip counting by 10 and flash cards. When class was over, Nicholas knew what he did and just sat back got a book and just started to color. One thing mommy has learned about Nicholas, is that when he knows he has has behaved bad, he knows what punishment comes down on him, .

 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

October 24th: Beautiful Sunday and the family took advantage of going outside. The family went to mass in the morning and during mass Nicholas got some books from one of the usher's before leaving mass. Later in the afternoon we got invited by Candle Lighters for a pre Halloween dinner. The dinner was great and Nicholas got a prize for best racing costume as he was dressed as a car racer.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

October 23rd: Relaxing day for Nicholas. Daddy went to work his freelance job and before leaving he help Nicholas build his tracks. Nicholas took a break from his trains and practiced some Spanish speaking with mommy and later did some leg exercise. For the rest of the day he watched some television and did some coloring.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                

 

 

October 22nd: Long day for Nicholas today and he was warned to behave in both physical therapy and class in the afternoon. Daddy dropped off Nicholas to Ms. Monica at the hospital with his tricycle. Monica spoke good about Nicholas and had a productive therapy class with him. They started with stretching and ups and down to work on lifting up his legs. Then they continued doing step climbing, even bars with blocks in the middle to work on stepping over, crossing over his legs and leg and balance coordination without holding to the bars, speed walking to increase his stamina, trampoline, throwing a medicine ball and finished off class working on his tricycle. At the end of class we got bad news that Monica is leaving the hospital and heading back home in the Big Lone Star state for a new job. Nicholas still has her for a month and then we would see who he gets. After eating a good lunch when he got home, Nicholas got ready for class and he knew that he had to behave good today. Mr. Stephens was happy with the class. Nicholas wanted to start with name writing, but Mr. Stephens had him squeeze a play doe to loosen up his hand and fingers. After the exercise they did name writing, letter writing, weather writing, language arts, patterns and choosing, counting backwards from 18, skip counting by 5, begging sounds with the letter and finished off class with a fin activity. Mommy was happy with Nicholas work in class. Yesterday Nicholas couldn't watch television, but today he sat down with daddy and watch the baseball playoffs until he went to sleep.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

October 21st: With no classes in the morning with Ms. Goldie, Nicholas spent his morning working out with daddy at the playground. Daddy took a break from job hunting and gave Nicholas a good workout. When the workout was over, he had to get ready for class. Today Nicholas did not cooperate with Mr. Stephens and after class he was in big trouble. Since he didn't want to do no name writing, he ripped the paper with his pencil in which he showed he didn't want to write. After getting over his frustration class was continued. He did his name writing, sentence writing, number writing, math, constant blends and conversation. When class was over and Mr. Stephens explained to mommy what happen, mommy made Nicholas do more name writing and math. When he finished his assignment, it was just sitting down and relaxing. No trains, no playing, no television and Nicholas turned around and read some book and got his coloring book. He took his seven chemotherapy medications and went to bed.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

 

October 20th: Everyday swimming is getting better for Nicholas. Today he did some floating on his back and tummy alone and did a good job. The instructor is happy with the progress he has made since day day one. Later on he did some extra exercise of going four laps with daddy and just working on leg moving and endurance in the water. Daddy started throwing Nicholas up and down in the water in which he enjoyed until his body felt tired. Once we got home he ate dinner took his chemotherapy medication and went to sleep. He didn't watch his show show Thomas and Friends.

 

 

 

October 19th: Since we lost the services of speech, occupational and physical therapy once the rehab center closed last month, the family has had to put more time of getting Nicholas outside to the playground and tricycle to get him a workout. Having Mr. Stephens he can take care of the speech, mommy and daddy can help Nicholas with independent work in which Ms. Brown left off and she told what he needs to work on. Physical therapy will be done more at the hospital until we find a new rehab center. Nicholas' education director continues to look for a new one. Mother nature gave us another beautiful day and daddy took sometime off from job hunting and took Nicholas for a walk and ride on his tricycle. He moved good around the playground and did a good amount of climbing up and down and working on ups and downs. The only bad thin of the day was that Nicholas loves to jump into water puddles so his sweat was soaking wet when he got back upstairs from the playground and his bike. Once he got inside mommy gave him a bath to get him ready for class. Today Nicholas was not cooperating with Mr. Stephens since he was introduced to new sight words that most included constant blends like Wh, Pr and Th. He got frustrated and only got several words, but saw all 54 and now he knows what he has to do. So at the end of the class it started out alright and finished productive. After letting out his frustration they worked on name writing in which everyday is getting clearer and better, sentence writing in which they did the month, day and weather, letter writing M, X, J and V, patterns, coloring, counting beyond 10, interrupted counting, skip counting by 2 up to 18 in which he also had to write out the numbers and conversation. Mommy was upset with Nicholas a little so she took away he TV time and he missed his show Thomas and Friends. Before going to bed after taking his chemotherapy medication, Nicholas realized what he did wrong and knows next time Mr. Stephens comes he will be prepared.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

 

 

October 18th: Nicholas' new shoes finally arrive and mommy is happy that he got his new shoes. Even though the shoes he has now still fits him, the podiatrist wants him to change his orthopedic shoes every six months. Nicholas beat up the shoes. From summer camp, physical therapy, running around the playground, playing with his cousins and walking around, he needed new ones. After picking up the shoes, he had to get ready for class. While daddy was job hunting on the computer, Nicholas was playing with his trains. Mr. Stephens had a productive class with Nicholas and taught him some new stuff today. Today he was introduced to interrupted counting. Once they went over the counting, they worked on name writing, sentence writing in which included date, day, time and month, number writing 1-thru-10, math in which included addition, reading in which they read three books, coloring, played a game and conversation. When class Nicholas watched some television, before sitting down with daddy to watch the baseball playoffs.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

October 17th: The family went to visit grandma and spend with her on her bday. Nicholas had a blast spending time and running around with his cousins. He was happy to see his grandma, aunts and uncles from upstate NY and with a beautiful day he spent most of the time outside. Every time Nicholas goes upstate for a visit he gets to see his cousins' neighbor Chiya who Nicholas likes a lot and likes to play with when she comes around. She is 11 and just smiles and wonders why this 4yrs old boy is chasing me around. The family just sits back with smiles. When play time was done it was time to eat and get ready to head back to the city. Once in the car, Nicholas was out like a light till we got home. The only problem was that when we got home he didn't want to sleep. So daddy stayed up with him and played, laughed until he had to take his chemotherapy medication and go to sleep.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

 

October 16th: Nicholas gets up early and wants to practice his sight words. Since the family had to do some chores before daddy went to his freelance job, Nicholas will do the sight words with mommy when they came back home.Going outside and walking around it gave his legs a workout and also got his legs and body loose up. He did some speed walking and tried picking up some speed running. Everyday you can see his legs and body is getting stronger and more coordination of controlling his body. Today Nicholas knew 48 sight words and when mommy saw he wanted to do more work, she practiced Spanish words with him speaking. He is getting better of speaking a little more Spanish, but he understands everything when mommy speaks Spanish to him. Later after all the educational stuff, he built his own tracks and played with his train set until mommy did some leg exercise with him. 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

 

October 15th: Relaxing day for Nicholas. He was suppose to go to physical therapy class and felt tired, so mommy decided to give him class at home. She did a lot of leg exercises, stretching, ups and downs, coordination and balancing skills and to finish off throwing around a ball. Later on Nicholas did sight words with mommy and got up into the high 40's. Mommy cancelled class with Mr. Stephens as his body was tired and he went to sleep.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

October 14th: Education day for Nicholas today. During the day he had his first day with Goldie. Goldie is a new teacher from the education program that Nicholas' oncologist referred us to start with. Class will be 90 minutes one day during the week and she gave Nicholas a prep test on what he knows. He went over puzzles, shapes, coloring, numbers, words, conversation and finished off with game. When class was over Goldie was happy of what Nicholas knows what to do for a 4 year old kid. Nicholas had a break to play around and later in the afternoon he had class with Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens had a productive class and he worked him hard for the 2.5 hours. They did name writing, sight words in which he went up two words to 51. He misses two and got to new ones. Sentence writing in which they did the day, month and year, letter writing in which he worked on F, P, Q and R, number writing 1-thru-10, awareness stuff, matching, color matching rhyming, letter C and recognizing pictures that start with C and finished off class with math. They did pennies and counted how much was the total when Nicholas had to count pennies in different groups. When class was over we had to run into the city to get Nicholas his Halloween costume. A foundation was giving costumes for kids for a Halloween party later on this month. Nicholas picked out a car racer outfit. Once the family came back home, Nicholas his eight chemotherapy medications and went to bed.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 

October 13th: Nicholas again gets up bright and super early, but this time daddy had to head out early for a substituting job. He ate some cereal while daddy was getting ready while watching the morning news. Once daddy left he woke up mommy and made sure she was wide awake. Mommy made him watch some television before doing some leg exercise and doing ups and downs. Later on in the afternoon he went to swimming. Nicholas did good today. He did some floating on tummy and floating standing up, dipping his head under water, blowing some bubbles and throwing and chasing. When class was over Nicholas wanted extra time in the water, but with daddy working and transportation from school to swimming and finding parking it was tough. Once we got Nicholas at a good dinner,took his chemotherapy medications, watched some television and went to sleep.    

 

October 12th: Nicholas gets us very early in the morning and the sun hasn't risen yet. He wakes up daddy first thinking daddy had to work today, but daddy didn't get called for work. Daddy woke up and gave Nicholas breakfast and then watched the morning news until the sun came up. Later on in the day Nicholas did some chores with mommy as daddy did some job hunting. Once afternoon came it was class time. Today Mr. Stephens focused the majority of the class on math. They started out doing some cutting activities as Nicholas drew his hand and then cut out his hand. When cutting was over the worked on graffing and sorting, number connecting and then coloring the picture, math test prep using a number line. Nicholas skip counted by 2 alone up to 12 and finish the class reading and sight words, Today Nicholas recognized 49 words and went up knowing six words today from yesterday in which he did 43 words. When class was over it was play time and watching some television before hitting the sack.  

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

 

October 11th: Columbus Day!!! God gave us another beautiful fall day to advantage off. Mr. Stephens came in the morning to give him a couple hours of class and they did a lot of work. The class was productive and Nicholas was following all his assignments. They did opposites, review the O sounds, rhyming, number writing, tally marks of 16, 17 & 18, math box in which included time, skip counting by 5, cards and days of the week, reading, sight words in which he wad down to 43, but knew three new words, name writing and finished off playing bingo using numbers and dinosaurs. After class daddy took Nicholas for a workout at the playground with his cousin Christiaan. Nicholas ran around and gave his body and legs a good workout for about 30 minutes until his body was tired. Christiaan wasn't tired so he played a little more than Nicholas until it was time to go home. Nicholas went back to play more games at Christiaan's house. They starting building a Lego ship until Nicholas was ready to go home. He was tired and daddy saw it in his eyes. Once we got home from a long day of class and playground, Nicholas went to sleep after watching Thomas and Friends. The one bad thing after a spinal tap, Nicholas has to take three different chemotherapy medication for five days in which one is steroids.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

 

October 10th: The day started out early as daddy had to stay up a several hours after coming home from work to wake mommy and Nicholas up at 2am to take his 60hrs after spinal tap pill. Everybody went back to sleep, but in a couple hours everybody was up to get ready for Family Day at Sunrise Day Camp. We got to the camp and Nicholas was greeted by his teacher Ms. Cindy, several volunteers from Ms. Cindy's class, Brianna and Marquis who take the bus with Nicholas during the summer and other kids who were in his class. The family had a great day as Nicholas let loose. Nicholas even thought it would be better if mommy and daddy go back home and leave him to enjoy himself. Today the family and parents had to supervise the kids, so mommy and daddy had to stay with Nicholas. Mommy and daddy just laughed while parking. Nicholas played on the playground, a huge swing, balance in which carried about six people. threw a football with daddy, kicked balls, painted a pumpkin, ran around with all the open space and nice weather, shot basket and finally made a shot after four attempts, wiggled the hoola hoop a little and took his breaks when he felt tired. When the day was done you could see how happy and free Nicholas is when he is at Sunrise Day Camp. Once in the car he went sleep. When the family got home, everybody was tired and just wanted to shower and go to sleep with all the playing and running around.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

 

October 9th: Nicholas had a Cancer Survivor function to attend. The function was moved outside for kids to play around since it was a beautiful fall day. Nicholas played, jumped around the playground, met new friends and still would not let nobody paint his face. The family had to leave a little early so daddy could drive back home and then head to work. Once we got home, Nicholas took his 48hrs after spinal tap pill at 2pm and for the rest of the day he just rested.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

 

October 8th: Relaxing day for Nicholas after getting a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine chemotherapy. He spent most of the watching television and playing around with Lego Toys.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 

October 7th: Today was a visit to ARRIBA and it was long day. Nicholas walked into the Pediatric Cancer Unit smiling and hugging Nurse Lynda and Nurse Nelly. Nelly did all the weight height and vital signs for Nicholas today. He gained 2pds and went up 69 from 67pds, he grew 1/2 a inch to 47 1/2 inches and his vital signs were good. The weight went up and since he lost his rehab classes of physical therapy and days of rain, he couldn't move around and get his body moving. He is eating good and everything is cooked. Nicholas met up with his friends Kevin and Andres who were both in, but just for getting a dosage of vincristine chemotherapy while Nicholas was in for a spinal tap and vincristine. The anesthesiologist had a emergency down in the pediatric unit so Nicholas had to wait for his spinal. When he finally came to knock Nicholas out for his spinal tap it was 2pm. So come Saturday Nicholas gets his 48hrs pill at 2pm and 60hrs at 2am Sunday morning. During all the wait he watch the movie "Cars" and lots of Thomas & Friends movies. While walking out of the hospital, Nicholas threw up on a empty stomach and mommy had to changed his clothes. Once we got home he was tired and went straight to sleep. The next time Nicholas goes back to ARRIBA is on November 4th and is only scheduled for a dosage of vincristine.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 

October 6th: After having a long day of therapy and a class. Today was a easy day for Nicholas. During the day as daddy did some job hunting, mommy called Nicholas' education director looking for a new place for Nicholas to get speech, occupational and physical therapy. Just the family's luck the education director is on vacation. Mommy and daddy can work on the occupational part, Mr. Stephens can continue working on his speech while working with Nicholas in class, but physical is what he needs the most. He went twice a week at the rehab center, once at the hospital and one day of swimming. Now we just have one day at the hospital and one day swimming. Once the director comes back I hope she kind the therapist that Nicholas needs. Swimming class was positive and every lesson the swimming instructor with Nicholas' progress. Today they did a lot of floating exercise laying on tummy and back. Nicholas was good to lay on tummy, but the back he jump first into the arms of the instructor and then he did it. Later on after class, Nicholas just rested and watched television.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 

October 5th: A long day for Nicholas as he went from having a strong positive workout during physical therapy to class in the afternoon. Things changed a little today for Nicholas as Ms. Monica was out and his session was given by Ms. Eva and her assistant Joey. Both Eva and Joey have worked with Nicholas before so class went smooth and they had a productive workout. When class was over Eva and Joey sure gave him a workout that you could see the sweat and tiredness in his face. They played with the medicine ball as Nicholas threw back and forth with Joey, kicked the ball, step walking up and down for about 10 times, Nicholas balanced himself and rocked with the foot rocker, did step over and side ways on the even bars as Eva put bars inside the even bars, speed walking and increased his running a little and at the end of the class he played with his first therapist Tasha who got the most of him to get back on his feet. He didn't miss a step of class with Eva and Joey today. When class was over Nicholas went ARRIBA with mommy to say hello, but things were busy and will see them on Thursday when Nicholas has a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine chemotherapy. Once mommy and Nicholas got home, he just sat back and watched some television to get ready for class with Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens had his ups and down with Nicholas today but at the end they had a productive class. They worked on number writing and focused on writing numbers 1-thru-9 and numbers 2,3 & 8 gave Nicholas a little trouble, but he kept writing till it got better. Next they did name writing, sentence writing, problem solving using addition and subtraction, clock reading, skip counting by 5, two fisted coins by 10, coloring and to finish off class they did some cutting to work on Nicholas way of holding a scissor. When class was over and after taking his chemotherapy medication, Nicholas was out like a light and went to sleep.  

 

 

 

October 4th: The ugly rain weather washed out Nicholas' workout at the playground in the morning. So instead he just relaxed until class in the afternoon. Mr. Stephens came back today after several days attending his family and he sure worked Nicholas on a lot of stuff today. Nicholas went up recognizing 48 sight words from 43, name writing, sentence writing, letter writing E and S, number writing and focused on number 2, math, opposites, sorting, counting, problem solving, reading in which he is up to level 5, had to listen to Clifford The Dog story and the answer the question from his teacher and to end class he did some coloring. When class was over you could see how tired he was that he just wanted to kick back.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                

 

 

 

October 3rd. Relaxing Sunday. The family went to mass and after mass Nicholas did a little workout on the balance beam, got a visit from a nurse to check his hearing, vision and balance so he can get started with his new classes in the morning.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                

 

 

October 2nd: Before leaving for his freelance job, daddy gave Nicholas a workout. First the workout on his tricycle since the weather was nice outside, then came back inside and did some leg exercise. After the exercising Nicholas did some name writing, sentence writing, conversation, number writing and some addition using blocks. For the rest of the day it was play time as he built his tracks and had fun with his trains and watching some television.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

 

October 1st: The month of September came and went. Class was cancelled and daddy was out doing some substituting. Mommy was all alone with Nicholas and did the same schedule as she did yesterday. First made Nicholas play, leg exercise and class in the afternoon. Nicholas did name writing, sentence writing, Spanish speaking and read a book. He didn't play with his trains after class as he sat down and watched a movie.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

September 30th: Class got cancelled today so mommy was Nicholas' teacher today. During the day he had fun playing around, then did some leg exercise and in the afternoon worked on name writing, number writing, sentence writing and read a book. When class was over he played with his trains and watched some television.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                

 

 

September 29th: After getting washed out yesterday by rain, Nicholas went swimming to get some water physical therapy. He had a good workout and he is moving his left leg more in the water while kicking and floating. After coming home from swimming, mommy did a little more leg exercise with Nicholas and practiced Spanish words before calling it a day. 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

 

September 28th: The wet weather spoils the day for Nicholas. The rain kept Nicholas from going to the playground to get his workout in and walk around the block. So he did leg exercises inside the apartment. Later in the afternoon class was cancelled so he had more free time to play around.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                      

 

 

September 27th: Nicholas' body was tired and he slept good into the morning. Daddy got called to substitute in which was good to help out in bills and rent since job hunting has been tough. Later in the afternoon class was short because Mr. Stephens had a family emergency. Even though class was for a hour. Mr. Stephens worked Nicholas hard. They did name writing, sentence writing, read books, number writing 7, 8 and 7 thru 15, tally marks, addition, opposites and finished off with conversation.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

 

September 26th: Mommy set a special mass for Nicholas today to celebrate his 2nd year anniversary of fighting cancer. The priest who baptize Nicholas was the priest doing the mass. Mommy wrote a special letter about Nicholas and it was read by the priest who started to cry and when mommy started to cry, Nicholas shouted "Mommy stop crying". Daddy held back his tears, but at the end he couldn't hold back. When mass was over, people finally know why Nicholas was walking slow and tired just walking to take communion with daddy. After mass we went to pool to give Nicholas' legs a workout and to give them some strength.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

 

September 25th: Daddy was suppose take out Nicholas out to get a workout at the playground, but it was windy in the morning. So instead they did some leg exercise and mobility exercises. Before going off to his freelance job, daddy help and let Nicholas finish building his tracks. For the rest of the day Nicholas played with his trains, practiced Spanish words with mommy and leg exercise.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

 

September 24th : Nicholas gets up early again, but this time he didn't wake up mommy and just sat down and watch the news with daddy till he left. Nicholas went easy on mommy today and he just played with his trains, did legs exercise and the homework left by Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens gave Nicholas another hard days work on academics. They worked on letter writing NMEST, name and sentence writing, number writing 4and 5, math in which they did addition and working on tallies, colored shapes and finished off reading.  

 

                                                                                                                                                                                      

 

 

September 23rd: Nicholas gets up early in the morning at sunrise as daddy gets called to work as a substitute. Mommy was a little upset that Nicholas woke her up just to say goodbye to daddy. Once daddy left Nicholas had mommy working and just driving her crazy doing stuff. Mommy finally got Nicholas to rest before class started. Mr. Stephens worked Nicholas hard today and you could see it when class was over. They worked on name writing, sentence using date, year and address, number writing, word recognition in which Nicholas recognized 42, addition, letter writing PQEST and finished off class with reading. When class was over, Nicholas took his usual Thursday chemotherapy medications and went to sleep.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

 

September 22nd: Nicholas celebrates his second year annivesary of fighting cancer today. He spends a nice relaxing day until late in the afternoon in which he had to go swimming to get his legs a workout.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                      

 

 

September 21st: Nicholas had a long day as he went to physical therapy first and later in the afternoon class. Ms. Monica and her assistant for day Rafael gave Nicholas a hard workout. At first Nicholas didn't want to start his exercise once he saw Rafael, but after sitting and realizing he was here helping Monica, Nicholas started his workout. They started out with stretching out, then threw some medicine balls, next a obstacle course, next the even bars in which she had him zig zag and walk over little steps inside the even bars and to finish off class they brought a leg working machine. Daddy brought the tricycle, but the machine was a leg machine in which Nicholas had to pedal his weight and move his legs. He started to move his legs, but later Monica and Rafael worked on moving his legs and gave Nicholas a good sweat moving his legs front and back. When his session was over, Nicholas was tired and took his time walking back to car. Daddy couldn't couldn't carry him since he was holding the tricycle. Once he got to the car, he drank some water and ate a good lunch once he got home. Later on in the afternoon he had class with Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens gave Nicholas a long session full of writing, math, reading and conversation. They started out with name writing, number writing then went on to penmanship in which they worked on letters E,P,N,M, more o less, reading and finished off class talking what he did for the day. 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

 

September 20th: Relaxing day for Nicholas today. The family goes food shopping and he has a fun time walking and talking food with mommy. Later on in the afternoon class was cancelled, so Nicholas decides to build his lego fire truck giving to him by the Vega's. Funny thing is that Nicholas was such in a hurry to build the fire truck that when he went up to get his gift, he scratched his arm on the way down. Thank god the scratch was on his arm so it wasn't that bad. After the crying out, he settled down and built the fire truck with daddy who took a break from job hunting.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

 

September 19th: Nicholas goes to camp today and has a blast of fun. Sunrise usually has one sunday a month in which they open up the camp for kids. Nicholas did some drawing, made a necklace of letters for mommy, ran around thr playground and when they day was about to be over, his twist his ankle and had to driven out on the cart to go home. Thank god the ankle didn't swell or nothing and he was good. Later on at night we went to dinner. The family went out with the Vega familia who is up from Florida on a mini vacation and wanted to see Nicholas. Mr. Vega saw Nicholas last year when he was just getting back his balance to walk and this time around his wife and kids met Nicholas for the first time.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

 

September 18th: Daddy takes out Nicholas for a long walk and workout at the playground before heading out to work. When Nicholas came back home he did some balance beams and throwing exercise before his body was tired. After eating lunch he rested, played with his trains and watch some television for the rest of the day.   

 

                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

September 17th: Daddy took a break from job hunting and had to do some chores, pay some bills and go ARRIBA to drop off a paper for Nurse Lynda. Once he came back he had to get ready for class. Today they did squares, circles, name writing, number writing 3&4, penmanship letters UYPB. site words in which he did 34 words, before and after, a little addition and subtraction. After class with all the walking and running around with daddy, Nicholas was still full of energy, played with his trains, threw a baseball with daddy until his body as tired and ready to sleep.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

September 16th: Nicholas was honored at hospital today with Paulina a cancer survivor he met during his early stages of his cancer. Dr. Sadanandan and the staff of Dr. Sedrak and Nurses Lynda and Nelly received a grant for $100.000 from Hyundai for the Pediatric Oncology Department. The grant is a blessing and will make the department bigger and a exciting place. After the function, Nicholas had to get back home and get ready for class with Mr. Stephens. Today Mr. Stephens hit Nicholas in all areas from literacy, math and reading. He started out by coloring a picture using numbers in which indicated which should be used to color the object. Next they connected dots, colored a thermometer by seasons, site words in which he did 27 words, name and sentence writing, addition and number writing and finished off the class reading. Once class was over Nicholas was tired and wanted to sleep. Before going to bed, he had to take he usual Thursday seven chemotherapy medication.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

 

September 15th: Nicholas gets up full of energy. With no class in the afternoon, Nicholas goes to the swimming pool to get a exercise in and learns to swim with daddy. Going to the pool will give Nicholas strength and loosen up his body to put more mobility into his body. He was nervous at the start, but after he was relaxed and went into the water.  

 

                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

September 14th: Nicholas gets up full of energy and it paid off to start off the day. Daddy took a break from job hunting and took Nicholas to the playground to get his legs a workout and exercise. Nicholas ran around the playground and met a couple new friends while running around. When he was finished playing and his body was tired he walked three blocks with daddy to do some chores and on the way home daddy bought Nicholas a icy. Daddy was happy to see Nicholas' endurance and his legs getting better after walking three blocks.  Later in the afternoon it was time for class with Mr. Stephens. Nicholas started off class a little frustrated, but after a couple minutes he was ready for class. Mr. Stephens started off with Nicholas coloring and working on staying within the boundaries. Next up was name writing, sentence writing, number writing 1 & 2 followed by skip counting by 2. After the writing and the numbers Nicholas worked on picture rhyming, word recognition in which Nicholas did 22 words and finished off class reading books. Mr. Stephens was happy with the productive class, but a little unhappy with Nicholas starting off class bad. So Mr. Stephens spoke to Nicholas about starting class and ready to work if he wants to play games during or after class. Mommy was happy with the discipline Mr. Stephens is putting into Nicholas and is showing and telling Nicholas once class starts it is all business and hard work.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                      

 

 

September 13th: Strange for the family and Nicholas today. Daddy had to make a lot of phone calls for Nicholas since things have changed with the rehab center closing and now his coordinator has to find him a new speech, occupational and physical therapist. Thanks to Mr. Stephens hard work, discipline and teaching, occupational ad physical therapy are most important. Daddy later called the YMCA to see if Nicholas finally got into a swimming class and he did, but the YMCA never called and put him into a Monday class in which doesn't fit his schedule during the week. So daddy called the Y director and she got Nicholas into the Wednesday class that starts in two days. After talking with the Y, daddy had to call the hospital to see if they got a fax for Nicholas' medical papers for his new academic class that starts later this month. Finally daddy called Nicholas' education coordinator to let her know about the rehab closing and to see of she can find us a new occupational and physical therapist. Once everything was done and Nicholas doing leg exercise and running around, it was time to head out do some chores and come back and get ready for class with Mr. Stephens. Nicholas hasn't seen Mr. Stephens in five days so class was going to be long with lots of work. They started out with name writing, letter writing and sentence writing of which he wrote his name, today's date, time and year. After writing they work on directional before and after, got introduced to characters of people and animals, worked on math doing addition, site words, read books and finished off class reading the September calendar in which Nicholas made with Mr. Stephens last week. When class was over, Nicholas was tired and just wanted to rest. After eating dinner, taking his chemotherapy medication and watching some television he went to sleep.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

September 11th & 12th: Nicholas goes to visit his cousin Christiaan and spends some time playing and running around his Aunt Michele's apartment. Nicholas and Christiaan play and make noise and drive Michele up the wall. On Sunday Nicholas did some leg exercise with mommy and practiced speaking Spanish with mommy. Nicholas drove mommy crazy most of the day as daddy had a freelance job. Mommy wanted to take him outside for stroll on the tricycle or to the playground, but the rain spoiled the day. Once daddy came back home, mommy was happy and Nicholas played with daddy on his train set and tracks.  

 

                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

 

September 10th: There was no class with Mr. Stephens due to the Jewish holiday. Most of the day he rested and played a little since his body didn't have much energy today since getting a dosage of vincristine. Aunt Yvette was in town for the weekend and he played with her. Later on at night the family sat down with Yvette and watched the cancer special on television and to see Monique Gebeline who shaved her head in honor of Nicholas. The show was great and it was a blessing and honor to see Monique honor Nicholas.  

 

                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

September 9th: Nicholas had a trip to ARRIBA to get a dosage of vincristine. The oncology department was a full house and full of kids that Nicholas had a blast playing around with the kids. He met up with Andres and the played and other kids who were in for a check up, get some chemotherapy or chemo and a spinal tap. When Nicholas was called he checked out by a new doctor with a couple medical students. He was good and he listen to all the instructions from the doctor. After getting checked up by the doctor nurse Lynda weighed him at 67.2 pds in which he went up 64.5 from and he didn't grow a inch and he is still at 47 inches. When he was done with Lynda, nurse Nelly took over and took his blood and gave him his dosage of vincristine. Daddy took Nicholas to the hospital and he saw that with every visit to ARRIBA, Nicholas is realizing more and more what he battling and what he going through. With the Jewish holiday, there was no school today and there was no class today, so for the rest of the day he rested, watched television and played after taking a nap. Later on in the day we got bad news that Nicholas' rehab center was closing at the end of the month as the landlord doubled up the lease and looks the owner of the rehab center will have trouble paying it off. Now we have to start all over and find a new physical, occupational and speech therapist to get Nicholas back 100%. In the meantime once he gets a spot in his swimming class, daddy will take him more to the swimming pool to get a workout. This is one time we just hope everything gets bck normal and Nicholas can get the help and tehrapy he needs.  Nicholas' next visit to the oncologist is on October 7th in which he is scheduled for a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                      

 

 

September 8th: Today was easy day for Nicholas. After having a workout in the morning, he played and ran around until his class in the afternoon. Later on in the afternoon class was cancelled, so Nicholas had more free time. Daddy took Nicholas outside and gave him another workout and this time was just walking around and working on endurance. Nicholas walked three city blocks from the apartment and walked back home. He was a little tited, but felt good and happy with the walk.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

September 7th: Nicholas starts off his day doing some leg exercise and stretching out his legs to loosen them up. He did a lot of running around and throwing balls with daddy before getting ready for his first day of class with Mr. Stephens in the afternoon. Later on in the afternoon after taking a nap, Nicholas was up and ready for class. Today they started out by cleaning up Nicholas' book bag. Out with old and in with new for the 2010-11 school year. When class finally started they worked on name writing, sentence writing, upper and lower case E in which is giving Nicholas a little trouble writing, five senses in which they focused on touching, site words in which Nicholas did 18 words, made a calendar for the month of September and finished off reading some books. When class was over, Nicholas ate dinner, took his chemotherapy medication, played with his trains, watched some television and went to sleep.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

 

September 6th Labor Day: After spending the weekend of running around and having fun with his cousins, Nicholas' body was tired and just wanted to rest. The family went food shopping in the morning and after the food shopping, Nicholas slept for the rest of the day.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

 

September 4th & 5th: Nicholas goes upstate to visit his grandmother and spend time with his cousins.  

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                      

 

 

September 3rd; Relaxing and fun Friday for Nicholas. Mommy went to do some chores in the morning and daddy let Nicholas play while doing some job hunting. Mommy called to come pick her up, because on the way home we went to measure Nicholas for a new set of orthopedic shoes since his foot grew a little. The kid had fun getting his feet measure in the special soft mold to get a frame of his foot. Next week he goes to the other foot specialist to measure for the Dennis Brown Bar shoe to straighten up his foot while he is sleeping. When the family got home, Nicholas played with his trains until he took a break to do some letter writing and read several books. After the writing and reading, the rest of the day was just having fun and driving mommy and daddy crazy. Mommy took most of the beating, because later in the day daddy had to head to his freelance job.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

September 2nd: Nicholas gets up in the morning looking out the window for daddy to take him to the playground, but today he gets his workout during his physical therapy session with Ms. Monica at the hospital. Daddy is job hunting now and during his days off from freelancing and job hunting, he drives Nicholas to the hospital. Today daddy took the tricycle to the session. Nicholas was all ready for Monica and she was ready to give Nicholas a tough workout to build up the strength in his legs. She started out with soft tossing of a medicine ball and for every throw she moved back one step to see how far Nicholas could toss the ball. After tossing the ball around they did some kicking and she focused a lot on the left foot in which has a slow reaction to kick. When the kicking was done, they did a obstacle course, blocks of stepping over and walking around, ups and downs and finished off with him riding his tricycle. Everyday is a improvement for Nicholas and his tricycle and just getting his legs moving. Nicholas legs are getting stronger everyday in which daddy saw when he walked two blocks from the hospital and didn't feel tired. For his hard work on a hot day, daddy bought him a icy in which he enjoyed. Later on in the day after getting home, Nicholas was enrolled into this new academic program during the week in which his oncologist gave us and we accepted. Nicholas will be still home schooled until next Fall 2011, so getting him every academic work is good. Now his has Mr. Stephens eight hours during the week and the new program 90 minutes once a week. When the meeting was over, Nicholas' body was tired and he went to sleep. Mommy woke up Nicholas for dinner and to also give him his seven daily Thursday chemotherapy medication.  

 

 

 

September 1st: When you think things are looking up for Nicholas and getting better there is always something else. Nicholas went for a visit to the podiatrist to get his foot checked out and the podiatrist saw that his left foot is going in and right away she ordered Nicholas to get a Dennis Brown Bar shoes to sleep at night and to straighten out his left foot. We were also encourage that most of the time that Nicholas walks that he is walking in high top shoes to get back the strength in the lower part of his foot. The one good thing during his battle to conquer his cancer, Nicholas gets adjusted to all the shoes, equipment he has to used to beat his cancer. This time around he will be using the shoes while sleeping. After leaving the podiatrist the family went food shopping in which Nicholas enjoys. He gets to walk and give his legs a workout, gets to talk food, vegetables and fruits in Spanish with mommy from the words he had learned and overall has fun. Once we got home Nicholas ate a good lunch and later sat down and did some number writing. When he was done writing he just went to sleep as his body was tired from all the walking from car to hospital and around the supermarket. 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

 

August 31st: Today was suppose to hit in the 90 degree weather, so Nicholas goes to the playground with daddy before the sun comes out beaming. Nicholas gives his legs a good workout and for the first time days walking home he felt tired and asked daddy to carry him. When daddy told him give your best for 1/2 block and daddy will carry you upstairs, Nicholas walked home. When Nicholas got home, he ate a bowl of cereal, watched some television and took a break. Later on in the day he did some letter and number writing and then went out with mommy and daddy to do some chores. when the family came back from the chores, Nicholas played with his trains and gave daddy a break to do some job hunting.

 

 

August 30th: Nicholas starts off his day going to the playground to get a workout to get more flexibility in his lower part of his body before the sun comes out and hits 90 degrees. Since camp is done, his physical therapy at the rehab center starts next week and he can only go to the hospital once a week to save his visits due to insurance reasons, he is getting a workout at the playground. After the workout Nicholas went to get a haircut and on the way back from the haircut he gets a icy in which daddy promised him since he is doing good in his workout, classes with Mr. Stephens and realizing the battle he is going through to beat his cancer. When he got home mommy gave him a bath. Later on after dinner of eating a nice bowl of spaghetti, he did some letter writing and numbers with mommy.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

August 29th: Relaxing day for Nicholas today. The family went to mass in the morning and for the rest of the day, he did some letter writing and numbers, played with his trains and watched television. Nicholas gives daddy a break to do some job hunting.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

August 28th: Daddy gets Nicholas into getting a workout before heading to work. Nicholas goes with daddy to the playground and gives his legs a good running around. He gets tired a little, takes a break and starts back again of climbing up the stairs, moving his legs and using his hands to move around and climb up. When he felt tired and said lets go home, daddy knew Nicholas' body was tired. With the playground two blocks away from the apartment, Nicholas walked back and forth and walks the stairs two floors to finish off his workout. After eating breakfast and watching some television, Nicholas did some letter writing with mommy. Later in the day after the letter writing and counting Nicholas had the rest of the day to play around.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

August 27th: Mr. Stephens cancelled class in the morning and Nicholas had a day of fun, workout and rest. With no class, he went outside and had a good workout on his tricycle. Even though his legs are not pushing down hard on the pedals, with daddy pushing him from the bad, his legs are getting a workout and body is moving. After the tricycle, Nicholas went to sign up for swimming classes in which his oncologist and therapist said he need to build back up the muscles in his legs that he is lacking in strength. When he go home from the YMCA, mommy did some letter writing and practiced speaking Spanish words. Nicholas was all smiles when he had the rest of the day to play with his trains and trucks and throwing around the baseball and football with daddy without breaking anything.   

August 26th: The rain finally stop in the city and we get a sunny day. Before class starts with Mr. Stephens, Nicholas does some leg exercise to loosen his ankles and legs from getting stiff while sitting down in class. Nicholas starts off writing his name in which he is getting better with space and clarity. Next he works on number writing 8&9, sequence, sentence writing of his full name, date, address and month using dots, sight words, long O words, played with dinasours and read books to call it a day. Later on in the afternoon when daddy was about to take Nicholas out for a workout with his tricycle, Nicholas looks tired and his appetite during the day was low and wasn't eating good. So daddy decided to keep him inside and do leg exercise and ups and down. When he finished his exercise, he took his daily seven chemotherapy medication, ate a banana and went to bed.

 

 

                                                                                             

 

 

August 25th: Another day of rain and a ugly day as Nicholas has to got to physical therapy at the hospital and then come back home to have class with Mr. Stephens. Ms. Monica gives Nicholas a hard workout today that she leaves him sweating when the session was over. She does leg exercise, ups & downs, throwing medicine balls from left and right, eye coordination of throwing the ball into a hole, obstacle course, blocks in which he did zig zag first and then stepping over and finished off the session making a thomas puzzle and shooting baskets. Nicholas had about a hour to get ready for Mr. Stephens that when he got home, he ate his lunch, watch some television to relax him. Once Mr. Stephens walked in, Nicholas gave him some trouble of starting off class on the right foot. To get his attention and calm him down, Mr. Stephens played shape bingo with Nicholas to get him back into the class. When the bingo class was over, the did name writing, things that belong, riddles and rhyme, sequence in which Nicholas had to cut out the pictures in order, sight words, clock reading and read a clock story in which he had to answer the question, number writing 6&7, played dominoes in which Nicholas had to find the matching number, money in which Nicholas was taught how to read coins 5,10 & 25 cents and finished off class reading a book. You could see when class was over Nicholas was tired and wanting to get some rest. Later on in the afternoon, mommy gave him a good bath and he went right to bed after dinner and taking his chemotherapy medication.  

 

                                                                                            

 

 

 

August 24th: Nicholas gets up in the morning wanting to go to the playground to get a workout and his legs loosen up, but the rain and ugly takes another day of having fun outside. So before class starts with Mr. Stephens, Nicholas does some leg exercise. Mr. Stephens starts class in the morning and he sees a different Nicholas of teaching him in the morning and in the afternoon. Class starts off with name writing and the spacing between letters in getting better for Nicholas. Nixet they did number writing in which they focused on numbers 4&5, sequence of using pictures of 1-2-3 of which goes in order, made a ABC book, morning and night, first, last and middle, read books and finished off the class taking a test prep. When class was over, Nicholas was full of energy and just wanted to play. He built his track and played with his train set. After getting tired of the train, he watched some television, did some spanish words with mommy and went to bed early.

NICHOLAS WORK OF ART BUILDING A DINOSAUR.

August 11th: Mr. Stephens cancelled class today and with only a week left of summer camp mommy and daddy wanted to send Nicholas to camp today. Nicholas gets up in the morning with bad cough and runny nose from all the running around in the heat and then going into a cold room finally caught up with him. To play it safe mommy and daddy kept Nicholas home to get him ready for chemotherapy tomorrow, camp on Friday, going to lake on Sunday and going to camp Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. The majority of the day Nicholas read some books, played with his trains and watched television.  

NICHOLAS SMILING AFTER BUILDING A DINOSAUR DURING CLASS.

August 10th. Nicholas spends his last day at the rehab center for the summer as his six weeks comes to a end. He was suppose to finish on the 12th, but he has a visit to his oncologist. Today was a long day for Nicholas as he had speech, physical, occupational and then finished off with another session of physical. Ms. Beth Ann spent most of the speech class working on clarity, conversation, letter recognition and played a game of his choice. When he was done with Ms. Beth Ann, Ms. Joshi took over for the first session with Nicholas. She had him do blocks, chairs, stepping up and down, obstacle course, skipping, hand and foot coordination exercise and speed drills.Nicholas took a little break before walking over to Ms. Brown. Ms. Brown did a lot of letter recognition, letter writing, motor skills and writing skills. They went over the letters I, L, N, E, H and T. Nicholas felt good and was ready to finish his day in the gym with Ms. Joshi for physical therapy. The second time around she worked Nicholas on the scooter and worked on building up stamina and his left part of body. She made Nicholas ride the tricycle the last ten minutes of the class as daddy watched Nicholas pedal his way. Even though he was going slow, his legs are moving the pedals instead of Ms. Joshi pushing him. When the last day of summer therapy was over, Nicholas said his goodbyes and we will see everybody back on September 1st o 8th. Everything was going good for Nicholas and after doing such a good job at the rehab center, he starts off on the wrong foot with Mr. Stephens. After eating lunch and getting ready for class, Nicholas was feeling good and then he started to act up when Mr. Stephens came through the door for class. Class usually starts at 4pm and Mr. Stephens came five minutes early and during the time Nicholas was acting up and once 4pm came around, Nicholas stopped acting up and giving Mr. Stephens a hard time and was ready to start class. They started class reading and decomposing the calendar to get him reading and understanding the days and the days of the week. He is getting better of reading the days of the week. Today he was introduced to the letter W words(when, were, why). Later in the class he traced the days of week, sentence writing, beginning sounds, things that don't belong, things that belong in a closet and to finish off class he did 15 minutes of stamina reading in which he read six books. When class was over Mr. Stephens was happy with the productive class Nicholas gave him after acting up to start class. When class was over, mommy took his trains away to make him realize again that bad behavior is not acceptable in this house and things will be taken away and given back at the right time. So with no trains, Nicholas watched some television and practiced Spanish words with mommy before heading to bed.   

NICHOLAS SLIDING DOWN SLIDE WITH COUSIN CHANEL AFTER WALKATHON.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                             

 

 

August 9th: Nicholas goes to camp today and has the time of his life.

 

 

 

 

 

NICHOLAS POSING AT HOME AFTER GETTING MOST WILLINGNES CAMPER OF THE WEEK AT CAMP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                             

 

 

August 8th: After going to church with the family, daddy and mommy took Nicholas to the New York Transit Museum. Nicholas was all in suspense going through the museum and seeing all the history of the New York City train system and how how it was built. Nicholas eyes lit up when we went downstairs and saw the old trains dating back from the first cart to today. When the trip to the museum was over, Nicholas picked out the N & 7 line train to join his collection of Thomas and Friends collection. Once he got home he played with his new trains until it was dinner time and went right back playing until it was time to head to bed.

 

 

 

 

NICHOLAS TOSSING BALL WHILE PLAYING TIC TAC DOE WITH COUSIN CHANEL AFTER WALKATHON.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                             

 

 

August 7th: relaxing and rest day for Nicholas as he spends most of the day getting some rest and sleeping after going to camp two straight days.

 

 

 

 

 

NICHOLAS DURING SPEECH CLASS WITH MS. BETH ANN.

 

August 6th: Nicholas goes to camp and had a great day. Nicholas comes off the bus and is just dirty and full of dirt all over his body. Mommy gives him a bath as soon as he gets home after cooling down.          NICHOLAS TAKING A BREAK AFTER THE WALKATHON.                                                                                                                    August 5th: Nicholas goes to camp to attend picture day at the camp. Nicholas has a fun filling day. He takes pictures with counselors and friends at the camp.           NICHOLAS, MOMMY AND MR. STEPHENS WALKING THROUGH PROSPECT PARK ZOO.                                                                                                                            August 4th: Nicholas gets up in the morning expecting to see his trains, but found no trains to play with. So he turned around ate his breakfast, watch the morning news with mommy and got some books to read and play withe before heading to the rehab center to make up therapy he missed. Today he walked into Ms. Beth Ann's arms full of energy and ready for speech therapy. She started out the class with Nicholas playing with fishes and getting to know and naming the different fishes. When the fish part of the class was done, Nicholas read a book, worked on clarity and conversation. For the second hour he spent his time with Ms. Brown in occupational therapy. She spent most her therapy on letter writing with a focus on the letters E, F, H & L to get Nicholas in a groove of writing letters of going up and down in the middle and bottom on the letter. Next he worked on motor skills, coordination and staying in boundaries while writing and coloring. When occupational was done, Nicholas hungry and wanted macaroni and cheese, but when he got home after mommy made M&C, he changed his mind and wanted tamales in which he ate. After eating lunch he sat back and watched WordWorld, Bob The Builder and Thomas & Friends before class with Mr. Stephens. Mommy hid the trains some place in the apartment that daddy can't even find or help Nicholas to find it. Nicholas still no trains was ready for class. Today's class Mr. Stephens focused on Math. The did shapes and characterizing the size, sides of the shape, addition, they made a calendar for the month of August in which Nicholas wrote the numbers in and days of the week. He did skip counting by 5. Counted money. Identified coins and go introduced to dollar bills all the way up to 50. When class was over and even though Nicholas did good today, mommy kept the trains away from him. For the rest of the day before going to bed, Nicholas reads books with mommy and practices on Spanish words.            NICHOLAS WALKING THROUGH THE TUNNEL AT PROSPECT PARK ZOO.                                                                                                                      August 3rd: Nicholas starts off the day on the wrong side today. For the first time Nicholas walks into the rehab center and doesn't behave to start class. After going back and forth with daddy at the door to go in, he finally walks into the center and starts class with Beth Ann. Ms. Beth Ann got Nicholas to relax and had a good class in speech therapy today. She went over sequence, conversation and working on clarity. Mr. Joshi worked on balance and building up his left side. Nicholas did a lot of scooter workout, obstacle course, trampoline and speed skills. When physical therapy class was over, Ms. Brown spent most of her class working on his writing and motor skills. Before class was over she did some independent work with him. When therapy was over at the rehab center, Nicholas went home not to find none of his trains or tracks in sight as mommy hid his favorite things since he behaved bad before walking into the rehab center. So with no trains and no television to watch, he eats his lunch ans starts going through his books and games. When he finished his lunch to kill time before Mr. Stephens Nicholas was creative of finding things to do. Before class started with Mr. Stephens, mommy gave him a warning and working and paying attention in class today. Mr. Stephens worked Nicholas hard today knowing there isn't going to be class on Thursday and Friday. He had Nicholas work on sentence writing with name, address, phone number and what he did this weekend in dots. They kept on writing in which they practiced days of the week and Mr. Stephens taught Nicholas a song of days of the week. For the rest of the class, they worked on constant blends, word families, letters G & L, clock reading, numbers, skip counting by 2, coloring and color of the rainbow in which Mr. Stephens wanted Nicholas to use to name the different trains of Thomas & Friends by colors, character to see how Nicholas approaches different parts of the class and to finish off since Nicholas did a good job, Mr. Stephens made him play with the dinosaurs. After class, mommy made Nicholas watch a little television, but still no trains in site. Nicholas knew at the end of the day, what he did at the rehab center was wrong and even he told mommy. Mommy I'm in trouble because of what happen at Ms. Brown.            A SEAL COMES UP TO SAY HI TO NICHOLAS AT PROSPECT PARK ZOO.                                                                                                                    August 2nd: Nicholas was back at camp today after spending time with family. Another fun day at camp today .           NICHOLAS SHOOTING BASKETS WITH HIS COUSIN CHANEL AFTER THE WALKATHON.                                                                                                                          July 31st and August 1st: Nicholas spends the weekend upstate with grandma and his cousins. Nicholas throwing himself into a mud puddle in the backyard in which mommy wasn't to happy about it, but he was having fun every time he had to be cleaned up.         NICHOLAS RIDING HIS TRICYCLE DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY WITH MS. ANGELIE.                                                                                                                            July 30th: Nicholas had a blast in camp today. Even though he didn't want to go into the pool, he had fun with the kids that didn't feel like swimming today. The camp counselors are happy with Nicholas interacting with fellow campers and doing good in all the educational and arts and crafts classes.            NICHOLAS RIDING HIS TRICYCLE DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY WITH MS. ANGELIE.                                                                                                                            July 29th: After having a great day yesterday, Nicholas got up smiling and laughing early in the morning as the sun went up. Mommy and daddy wanted to rest a little since therapy started at noon since Ms. Joshi cancelled physical therapy class. Since daddy stopped substituting and doesn't have to get up early, Nicholas still woke up daddy in the morning instead of mommy. During the day daddy is job hunting until he gets a full-time job back and at night he freelances. So Nicholas lets mommy sleep and wakes up daddy to serve him breakfast and watch the morning news. With no physical therapy class, Nicholas only had speech and occupational today at the rehab center. Ms. Beth Ann worked on clarity in letter recognition with Nicholas, read a book in which Nicholas picked out Diego to read, sequence using word families and conversation. Next up was Ms. Brown with occupational therapy. Ms. Brown took Nicholas into the gym and worked on building up his arm strength. She had go back and forth down the halls about four times with the scooter on his tummy. Ms. Brown wanted Nicholas to push himself using his hands and upper body to move himself without over doing himself and hurting himself. He did a good job of using the right muscles to move himself. When he was done, he felt a little tired but was ready for the second part of the therapy which Ms. Brown focused on writing and tracing. The only bad thing to happen to Nicholas today at the rehab center when daddy went to pick him up, he said with a smile that he pee pee on himself running to the bathroom during occupational class. Ms. Brown changed him from top to bottom and things were back to normal in class. Once he left the rehab center, Nicholas wanted arrow con pollo for lunch today. One thing about kids with cancer there appetite changes and they can like one thing for three to four days and sometimes want to eat something different each day. Mommy made the rice and bought a ready made pollo for the family to eat. After slicing and dicing the pollo into pieces, Nicholas had a a good lunch and got ready for class in the afternoon. Today's class was two hours. For the first time in awhile, Mr. Stephens asked Nicholas how he wanted to start off class and Nicholas wanted to start off with name writing. So Mr. Stephens had him do sentence writing in which he wrote his name first and last, address, phone number and favorite part of the circus using dots. He told Mr. Stephens tigers and lions was his favorite part of the circus. When the writing part of the class was done, they worked on number writing and number writing correspondence, literacy, same sound matching, more o less, biggest, longer and getting Nicholas introduced to measurements and read four books. Today class was productive and fun for Nicholas that he enjoyed and had fun learning. After class Nicholas was tired and just wanted to go sleep, but before heading to bed he had to take his seven chemotherapy medications for Thursday and then later on at night his daily chemotherapy medication.         NICHOLAS WALKING BALANCE BEAM DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY WITH MS. ANGELIE.                                                                                                                                July 28th: Today was circus day, so Nicholas knew any bad behavior would jeopardize his trip to see the lions and tigers. Nicholas had physical therapy with Ms. Monica at the hospital today. Mommy told Ms. Monica about the circus just to let her know in case Nicholas tries not to listen and do his own workout. Monica worked on ups and downs using the trampoline and working on building up his speed. Therapy is for hour, but today class was stopped with ten minutes left as Nicholas was tired from the exercise he was doing with Monica. After class he had couple hours to rest to have a hour class with Mr. Stephens before heading to the circus with Mr. Stephens. Nicholas got home ate and rested class and the circus. Mr. Stephens still working on Nicholas writing started out with sentence writing, then did word families, read a book, big and tall and conversation before heading to the circus. THANK YOU Mr. Stephens for taking Nicholas and the family to the circus it was a blessing to see the fun, joy and smiles in Nicholas. The circus was great and when the tigers and lions came out, Nicholas' eyes lit up and he just clapped through the whole part of the lions and tigers show. The clown made him laugh and the acrobats made him say WOW. When the circus was over, Mr. Stephens gave Nicholas a souvenir and that made his day to finish off a day of therapy, class and fun at the circus.         NICHOLAS TAKING A SWING AT THE PINATA DURING HIS COUSIN KARINA'S BIRTHDAY FIESTA.                                                                                                                                  July 27th: Nicholas starts off his day with much energy as he knew today was rehab day. He is starting more to understand his routine and schedule of between camp, rehab and class in the afternoon. Ms. Beth Ann was the first to see Nicholas today and she was happy with his energy and ambition in the morning for speech therapy. She had Nicholas do a puzzle, read a Dora book, conversation and play games using sequence patterns. Next he had Ms. Joshi for physical therapy. Ms. Joshi gave Nicholas a tough workout today. She based most of the class on endurance and balancing as she had Nicholas do obstacle course, zig zag, balance, stepping in and out of a tube and walking for mat to mat without looking down. When physical therapy was over, Nicholas usually has a break, but since Ms. Brown came in early today, occupational therapy class started within minuted instead of the usual 10 minute break. Mr. Brown started of class with writing and motor skills exercise. She had match a drawing picture and had figuring out body part of the picture. They next worked on lacing and tracing, parts inside the body like heart, lung, kidney and Nicholas showed Ms. Brown his scar in which the doctors took out the little tumor out his tummy and the mark were his mediport goes in. Today was a productive class as all three therapist were happy with Nicholas' work. Nicholas was tired and hungry and asked for macaroni and cheese and mommy delivered as she made M&C for lunch. Nicholas was happy to eat his M&C and get ready for class in the afternoon as he sat back and watched some television. After having such a productive at the rehab center, Nicholas starts off class giving Mr. Stephens a little fits, but settled down later for his three hour class. Mr. Stephens started off with sentence writing that included name, date, address and phone number. Next up was coloring and recognizing what he was copying, big and little, tall and short, skip counting 2&3, time hour and 1/2 hour and today was introduced to quarter hour, bar graph in which he had to color up to the right number on the page(he went up to seven) and finished off learning about money and the different coins and how much they're worth. Nicholas for now recognizes the penny by it's color and the 25 cents of his size and for quarters daddy leaves around the house to by his morning newspaper. After the fits and not paying attention during class, Mr. Stephens was happy with Nicholas' performance in class today. When class was over, Nicholas was tired and just ask for his medicina chemotherapy medication and went to sleep.          NICHOLAS RIDING THE FIRE TRUCK DURING BIRTHDAY FIESTA OF VICTOR MANUEL.                                                                                                                                     July 26th: Nicholas had a blast at camp today. Nicholas started out the day full of smiles as he boarded the bus with Ms. Keisha. Today at camp Nicholas did a lot of arts and crafts and games. He did finger painting with sea shells and made a face on a paper bag. Nicholas' teachers ask him if he wanted to go in the pool, but Nicholas said not today, because "I'm having to much fun playing around in the playground" and next time I will go into the pool. The pool with help Nicholas put some strength back in his legs, but the running around and exercise with also help him build his legs and his coordination and balance. When Nicholas got off the bus he was full of dirt and paint from his fun filling day. Once he got home and after eating dinner, mommy gave him a good bath and called it a day.                                                                                                                                 July 25th: Nicholas goes to mass with mommy and daddy to remember daddy's mother who passed away on this day 29 years ago. The priest who baptized Nicholas was happy to see him and gave him a little blessing. After mass Nicholas wanted to eat tamales and mommy delivered finding a lady after mass who sells good tamales. Once the family got home, the family sat down and watched the movie Lion King. When the movie was over, Nicholas sat down with mommy and practiced words in Spanish and later played with his trains until he was tired and going to bed to rest up for camp tomorrow.                                                                                                                             July 24th: Nicholas had a fun day today as he goes to a birthday party at Adventure Land Theme Park. The heat was on today as the temperature went up close to a 100 just on the humidity alone. Nicholas was protected from head to toe and splash with sunscreen. The birthday was one of daddy's friend son who turned 4 today. Nicholas had a blast riding in the rides and playing games. The kids and parents took a break to eat and cut the cake and went right back to rides and games. Nicholas was back playing with the kids and once he got tired he just looked and mommy and daddy and said "I'm tired and let's go home".  Once the family got home, mommy and daddy thought Nicholas was tired and wanted to get some rest, but he was more thirsty and wanted to play more. After drinking some liquids, Nicholas sat back and played with his Diego game of naming animals before resting and going to bad after eating dinner.                                                                                                                              July 23rd: Camp Day for Nicholas. Nicholas is a smart kid. Before heading out he started to cry a little not to go on the bus, but daddy took him to the bus with tears and everything. When Nicholas got to the bus, he walked into the arms of Ms. Keisha and walked into the bus and said goodbye. Ms. Keisha told daddy that once the bus starts moving Nicholas is all well full of joy and smiles. Nicholas is doing good in his potty training that he only goes to sleep in pampers due to the medication he takes at night. During the day he is all undies and today he didn't want to say pee pee since he was having fun and peed on himself. So he had to changed. Nicholas had a great day at camp that he came him with a award for THE MOST WILLINGNESS KID TODAY AT CAMP in his TROOPER CLASS. Daddy full of joy smiled and gave Nicholas lots of high fives and mommy hugged and kissed him for a well job done.                                                                                                                          July 22nd: Nicholas gets up early and goes to church with daddy to celebrate daddy's mother birthday. Grandma Elicia would have been 74years old today. She died three days later after her birthday after a long battle with breast cancer. Nicholas was relax and sitting down during mass. Some of the church goers who haven't seen Nicholas in a awhile in the morning mass, said hello and ask how he was doing. After mass Nicholas walked the four blocks home and not once asked to be carried or jumped into the stroller. When Nicholas got home he ate breakfast and watched some television before getting ready to head to the rehab center, Nicholas was full of energy and it showed once he entered the rehab center. He said hello to Ms. Rochelle and Ms. Beth Ann and walked straight to the classroom. Once inside the classroom, Ms. Beth Ann started out with sequence and puzzles. Next he read a book on his favorite friends from The Backyardigans. They finished off class with letter recognition and making a puzzles. When Nicholas was done with Ms. Beth Ann, Ms. Joshi was ready to work on his left side in physical therapy class. For most of the class she is going to build and strengthen up his left side. Nicholas did a lot of kicking, throwing, balancing skills and riding his tricycle. Ms. Joshi was happy with the progress he is making on the tricycle and getting better in pedaling. Nicholas took a break between physical and occupational to eat a snack and have a drink. When his break was over, he had Ms. Brown for occupational therapy. Nicholas has improved a good chunk with Ms. Brown that she is rewarding him with time in the gym before his class is over. Today Ms. Brown focused on writing and staying on the line. She had Nicholas going up and down, side to side, in a curve, boundaries to work on his hand coordination and motor skills to how much his writing has gotten cleaner and neater. When the writing part of the therapy was done, she had do some tracing of going in and out of a circle and to finish off class, he went to the gym to play a little and ride his tricycle to work on his legs. Nicholas was hungry and tired when he finish speech, physical and occupational therapy and he wanted to eat macaroni and cheese. Mommy made it for him and he was happy to sit back and eat a good meal and watch some television before his class with Mr. Stephens. Today was only two hours of class and Mr. Stephens gave Nicholas a lot to do in two hours. They started with name writing in which Nicholas did another solid job of writing his name. They next moved on to names of the week and traced the names of the week, made of calendar of July using numbers and days of the week in which Nicholas learned how to read a calendar, days of the week and learning how to say the day and the order they go, numbers more of less, time reading of a hour and 1/2 and read a couple books. When class was almost over, Mr. Stephens let Nicholas play with the dinosaurs to let him relax. After class was over, daddy had to take Nicholas for a haircut before heading to his freelance job at night. With the heat wave around the city the last couple days, mommy decided to cut his hair a little low. Nicholas got to mommy's stylist cut his hair and was back home. Before daddy left, Nicholas took his daily seven chemotherapy medications on Thursday after eating a little.                                                                                                                          July 21st: Relaxing day for Nicholas. NO camp and no rehab during the day, he went food shopping with mommy. When Nicholas goes food shopping with mommy, mommy speaks Spanish most of the time to teach Nicholas food groups in Spanish. When Nicholas is out in public he usually ask for his fruits in Spanish and other food learned with mommy. Later in the afternoon he had class with Mr. Stephens. Today Mr. Stephens caught Nicholas a little frustrated when he started class with sentence writing his name first and last, address and phone number. After getting Nicholas back and track, the writing he did was one of the best he has done in the last couple weeks with no help of dots or Mr. Stephens. During class Mr. Stephens picked up how Nicholas is starting to distinguished the color of a picture and coloring the way the picture is. They did what is a good smell and what is a bad smell, spelling and missing letters, read books, played bingo using shapes and finished off with math. Nicholas did compliments of 10-to-20 and counted to 100. When class was over, Nicholas took his chemotherapy medications and watch some television.                                                                                                                        July 20th: Nicholas goes through another transition at the rehab center. This time around is his speech therapy class. Ms. Yassaman changed her summer schedule and now he has Ms. Beth Ann to give him speech therapy classes for the rest of the summer. When the school starts Nicholas will either go back to Ms. Yassaman or stay with Beth Ann. Today was Nicholas' first day with Beth Ann and things went smooth with the changed and in class. Nicholas already had couple classes with Ms. Beth Ann when Ms. Yassaman was on vacation. Ms. Beth Ann worked on first and last in sequence using animals on a farm, read a Dora book, conversation and writing to finish off his 1/2 hour of speech. Next up he had physical therapy with Ms. Joshi. They started out with the obstacle course and zig zag as he made his way through cones. Nicholas did some coordination skills, foot balancing exercise, balancing on the balance beam, ups and downs and speed skills. To finish off class he rode the tricycle. When physical therapy was over, Nicholas walked over to Ms. Brown for occupational therapy. Ms. Brown started out class focusing on Nicholas' writing his name and other words and reading books. Then Ms. Brown did a lot of independent exercise, buttons, zippers, lacing, tracing and squeezing a ball to give him strength in his wrist and arms. When he was done Nicholas was a little tired, but ready for his class with Mr. Stephens in a couple hours. Mr. Stephens touch every part of academics today. Nicholas did sentence writing using his name first and last, address and phone number. Next he worked on math in both addition and subs traction, counted to 100, skip counting by 2 and 3 and clock reading. When math was over, they talked about the animals they saw at the zoo last week and Mr. Stephens made Nicholas match the animals he saw with a card. To finish off class the work on spelling and missing letters of a word. When the day was over, Nicholas was tired and just wanted to relax and sit back.  After eating dinner and taking his chemotherapy medications, he watched some television and went to sleep.                                                                                                                                July 19th: Nicholas goes to camp and is back on the bus alone. He went on the bus with some tears, but after talking with Keisha, he was relaxed and had a fun bus ride going and coming back from camp. Nicholas had a blast at camp today playing with his new friends, arts and crafts, music class, playground and just having fun. Once Nicholas came home he had a burst of energy since he slept on the bus ride home. Mommy gave him the medications he had to take after eating dinner and before he went to sleep.                                                                                                                         July 18th: Another relaxing day for Nicholas. Nicholas spends most of day resting and relaxing to get ready for camp and taking his chemotherapy medications after having a spinal on Thursday. When Nicholas wasn't resting he built his Thomas and Friends train track by himself and kept it that way until daddy came home from work to show him what he did. Daddy was full of joy and happiness when he came through the door from his freelance job and was met by Nicholas and saw the design of the tracks Nicholas built using both bridges. Mommy sat back and watched how Nicholas built the tracks by himself. Nicholas loves his trains and every time he plays with his Thomas and Friends and watches the show, he counts how many trains he has, knows each and every name of the trains in his set and whatever train he is missing after watching Thomas and Friends show he tells mommy and daddy to finish his collection of trains. Nicholas is missing about four new trains added to the show and has all the main characters from when the show started. One train he is missing and is asking for it the last several months is Rocky The Crane. Daddy will be looking for Rocky for Christmas or before. The only thing that took the smile off Nicholas' face was the all the chemotherapy medications he had to take today after the spinal tap on Thursday.                                                                                                                         July 17th: After having so much fun at the zoo yesterday, mommy made sure Nicholas got enough rest and relaxation to be ready to head to camp on Monday. The main thing today was to make sure Nicholas takes his 48hrs and 60hrs after spinal tap pill and other chemotherapy medications that he has to take today. During the day he did some name writing and word matching using letter magnets.                                                                                                                         July 16th: Today was suppose to be Nicholas rest day after having a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine, but things changed late in the afternoon. Since he didn't go to camp to rest, Mr. Stephens was coming to give him class. Mr. Stephens changed plans since Nicholas was feeling strong and wanted to walked around. Instead of having class, Mr. Stephens took Nicholas to Prospect Park Zoo as a field trip to learn about animals. Mommy and daddy went on the trip but stayed away from Mr. Stephens and Nicholas during the trip from the zoo. First up was watching the sea lions as they got fed by the zoo keepers, then Mr. Mr. Stephens was asking Nicholas questions about the animals he is watching and see while walking around the zoo. Funny how Nicholas recognized a animal gave a short visit and the animals he wanted to see he made sure to let Mr. Stephens show him. he one good thing about the field trip to the zoo is that Nicholas got a good workout of walking around. He fed the goats and sheeps. When the trip was over, Mr. Stephens ask Nicholas to tell us all the animals he saw today. Nicholas said fishes, seal, goat, birds, snakes, cats and a small horse(pony). THANK YOU MR. STEPHENS FOR THE TRIP YOU GAVE NICHOLAS TO THE PROSPECT PARK ZOO. Once Nicholas got home, mommy gave him a wash down and once he put his head down after eating and drinking water, he was out like a light until he had to get up later to take his chemotherapy medication.                                                                                                                             July 15th: Nicholas had a trip to ARRIBA to visit his oncologist today for a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine. For the last couple days Nicholas' appetite has been low and before leaving to the hospital he ate a little enough to hold his stomach till after the spinal tap. Nicholas walks into the oncologist unit full of energy after giving mommy the run around that he didn't want to go to ARRIBA today. Nicholas knew that lack of breakfast in the morning would be put to sleep. When he goes for only a dosage of vincristine, he knows when he eats a good breakfast and doesn't have to work about food and drinks early in the morning before the hospital visit, its vincristine. Today Nicholas was met by Nurse Lynda who took his weight, height, check up and blood test. Before going in for the tests, Nicholas ran into Andres who hasn't seen in awhile and they just played. Andres was in just for a dosage of vincristine and left early. Nicholas didn't move up in weight as he kept the same weight around 63.5 from 62.8 on his visit back on June 17th and grew 1/2 inch to 47 from 46 1/2. Nicholas' oncologist gave him a check up alone with a medical student and had a chat with Nicholas about his first couple days at camp. Today Nicholas got his spinal early at 1030am in which means he gets his 48hrs at 1030am on Saturday and 60hrs pill at 1030 at night. When Nicholas came out from his spinal tap, this was the first time he was drowsy and out it. He kept saying mommy do this mommy do that and all with his eyes closed. When he finally open up his eyes, he realized daddy was sitting beside him all the time. When it was time to leave and Nicholas all ready to go, he was still drowsy as he slipped on his first step off the chair. Daddy decided to watch a Thomas and Friends DVD and let Nicholas get some strength back before walking out. When Nicholas started to feel better and could walk out on his own to the elevator, we left the hospital around noon. Once we got home Nicholas was out like a light after taking couple medications. When he got up later in the afternoon, he ate dinner, ate a bowl cereal, ate a banana and relaxed. The next visit to the oncologist is on August 12th for a dosage of vincristine.              July 14th: Since Nicholas has a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine on tomorrow, mommy and daddy decided to send Nicholas to camp for fun. Nicholas gets up a little nervous and not wanting to catch the bus to head to camp. So after going back and forth and figuring why he is crying a little, daddy drives Nicholas to camp, but lets Ms. Keisha know that Nicholas will be coming back home on the bus. Once Nicholas gets to camp, he is taken to class by a staff member. Funny how life is with kids. Mommy was worrying how Nicholas would react and daddy was calm knowing Nicholas would have fun once he saw Ms. Cindy and Mr. Mike. When Nicholas came off the bus from camp he was smiling and told mommy everything he did in camp. Nicholas told mommy how they watched a movie, played stop and go, green light, red light, hit the playground and tree house once the sun came up, coloring, puzzles and other fun stuff. The good thing was he ate his lunch since he left without eating all his breakfast after been so nervous about getting on the bus. After eating dinner and taking his chemotherapy medications, Nicholas sat down and watched some television.                                                                                                                      July 13th: After his first day of camp, Nicholas gets up full of energy and ready to head to therapy and class later in the afternoon with Mr. Stephens. First up with Ms. Yassaman with speech therapy class. Ms. Yassaman worked on sequences, first and second, letter recognition, conversation and read a book. Next up he had Ms. Joshi for physical therapy in which she worked on getting his left leg stronger and working on balance. He rode the tricycle, coordination and balancing skills, ups and downs, bending down and getting up by himself without holding on to nothing, speed walking and see how much he can run around to work on endurance. When Nicholas was done with Ms. Joshi, he took a break drank some water and walked over to Ms. Brown for occupational therapy. Ms. Brown slowed the paced down at the start of class as she had Nicholas do tracing, lacing, writing, independent exercise and finished off class having him ride the tricycle to get adjusted and working on the left leg to peddle a little harder. Nicholas did a good job, but with more work and practice he will be riding better. Once he got home, Nicholas ate and got ready for Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens was stuck in traffic, so it gave Nicholas some extra time to watch his favorite shoes WorldWord and Thomas and Friends. Mr. Stephens was suppose to take Nicholas to the zoo today, but the rain put a damper on it and the zoo was cancelled. Today's class was productive, but doing the writing part of the class Nicholas gave Mr. Stephens problems. Nicholas is learning that name writing is important, but he sometimes doesn't. Mr. Stephens started off class working on flash cards of animals and taught Nicholas the difference between a tiger and bengal. After going through the animals, they worked on a puzzle, name writing, coloring and working on staying in the lines as he colored a Thomas and Friends train. Mr. Stephens changed up class when started working on letters, today he had Nicholas spell simple words using magnet letters. He had Nicholas spell words like cat, hat, mat, bat, Nicholas and other words. To finish off the class they worked on building another dinosaur. After a long day on education, therapy and exercise, Nicholas' body was all tired and ready to head to bed. He ate dinner, took his chemotherapy medication and went to bed.                                                                                                                      July 12th: Nicholas' first day of summer camp at Sunrise Day Camp. Nicholas cried a little when he got on the bus alone, but the bus coordinator Ms. Keisha calm him down and he had a good ride with the other kids on the bus. Mommy and daddy drove behind the bus for the first day and once Nicholas saw were he was, he said his goodbyes and went on to his class to meet his teachers Ms. Cindy and Mr. Mike. Mommy had more tears than Nicholas as he got on the bus in the morning. When Nicholas got off the bus in the afternoon from having fun on his first day of camp, you could you see the smiles of joy on him. He told everything he did in the camp from having fun on the playground, drawing, coloring, meeting his new friends and doing lots of fun educational stuff.                                                                                                                         July 11th: Nicholas gets up early as the suns comes up. Mommy and daddy wanting to get some rest and sleep a little late on a day were they could get some rest, was gone as Nicholas woke both of them up. Daddy had to get up early to head to a freelance job and mommy just wanted to sleep a couple more hours. Daddy did some leg exercise and balance beam coordination and walking over exercise before going to work. Once the workout was done, mommy woke and took over. For most of the day, mommy and Nicholas sat down and watched the world cup soccer game final activities and game. When the game was over, Nicholas played with his trains and went to sleep early to get ready for his first day of camp tomorrow.           July 10th: Nicholas had a rehab class in which the therapist was late. Once the therapist came, they worked mostly on the tricycle and balance beam. After therapy, Nicholas did some Spanish speaking with mommy and name writing. Everytime mommy practices with Nicholas, he is understanding the words more and knowing what to do when asked a question is Spanish. His speaking is coming along, but he is doing good learning. Later on he built his tracks on his own to play with his trains and spent the rest of the day playing with Thomas and Friends until he felt it time to sit back and relax.                                                                                                                                July 9th: Relaxing day for Nicholas. Today Nicholas has Mr. Stephens and after class he goes to celebrate the birthday of his cousin Christiaan. When Nicholas got up in the morning, he ran into his Aunt Yvette who came over late the night before, because she had to travel to upstate New York in the morning. So after waking up his aunt bright and early as the sun came up, Nicholas wake up mommy and daddy. Nicholas played and read books with his aunt before she left. When Yvette left, Nicholas did some leg exercise with mommy and wrote his name. Later in the afternoon, Mr. Stephens cancelled class and it gave the family a chance to do chores before heading over to Christiaan. Once the family go to Christiaan, Nicholas was all over Christiaan wanting to play. Christiaan at first was tired and just wanted to relax, but after the break he played with Nicholas and the both of them went through Christiaan's jungle book of animals in which you have to paste the picture of the animal. Aunt Michele and Uncle Andre had a small pizza party and ice cream cake for Christiaan. Nicholas wasn't in the pizza mood, but was ready for the ice cream cake. Once Christiaan blew his candle out and cut his cake, Nicholas shared a piece with mommy. They played a little more till Nicholas was tired and ready to go home. Once in the car, he was out like a light on the drive back home.                                                                                                                           July 8th: Nicholas was back at the rehab center today for the start of a long day. He started out with Ms. Yassaman with speech therapy class. They worked on sequences, first and last, read a book and build a Diego puzzle. After Ms. Yassaman Nicholas walked into the gym to have physical therapy with Ms. Joshi. Today Nicholas took the tricycle to the rehab to get a workout. Ms. Joshi did leg exercise, ups and downs, rode the tricycle in which Nicholas has to push down harder with his left foot while peddling, balance beam, in/out steeping out of a tube wire and working on coordination and balance while running. Nicholas sometimes still falls down when he wants to go left. When he down with Ms. Joshi, he had Ms. Brown to finish his day at the rehab center with occupational therapy. Ms. Brown had Nicholas squeeze a cushion ball to work on reflex, hand coordination skills, independent exercise and making Nicholas figure which move is best for him and finished off with the tricycle to get his foot adjusted of peddling. After Ms Brown, Nicholas was feeling a little tired, but he knew later on he had class with Mr. Stephens. The good thing about having Mr. Stephens coming to class in the afternoon, is that Nicholas gets to watch Thomas and Friends on television and it wakes him and gets him ready for class. Class today was productive and Nicholas was into it. They started out with identifying animals and Nicholas was all smiles going through the a animal jungle book. Next they worked on sentences using home address and phone number, character shapes and sorting shapes by size. When the literacy part was done, they did math in which included less, measurements, subtraction and counting. When class was over, Nicholas was tired ate dinner, took his seven chemotherapy medications and went to bed.                                                                                                                          July 7th: Nicholas only had Mr. Stephens today in the afternoon. With summer camp starting on Monday July 12th, mommy scheduled Nicholas to get a haircut since the hair stylist was leaving town for the weekend. Before going to get his haircut, Nicholas spent time with daddy's friend who is up from Costa Rica for a visit. Nicholas played and ran around with daddy's friend until it was time to head to get his haircut. With the summer heat daddy went low for the haircut on Nicholas. After getting a cut, he took a shower and got ready for class. Before class he sat down with mommy and watch world cup soccer game between Germany and Espana. Today's class was a productive class and Mr. Stephens was happy. Nicholas did some name writing, read a book, skip counting by 3 and finished off class working on math in which he did some addition and subtraction. When class was over, daddy helped Nicholas build his track before heading out to do work a freelance job. Daddy is sitting back more and making Nicholas build the track more by himself in which in the last couple times, Nicholas is doing a great creation of suing both bridges while building his tracks. Nicholas took a break from his trains to watch some television, ate dinner, took his chemotherapy medication, watch some more television and went to bed.                                                                                                                        July 6th: Nicholas starts his summer schedule for therapy and today was a long day to start it off. Nicholas gets up full of energy to go to therapy and wanted to walk to the rehab center, but with the heat wave hitting NYC, daddy drove him to therapy. Nicholas starts out with Ms. Yassaman in speech therapy. They went over sequences, read a book, conversation and finished off class doing a puzzle. After Ms. Yassaman Nicholas met his new physical therapist. Her name is Ms. Joshi who is replacing Ms. Angelie. Nicholas connected good with Ms. Joshi right away at the start of class. Today she wanted to focus on balance and coordination for her first day to see his weak and strong points of his body that she has to work on. When physical therapy was over, Nicholas walked over to Ms, Brown for occupational therapy. Ms. Brown had Nicholas work with the scooter to work on his upper body. She had him work on the scooter from his stomach in which you could see his arms strength keeps getting stronger as he pushes himself. Next he worked from his knees. After the scooter exercise, Ms. Brown work on independent exercise in which she started off Nicholas working on clothes. She had him work on zippers, buttons, sitting up and sitting down the proper way to balance his body. When the clothing part of the class was done, the worked on hand coordination exercise in which he wrote his name first, coloring to work on staying within the boundaries, lines, working with a yarn to work on him going in and out of holes in a pattern and to finish off class since he did so good Ms. Brown made him play in the gym before going home. Nicholas wasn't that tired after a long day at the rehab center. Mommy and daddy believe since he had occupational last he got a chance to cool down after physical therapy in which got his body rested for the rest of day. Nicholas had about a hour and half to get ready for class Witt Mr. Stephens. Nicholas got home ate a good lunch and got ready for class. Today Nicholas had a good productive day in class, but started off giving Mr. Stephens a fits, but after calming down he did good. They worked on math most of the day. Nicholas did skip counting by 2 and 5, sorting by colors by 2 and compliments of 10 in which he did doing 10+1+11, 10+3=13 and did a good job writing the numbers using the dots. When the math session of the class was done Nicholas did social studies working on questions about seasons. When class was over, Nicholas was tired but still wanted do activities. So after Mr. Stephens left, mommy did some Spanish speaking with Nicholas before eating dinner, taking his chemotherapy medication and going to bed.                                                                                                                        July 5th: Relaxing day for Nicholas. No rehab and no school. Today the family went to Ikea looking for a new table for Nicholas to work on during class with Mr. Stephens. His legs are getting close to the top of the table. Nicholas was happy walking around the store and getting exercise and for every open space he saw he did a little running around making sure not to bump into anything. Mommy found a table to make Nicholas comfortable and relax during class. Once we go home, Nicholas was tired from all the walking and just sat back and watched television.                                                                                                                    July 4th: Happy 4th of July!!! A heat wave has hit the city and daddy couldn't take Nicholas for a ride on his tricycle. So during the day before daddy went off to work with mommy looking on for support, Nicholas worked on the balance beam. He first walked on the balance bean, did walk overs to work on lifting his legs and finished off doing zig zags to work on controlling the body and coordination. When Nicholas was done, he read some books, built his own tracks to play with his Thomas and Friends and practice some spanish speaking with mommy. Later on when daddy came home from work, we went to a wedding anniversary cook out. Nicholas was all smiles meeting up with Christiaan and meeting new friends. The good thing the we went to the fiesta late and sone was down, that brought the heat down a little. Nicholas playing was sweating and took a break to drink some juice and back to playing. When he body was tired he was ready to go home. Once we got into the car, Nicholas was out.                                                                                                                     July 3rd: Nicholas woke up early as daddy had a early freelance job to attend today. Nicholas spends most of day watching soccer with mommy. When the soccer games were over, Nicholas did some leg exercise with mommy, read books and practiced spanish speaking with mommy.                                                                                                                    July 2nd: No rehab today. Nicholas spent the day working out inside as he did leg exercise, ups and downs and walk and did zig zags using the balance beam. During the day he watch soccer with daddy as Holland sent World Cup favorite Brasil home. Nicholas is getting good of understanding the game of soccer. He likes his colors and that he gets to know the teams who are playing. After the game we had a function to attend at the hopsital and had to cancel class and after the event we went to visit Kevin. Nicholas and Kevin spent most of time playing with Thomas and Friends train set, while mommy and daddy spoke to Kevin's mother and father. Once we got home Nicholas was tired and went to bed.                                                                                                                         July 1st: Relaxing day for Nicholas today. After making up his make up dates at the rehab center this week and the long day yesterday, Nicholas had a day to rest up. The family went food shopping in which Nicholas enjoyed when he goes through the fruit department telling mommy in Spanish what to buy. Nicholas did a lot of walking around the store and not once said he was tired. His endurance and strength is building up everyday with his hard work and focus. When we got home, Nicholas did some leg exercise and ate a good lunch. Later in the afternoon when class was cancelled, Nicholas just sat back and watched some television and played around with daddy. Nicholas took a tumble while playing with daddy and get a little bump on his right thigh. Mommy was all over daddy, but sometimes a tumble can hurt Nicholas and this one did. Once the playing was done, Nicholas took his usual seven chemotherapy medication and rested.                                                                                                                        June 30th: Today mommy and daddy switch up the day on Nicholas to see how his body and mind would react. Instead of finishing the day with Mr. Stephens, the day started with Mr. Stephens and finished at the rehab center with his last day with Ms. Angelie. Mr. Stephens started off class with a game of picking up the stick in which Nicholas enjoyed playing. Next they went into free writing name writing in which he had no dots to trace his first and last name. Nicholas did a good job of writing, but still gave Mr. Stephens a little fits during the writing. After writing they worked on consonant blends, word families, read five books and finished off the second hour of class with math. Nicholas likes math and today he didn't like counting for some reason, but later in class he counted to 100. They worked on time, addition of 6 and 9, measurements in inches and counting and skip counting by groups of 3. Once class was over, Nicholas had to get ready to head to the rehab center. Ms. Brown was first to have Nicholas in occupational therapy. Ms. Brown spent most of day doing hand coordination exercise with a lot of twisting and turning using a yarn making Nicholas going through holes and writing exercise. When he was done with Ms. Brown he walked over to Ms. Yassaman for speech. Today she focused on reading books with Nicholas. They read Clifford The Big Red Dog, Thomas and Friends and another book. When the reading part of the class was over, the did a puzzle, had a conversation and played some reading games. The final hour of his therapy was spent with Ms. Angelie in physical therapy. Ms. Angelie having Nicholas with her for last time was full of smiles and joy today. Nicholas didn't know Ms. Angelie was leaving until class was over. Since most of his therapy before Ms. Angelie there wasn't a lot of running around, Nicholas was fresh and ready for therapy. They started off with going through a obstacle course in which ended with Nicholas climbing a steps and jumping into a pool of balls. Next she worked on him lifting up his legs doing ups and downs, stop and go, using the medicine ball to work and balance and coordination. They left the gym for awhile so Nicholas get a chance to rise the tricycle and work on the scooter for body strength while laying on his tummy. Before class was over Nicholas took a break and had something to drink as he told Ms. Angelie can I feel thirsty. Nicholas drank his juice and finished off class doing more leg exercise. Before walking out of the rehab center, Nicholas took a picture with Ms. Angelie and gave her a big hug and kiss after finding out that she is leaving. Nicholas will be getting a new physical therapist. Ms. Angelie did such a great job of building up his strength, confidence and overall his spirit to fight and work to get better to walk and run again at 100%. THANK YOU MS. ANGELIE.  Mommy cook chicken nuggets and rice for Nicholas to eat. He ate a little and went to bed. Later on when he got up he was hungry and ate a good dinner, watched some television, practiced spanish speaking with mommy and went to bed. When the day was over, Nicholas did a good job of focusing, paying attention and realizing what he had to do today.                                                                                                                           June 29th: Today was makeup day for Nicholas so he had three therapist. He started with Ms. Yassaman in speech, next Ms. Angelie in physical therapy and finished off the day with Mr. Stephens. So a long day, but he was focused and ready after eating breaking. Since Ms. Yassaman started out with making Nicholas tell is what he did in speech class, he told mommy and daddy part of it in which was good. Nicholas told mommy and daddy he did puzzles, played with cards with letters, differences on a farm and conversation. When he was down with Ms. Yassaman, he walked over to Ms. Angelie. Nicholas did a much better job with the tricycle today as he rode it a little with balance and coordination. Funny how before the cancer Nicholas was riding a little go cart and now he has to learn all over again how to use his legs with a pedal. Once the riding around was over, she made him do ups and downs, climb the steps, zig zag, rood the scooter in upper body usage is big to move the scooter. To finish off class since it was a productive class, Nicholas ran around and jumped into the pool of balls since he had a productive day in therapy today. Later on with a hour to get ready for class, Nicholas ate and dosed of for several minutes until he had to be waken up for class with Mr. Stephens. Nicholas and the name writing or is he doesn't like to start off class with the same routine. Nicholas gave Mr. Stephens a little frustration at the start of class with free name writing. No dots, just lines to work with. Mr. Stephens helped him out with the first name and then after Nicholas did a good job of writing his name four times. After the name writing Mr. Stephens focused on math. They did compliments of 5, skip counting by 5, counting to 30 by 5, math game of more of less using flash cards, sorting shapes by numbers and finished off class with addition in which every answer was 5. 2+3=5, 4+1=5. Nicholas did good on addition and after correcting himself of making sure not to write his 5 like a S he was smiling with Mr. Stephens. Tomorrow class is in the morning followed by occupational with Ms. Brown and finish the day with Ms. Yassaman in speech. Later on after class he watched some television, ate dinner and went to sleep.                                                                                                                     June 28th: Nicholas was going to try out his new tricycle, balance and scooter that was given to him by a foundation. Today was also the last couple days of therapy with Ms. Angelie who in leaving. Ms. Angelie got the best out of Nicholas and she sure put some strength, balance, coordination and much love and self confidence into Nicholas during all his workouts. THANK YOU MS. ANGELIE. After seeing what Nicholas got, she started him out with the obstacle course, then the balance beam, the tricycle in which at first he didn't want to ride it, but after two tries, he rode it and getting adjusted of peddling and using his body. Once finished riding, they moved over to rolling back and forth a giant medicine ball. This was to work on Nicholas pushing the ball and using his whole body hands, feet and waist. After playing with the ball, they walked over to do some stair climbing and step climbing in which she had Nicholas jump into a large mat. Even though he was sometimes using his hands to climb up, she was happy with his independent thinking of getting to the top. When class was over, Nicholas was tired and wanted no business walking to the car, so daddy had to carry him and since the car was close it was no problem. When Nicholas got home he was just thirsty and no hungry to eat before going to sleep. When he got up he was ready for class with Mr.Stephens. Today's class started out with Nicholas getting frustrated a little because he had to write his full name with no dots and just lines. He wrote his first name ugly in which he had to do it again and then after he calmed down and wrote his name beautiful and went on to the rest of the class. They did some letter recognition, coloring to work on staying inside the boundaries, beginning sounds of the letters F & H and the difference of things around the street, beach and farm. When class was over, Nicholas just sat back and went to sleep after dinner and taking his chemotherapy medication.                                                                                                                   June 26th and June 27th: Nicholas and mommy head upstate to visit grandma for the weekend. Nicholas got to spend time with his cousins, uncles and aunts. Daddy stayed back to work, but still had to call mommy on Saturday to make sure she gets up to give Nicholas his nightly chemotherapy medication.                                                                                                                     June 25th: Nicholas was back visiting Ms. Monica at the hospital for physical therapy. Today Monica gave Nicholas a intense workout and she also punished him a little when he decided not to listen and to do things his way. Monica stopped class until Nicholas realize what he was doing was wrong. After stretching out, she started out Nicholas shooting a basketball. This was to work on strength in both hands. First he started out close to the basket in which was good, then for every shot she had take four steps backwards to extend his shot. The farther Nicholas got from the basket he started throwing instead of shooting he was just tipping the basket over on each throw from left and his right hand. When arm strength drill was done, she worked on ups and downs, step climbing and going first with his left foot. For every workout Nicholas' left side of his body is getting stronger with more balance and strength. Next she worked the medicine ball first by throwing and then kicking with focus on his left. They took a water break and to finish off class she had Nicholas zig zag through cones and for every on he knocked down he had to start all over and when Nicholas realized he couldn't leave therapy until he did five back and forth zig zag without knocking down a cone therapy will be over. Nicholas finally did after knocking down about four cones during his first four trips. When physical therapy was over, Nicholas and daddy went ARRIBA to get his blood results from his chemotherapy on May 20th and June 17th. His counts are good and the white blood cells are good at this stage of his battle of cancer. Nicholas felt strong today as he walked back to the car which was two blocks from the hospital. Once he got home you could see that Nicholas was tired and just wanted to rest and when he found out no class in the afternoon, he went straight to sleep.           June 24th: Relaxing and calm day for Nicholas. During the day he did leg exercise, ups and down, kicked the soccer ball around the apartment until his legs got tired. Later in the afternoon, Mr. Stephens called out, so Nicholas just played around the apartment, did some Spanish speaking with mommy and watched some television. Nicholas ate a good dinner, before taking his seven chemotherapy medication on Thursday's and going to sleep.                                                                                                                   June 23rd: Nicholas was back to his heavy Wednesday after couple weeks off due to be out or a therapist calling out. Daddy got the bad news that Ms. Angelie is leaving the rehab center and Nicholas will be getting a new physical therapist. The new physical therapist was referred by Ms. Angelie, so she will just pick up were she left off and keep up with Nicholas exercise of getting Nicholas hasn't seen Ms. Brown in couple weeks, so today was like a first day back in school with much hugs as he walked in. Today Mr. Brown during occupational therapy focused most of the class on hand coordination skills and exercise. She had Nicholas do some lacing, tracing, working on staying inside the boundaries while writing and coloring and giving him a chance to understand what he was doing and to explain to her what he learned out of it. Next he walked over to Ms. Yassaman for speech and had a productive class today. Nicholas even took a pee-pee break in which his potty training is getting better by announcing that he has to use the bathroom. Ms. Yassaman started off class with before and after in which she read Nicholas a story and then asked him before and after questions for him to answer of what happen before and after while she was reading. Next  she had Nicholas read a couple books, letter recognition and finished off class with conversation. When therapy was over, Nicholas walked a block to the car with daddy. Today was hot and steamy and to long to walk in the hot sun with Nicholas. When Nicholas got home, he ate a good lunch and got ready for Mr. Stephens. After having a little tough time in class yesterday with Mr. Stephens, Nicholas had a clean productive class today. Mr. Stephens wanting to see how Nicholas would react today, started off class with name writing in which sometimes Nicholas doesn't like to start off class with. he had Nicholas write his first and last name about six times first name solo and last name with the help of dots. Then next went on to lean saying and writing the home address and same with the home phone number. After leaning his number and saying several times back to Mr. Stephens, Nicholas told mommy the number after class that brought smiles to mommy's face. Nicholas was doing good that Mr. Stephens work on him with skip counting in which Nicholas had to separate color by fives and count by five. when skip counting was over they did number writing, read couple books and finished off class with identifying characters of shapes and sizes. After class mommy was happy with the work Nicholas did and his behavior. When daddy came home and heard the good news about Nicholas' day, Nicholas and daddy built up the Thomas and Friends track. Nicholas was happy to play with his tracks. Nicholas stooped playing to eat dinner and to take his chemotherapy medication and went back to play until his body felt tired and went to sleep.                                                                                                                        June 22nd: After having several days of no class and no therapy, Nicholas had class in the afternoon with Mr. Stephens. Today was also the last day of taking steroids chemotherapy medications. When Nicholas takes this medication, his cheeks grow and his muscles get solid that he is tough to pick up sometimes. Before class, Nicholas sat down with mommy and watch world cup soccer, did some coloring and leg exercise. Today's class with Mr. Stephens was productive, but Nicholas was a little aggressive sometimes during the class and sometimes that is caused by the medications after having a dosage of vincristine. Mr. Stephens was a little upset with the behavior, but was happy with a academic part of the class. Today Nicholas did name writing first and last, memory and writing of home address and phone number, word families, read two books, did a puzzle and finished off class playing a matching game in which Nicholas wanted to start off class with. The one thing about Nicholas that gets him frustrated sometimes in class is when he wants to start class off with a game or his choice of activity instead what Mr. Stephens wants. Today was one of those days, but his concentration was good. After class, mommy wasn't happy of how Nicholas behaved so he just sat down and read some books until he was able to play with his trains and watch his shows WordWorld and Thomas. Nicholas took the last of the steroids and the other chemotherapy medications after dinner.                                                                                                                      June 21st: Today was another relaxing day for Nicholas as today was his cousin Chanel's high school graduation. So no physical therapy with Ms. Angelie and no class with Mr. Stephens. Since the graduation was early in the morning and Nicholas has couple chemotherapy medications he has to take before leaving the house, daddy will go to the graduation and mommy and Nicholas will meet up with the family as the post graduation dinner at the restaurant. Nicholas was happy to see Chanel, Christiaan, his aunts Dahlia, Yvette and Michele, uncle Andre and Andre's mother. He ate his dinner of chicken tenders and french fries, ate the cake and when he was all full sat down and played with Christiaan and did some coloring. After dinner we went back to Chanel's place. Nicholas and Christiaan played until it was time to take Yvette back to her bus back to Boston.                                                                                                                   June 20th: Happy Father's Day!!! Nicholas gets up early wakes up mommy and daddy. Mommy went back to sleep and daddy stayed up as he was full of joy when he got Nicholas' father's day card. Nicholas sat down with daddy and played with his trains after building up his tracks, did some coloring and watch some world cup soccer before daddy left for his freelance job. Nicholas gave daddy a cologne and couple shirts for father's day. When daddy came home after work, Nicholas and daddy kicked a soccer ball around the apartment and drove mommy a little crazy and threw a ball around.                                                                                                                   June 19th: Nice relaxing day for Nicholas as he just played and watched television. Mommy sat down with Nicholas while he wasn't playing to practiced on his Spanish speaking with parts of the body and things around the apartment. Later on in the afternoon watched a couple Disney movies and did some leg exercise. This was a good day for Nicholas as he was eating good. One thing when he is taking the steroids chemotherapy medication for five day after having his chemotherapy vincristine days ago, sometimes his appetite is low. Thank god he is eating good and a good sign that his body is taking in the chemotherapy medications and food.     June 18th: Relaxing day for Nicholas today as he only had class in the afternoon. During the day he went outside with daddy and walked around the block to give his legs some exercise. Today Nicholas got his trike(tricycle) along with a balance beam and a scooter from a  foundation that helps cancer kids with physical therapy equipment. Class today was fun as Mr. Stephens only gave Nicholas three things to do. They started out by writing his first and last name nine times, built a T Rex dinosaur and to finish off class, Nicholas made daddy a Happy Father's Day card. After class Nicholas watched some television, practiced Spanish speaking with mommy.                                                                                                                          June 17th: Today was chemo day for Nicholas and it was a trip to ARRIBA to get a dosage of vincristine. Mommy had some chores to do, so daddy took Nicholas to the hospital. Nicholas and daddy got to the hospital several minutes late as they watched World Cup soccer in the morning before leaving to the hospital. Before heading to ARRIBA, Nicholas stopped by the rehab unit to drop off the hank cards and TEAM NICHOLAS picture for the donation and to Monica his therapist who also had a collection. Nicholas was feeling good as we walked two blocks to the hospital and walked around the hospital until we got ARRIBA. Once we got to ARRIBA, Nicholas was checked out by nurse Nelly who took his vidal signs, weight in which he went up 1/2 a pound from 62pds to 62.8 pds and grew no inches and stayed at 46 1/2 in height. After seeing Nelly he was checked out by the oncologist who was happy with Nicholas' progress and the losing some weight and staying balance. While waiting to get his blood drawn, Nicholas was in the playroom drawing and coloring to kill time. Later on Nelly drew his blood and gave him the dosage of vincristine chemotherapy medication. When Nicholas was done, he got his toy, said his good bye and walked out the pediatric oncology unit. The next visit to the oncologist is on July 15th in which Nicholas is scheduled for a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine. Once daddy and Nicholas got home with no classes with Mr. Stephens, he ate lunch, took his steroids chemotherapy medication and went to sleep. Since we couldn't get Nicholas' blood results, the next time he has physical therapy with Monica he will go ARRIBA and get his results and see his counts.                                                                                                                          June 16th: After missing the last two weeks of occupational therapy sessions with Ms. Brown, Nicholas was back today and feeling much better after fighting off a cough. Today most the therapy was making a father's day card from scratch. Mr. Brown wanted to work on his view of designing a card, cutting out a drawing to make the card, organizing, coloring in the boundaries and to work on his patience to start and finish a assignment. Nicholas did a good job making a father's day card for daddy. He cut out a little bear of hugs, colored it and read a poem that Ms. Brown thought it was nice with the picture Nicholas picked out for the card. When occupational was over, Nicholas walked over to speech therapy with Ms. Yassaman. Ms. Yassaman worked of letter recognition and letter pronunciation for every letter of the alphabet. After finishing up with the alphabet, Nicholas had conversation setting in which they spoke about things we use everyday around the house. To finish off class, Nicholas wrote his name for the father's day card he gave daddy. Nicholas was feeling good today and full of energy that he was ready for class in the afternoon with Mr. Stephens. Today he had only a hour of class and they did a lot. They started out with name writing in which Nicholas wrote his name first and last eight times, worked on five senses in today was eyes, what doesn't belong, math and read a two books. When class was over, Nicholas took out his building blocks and built a train and played with his zoo animals. Today was also a day that Nicholas got his balance beams, workout machine to work on his whole body and his trike will be coming later.                                                                                                                        June 15th: Relaxing Tuesdayfor the family, daddy had no freelance during the day until night, so we went shopping for mommy for a late mother's day and wedding anniversary gift. Funny how for Nicholas the family is done fast, but for mommy Nicholas gets more exercise walking around the mall shopping with mommy that sometimes daddy has to carry him. Now that he is getting stronger, the stroller stays home more and just used going to physical therapy 3.5 blocks from the house. Once shopping was over and everybody got what they wanted, we headed home to get ready for class with Mr. Stephens. Today's class was based on a fast paced day so Mr. Stephens could test Nicholas on understanding assignments, to look at his frustration and how he will cope with different subjects in a fast pace. Overall Mr. Stephens was happy with the productive work Nicholas gave him. Parts of the class Nicholas wanted his way, but the discipline of Mr. Stephens was not letting Nicholas get his way. They started out with abstract thinking in name writing first and last, wrote every letter in the alphabet, literacy exercise, days of the week, things that belong at the beach and things that don't belong;belong at the beach, skip counting by 2, more or less using number cards, subs traction, read two books and finished off the class with Nicholas playing with dinosaurs wince he had a productive day. Later after class, Mr. Stephens explain to mommy and daddy why class was in a fast pace. Since Nicholas did so good, daddy took out his trains, but instead Nicholas wanted to relax and watch some television. Daddy went off to work and left mommy and Nicholas relaxing. Nicholas took his chemotherapy medication, did some reading mommy and went to bed.  June 14th: Flag Day!!! Nicholas still battling a little cough was determined this morning to feel better and head to physical therapy with Ms. Angelie. After eating a bowl a cereal and having some fruits, he was ready for class. Today Ms. Angelie gave Nicholas another intense workout and he was productive in class today. Since Nicholas is watching some much soccer, she started out class after stretching out with kicking the soccer medicine ball. During the kicking she had him kick mostly with his left and eye coordination of kicking with out looking down and looking up. First he was looking down, but he got a little adjusted and looked up and had a good day of working with the left foot. Ms. Angelie kept working on his left side as did some balance and coordination exercise, zig zag around mats, in and out of tires, obstacle course and finished off class with jumping on trampoline in which Nicholas had a blast doing. When class was over, Ms. Angelie is very happy with the endurance, balance and the strength of his left leg. After walking out of the rehab center with mommy, Nicholas first jumped into the stroller and by the second block, he walked home the rest in which impress mommy with his strength and ambition to get back 100%. Later in teh afternoon, Nicholas' tummy was feeling good, but he wanted to have class. Right before class started he wasn't feeling good and he told Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens decided to cancel class after seeing Nicholas vommit during a break. When Nicholas finished vommitting, he sat down for several minutes and when he say that Mr. Stephens brought aniother dinosour to make, he wanted to get back into his chair and do class. For a moment, mommy and daddy wanted to cancel class, but Nicholas is so into building his dinosours from scratch, he wasn't having no part of Mr. Stephens leaving and decided to have class. They started out class building the dinosour to get Nicholas relxed and comfortable before the acedemics part started. Nicholas did name writing last name first and then first name, letter writing in which they focused on letters Y & Z. They played a matching games using letters Y & Z, what belongs and what doesn't belong and conversation. When class was over, Nicholas felt a little better, but he still had a little tummy ache. He had to eat so he could take his chemotherapy medication. For the first time I think Mr. Stephens saw how the medications can have a affect on the body when the body is not feeling good. Later on he ate a little dinner of rice and had a bowl of oatmeal. Before going to bed early, he took his medication and went to sleep.  June 13th: Happy Wedding Annivesary for mommy and daddy. 13 years together. Daddy wanted to go to a early mass beforte going to work, but mommy was so tired that instead he bought and brought home breakfast for the family. Nicholas spent the day relaxing and watching World Cup soccer games with mommy. When soccer was over, mommy read some spanish books with Nicholas and practiced the number and certain everyday words.      June 12th: Relaxing and resting day for Nicholas. Most of the day he practice his numbers in Spanish with mommy, read books, played with most of his toys and watch soccer with mommy.                                                                                                                        June 11th: The start of the 2010 World Cup Soccer in South Africa. Daddy had a substituting gig, so Nicholas was left with mommy to enjoy the Mexico/South Africa game. Nicholas still learning the game of soccer while watching with mommy or daddy was rooting for a goal and saying I want to see a goal. Mommy watching the game intense looking for Mexico to score a goal. South Africa scored first and Nicholas was all happy to see a goal and hear the commentator scream GOLASO, while mommy kept quiet and trying to explain to Nicholas the other team scored. Nicholas just enjoys watching the game and mommy was all smiles seeing her son enjoy the game, but rooting for a goal. Once Mexico scored mommy and Nicholas hugged and smiled. When the game was over, Nicholas had to get ready for class with Mr. Stephens, but first watched more soccer with France versus Uruguay. Today's class with Mr. Stephens was a fun class, since Nicholas did a lot of work during the week. Mr. Stephens worked on Nicholas' coloring and staying inside the boundaries, name writing, little adding and substation and playing alphabet bingo. After class, daddy helped Nicholas build his tracks for his train and played with his Thomas and Friends.                                                                                                                          June 10th: Nicholas continues to fight off his cough that will not go away. So today after physical therapy with Monica, daddy was going to take him ARRIBA for a check up and see what is going on. Even while battling a cough, Nicholas gets up full of smiles knowing he was going to see Monica for physical therapy. Daddy got lucky and found a parking space two blocks away from the hospital instead of double parking during street cleaning and having to come back outside and move the car. To work on Nicholas' strength and endurance, the stroller was left at home. Daddy wanted to see how far he will walk without getting tired and how his legs will feel walking up a hill. Nicholas all smiles walked the two city blocks and up the little hill to the hospital. When he got to Monica he was smiling. A little tired but ready for his workout. Today Monica worked up building up his strength of jumping up and down. She first had him walk up and down steps using his left foot first, speed walking/slow running with red light green, stepping up and down off a block, standing on a block alone and playing catch with a medicine ball with daddy and then jumping off the block. Monica could sense Nicholas was little tired from the walk in, so she decided to take a break to let Nicholas get a cup of water and catch his breath. Once the break was over, the played catch, walking between cones by going left on every first step and finished off class by tossing the ball back and forth with . Once therapy was over Nicholas went ARRIBA to get a checkup. First he gave Nelly a belated mother's day and birthday card since she was on vacation. Nurse Lynda took care of Nicholas weigh, height, temperature and vidal signs. Nicholas didn't gain a pound or grew a inch. Next he went to playroom and met a new friend while drawing pictures on a board. Nicholas played with a girl until it was time to see the doctor. since mommy dressed Nicholas in Mexico green getting ready for World Cup soccer, we met several Mexican soccer fans in the streets and hospital saying hello to Nicholas. The doctor checked Nicholas from top to bottom. His throat and ears were clean, no infections, little breakout on body came from the fever and the cough will go away with help of cough medicine and rest. So after leaving the doctor, daddy called Mr. Stephens to cancel class because the bathroom was getting fixed and Nicholas was feeling tired from the workout and the checkup. Later on in the afternoon, Nicholas ate a good dinner, took his seven chemotherapy pills on Thursday's watched some television and went to sleep.                                                                                                                            June 9th: One thing about a kid with cancer battling a cough with all the weather change in the last week, the cough doesn't go away easy. Today was his usual long Wednesday's with occupational, speech and then class in the afternoon. Daddy got called to substitute today and with Nicholas still coughing mommy decided to play it safe and keep him home from Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassaman. While at home, mommy practiced some Spanish speaking with Nicholas and read some books. Nicholas ate a good lunch today and took a good nap before class in the afternoon. Mr. Stephens started off class playing bingo with numbers in which sometimes Nicholas was picking out two numbers at a time to win the game. Once bingo was done, they did some name writing and home and phone number memory to let him get used to saying the address and phone number. Next up they worked on numbers. First up it was Dino time, adding and subtraction, got introduced to 10th place and finished off class reading a book. When class was over, he played with his new Tonka truck given to him by his cousin Christiaan until he got tired. He ate dinner, took his chemotherapy medication and went to sleep.                                                                                                                             June 8th: Nicholas battling a cough off and on only had a relaxing day until class in the afternoon. Even though he was coughing he was still his loving smiling self and enjoying life. During the day he rested until class. Just sat back and watched television. Today's class with Mr. Stephens they both of them sat down and built a dinosaur from scratch. Mr. Stephens was working on Nicholas' concentration, hand coordination, paying attention and listening to instructions on were the pieces go to build the dinosaur. When the finally finished the dinosaur, Mr. Stephens was happy with the productive work Nicholas gave him building the dinosaur. After building the dinosaur the started with name writing in which Nicholas did his last name first and then first name. Word reading with the letters OT, AT, ET, IN and AT, next they did subtraction, show and tell of and making Nicholas answer of people who help like fireman and policeman. They finished off class reading two books. When class was over, Nicholas ate a little as his appetite was coming back slowly but surely and put a smile on mommy's face as he was eating. He took his chemotherapy medication and went to bed.                                                                                                                               June 7th: Nicholas gets late in the morning for the first time in months as he usually got up around sunrise. Physical therapy was cancelled with Ms. Angelie so Nicholas could get some rest and get rid of this cough in his chest. He ate a bowl of cereal and some apples. Later in the afternoon a hour before class, Nicholas vomitted all his food and cleared and cleaned up his chest. Mommy had the duty of cleaning up the mess as daddy had a substituting today. Funny how after he vomitted he felt better to have class. At first mommy wanted to cancelled class, but Nicholas was feeling good and he knew Mr. Stephens was coming. Today was also the first day class was moved up to two hours from a 1.5 hours. Mr. Stephens wanted to see how Nicholas was going to react to name writing, so he started out class with writing his home address/were I live, phone number, last name all in dots and finally first name by himself. He did a good job of learning his address, number and writing his last name. They next went to work on skip counting by 2 and 5 using objects, character and sizes of shapes, clock reading in which they used a book sent by his Angel Betty. Even though parts of the book Money and Time were difficult for Nicholas, the clock reading part of of the book was good for Mr. Stephens to use for Nicholas. To finish off the class the read a book, conversation and Nicholas counted to a 100. Later on at night he watched some television, took his medications and went to bed.                                                                                                                       June 6th: Walkathon Sunday. We got up early to see if Nicholas was feeling good to go to the walkathon. He still had a little cough, but he was determine to go to the walkathon. Mommy and daddy made the decision to take him to the walkathon. First we had to pick Chanel and Christiaan. Once we got to Sunrise Day Camp, we met up with Aunt Patty, Uncle Juan, his cousins Erika, Manny and Rachel. After registering Team Nicholas members, the kids ran up and down from the tree house after eating breakfast until they got tired and ready for the walk. Later on Omar daddy's friend came to join Team Nicholas. The team was finally complete when family friend Victor came with his wife Jenifer and kids little Jenifer, Victor Manuel and his parents. Once everybody got to know each other, we took team pictures and got our picture taken by Sunrise photographers. Since we raised a $1000 by June 1st, we got another TEAM NICHOLAS sign to add to the beautiful banner we have. Nicholas was walking strong and feeling good, but you could see the early running around, got him tired and he started the walk in the stroller. Team Nicholas walked the challenged course of a 1.5 miles and at the start was a steep hill in which daddy had to push Nicholas up the hill. Once down the hill, Nicholas walked a little before jumping back in the stroller. Getting closer to the finish line, Nicholas got out the stroller and crossed the finished line in daddy's arm. Mommy thought Nicholas was tired, but once he saw the games he could play after the walk along with kids, there smiles and strength grew knowing it was fun time. Nicholas started playing tic-tac-doe with balls, next shot some baskets in which he made 2/3 and threw bean balls. For every game the kids played, they won a prize and Nicholas took home his share of prizes. The one thing Nicholas wanted to do was slide down the giant bubble slide before we went home. So his cousin Chanel volunteered to take him up. Going up the slide, Nicholas was determine to make it up and slide down. Once he made it to the top, he slid down full of smiles and joy. As we walked back to the car all the kids wanted to run up to the tree house one more time and rub the turtle for good luck. Nicholas still full energy walked up with his cousins and friends. Nicholas gave everybody a kiss and goodbye and thank them for coming and supporting him during the walkathon. Mommy changed Nicholas into dry clothes before driving back to Brooklyn. Nicholas, Christiaan and Chanel went right to sleep as the car drove away from the camp. Once Nicholas got home, he ate a little and went to sleep. Team Nicholas exceeded its mark of $3000.                                                                                                                       June 5th: Nicholas rested all day to get rid of his cough. The fever was gone, but cough was till there. He started to eat a little, but still his appetite was low, but mommy and daddy was happy to see him smiling and moving around.                                                                                                                        June 4th: The weather is going up and down and the walk during the humid night the day before, Nicholas gets up with a stuffy nose and a little fever. You could see it in his face that he was feeling sick and his body was weak. When Nicholas gets a stuffy nose and cough from his chest, he loses his appetite. After eating a bowl of cereal and taking tylenol, he went to sleep to reduce the fever. The fever went down, but the cough was till there. Daddy was home today, so it was good to keep a eye on Nicholas as mommy got some rest. Later on as his cough would not go away, daddy cancelled class with Mr. Stephens. So the rest of day Nicholas rested to get better for the walkathon on Sunday. His appetite was still low, so money gave him some pedisure to get some vitamins in his body. Nicholas had a tough time sleeping as his cough kept him twisting and turning until he went to sleep.                                                                                                                           June 3rd: Today things were changed around for Nicholas. He had class first and then he had physical therapy later at night. Lately Nicholas has been giving everybody problems when it is time to practice writing his name and today he gave Mr. Stephens problems at the start of class writing his name. After 10 minutes of going back and forth Mr. Stephens, they finally went on to another part of the class. They practiced letter writing in which they focused on letters W&X and finding objects with the both letters. What belongs and what doesn't belong, word families, conversation and finished off reading books. The next time they have class Mr. Stephens will changed up the name writing for Nicholas. Once class was over Nicholas had about 1/2 hour to rest before heading to physical therapy. Today Ms. Angelie spent most of the therapy working on building up Nicholas' left side of his body. Even though Nicholas is getting stronger, his left side still has some work to get it stronger and looks like every other class, Ms. Angelie spends most of the therapy working on his left side of his body. After class was over Ms. Angelie walked with Nicholas and mommy for a block to her car and since Nicholas was in a groove of walking, he walked the three full blocks to get home. Once he got home he was tired and his body was beat. He ate took his usual seven pills on Thursday and went to bed.

 

 

 

June 2nd: Nicholas gets off lucky today on his usual Wednesday that is long full of therapy and class. First Ms. Brown cancelled occupational therapy and then later on Mr. Stephens cancelled class in the afternoon. So today Nicholas only had speech therapy class with Ms. Yassaman. Today was also the day that Ms. Yassaman after class had Nicholas tell mommy what he did in class today instead of the teach. Ms. Yassaman gave him a test to see how he explain mommy what he did in class on delivery, clarity and explanation on the work he did. Nicholas did good. He told mommy that he read a book, spoke about animals on a farm, played with pictures on a beach and had to find the place on the beach to match the picture, spoke with Ms. Yassaman(conversation practice) and did numbers. The one thing that has Ms. Yassaman smiling with Nicholas is the progress in his speech since she started with him back in July 2009.  So from now on Nicholas is to tell what mommy and daddy what he did in speech to work on his memory, clarity, delivery and understanding what he worked on. After leaving the rehab center, Nicholas walked two blocks with mommy going home until his legs and body felt tired. He jumped into the stroller for a bit and jumped out to walked the rest of the way home. Mommy was so proud of Nicholas and his endurance of everyday he walking longer and longer from the rehab center. Once they got home, he ate some good arrow con pollo, watched some television, practiced Spanish speaking with mommy. Funny how he understands the Spanish words when mommy or daddy asked for something or asked to do something and now he is getting more into saying words in Spanish. The one back thing when Nicholas' brain got swollen a little at the early part of his cancer and was reduced right away "Thank God" he lost a lot of things he learned at home and at the Hanover Day Care Center. Now with his hard work and the help of the speech, occupational, physical therapist and his teacher, he has taken big steps and big progress.                                                                                                                                                       June 1st: Since yesterday was Memorial Day and Nicholas' physical class was cancelled, he got some extra time in today and Ms. Angelie worked him out hard. Ms. Angelie started Nicholas out working on the scooter on both his knees and stomach. She was happy on Nicholas' arm strength and how he is using it when laying down on his stomach and the scooter. Next he did the obstacle course, stepped in and out the tire. First he stepped in/out and then she got to jump in/out by using his body and working on balance. Took a break. After the break he climbed the steps and he reach the third step on the ladder. Once he came off the ladder, they kicked and threw a medicine ball back and forth until he was ready to finish off the day running zig zag and jumping into the pool of balls. When class was over Nicholas felt good walking home, but right after eating lunch that is when you could he was tired. Ms. Angelie gave him a good workout that Nicholas was tired and ask to give him a break from class with Mr. Stephens. This was the first time in a longtime he asked out of class, because his body and mind was tired. Later in the afternoon mommy cancelled class with Mr. Stephens and gave Nicholas the rest of the day to rest and get ready for his usual long day on Wednesday.

 

 

May 31st: Memorial Day!!! Mommy and daddy got a break today as Nicholas went upstate to celebrate his cousin Karina's 10th birthday. Nicholas had a fun playing around with his cousin Karina, Rachel, Claudia, Manny and the neighbor Chiya. He also got a chance to see his cousin Laura who he hasn't seen since he got diagnosed and it was great to see Laura. After signing happy birthday and eating cake and ice cream, Nicholas was beat and tired. Once he said his good byes to the family, he went straight to sleep as soon as he got in the care on the ride back home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                

 

May 30th: Nicholas spends another day of relaxing. After doing some leg exercise with mommy and reading some books in both english and spanish, Nicholas just sits back and watches tv and plays with his trains. Later on in the afternoon his cousin Erika came over for a visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                 

 

 

May 29th: Movie day for Nicholas. He just wanted to watched movies like Alvin and Chipmunks I & II, ICE Age I & II. The day gave mommy and daddy a break to rest and get some sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                

 

May 28th: Nicholas makes his first trip to see Monica his physical therapist at the hospital in two weeks. Monica gave Nicholas a good workout today and it showed on his body when he got home. First she gave him a leg massage and stretched him out real good before starting the exercise. Nicholas felt good and his legs felt loose. She first started out walking up and down the stairs leading with his left foot, played stop and go to work on his listening skills, reflex and coordination, kicking and throwing a medicine ball, cones of squatting up and down and finished off playing hide and seek. Nicholas had fun to finish off class playing hid and seek. Before leaving the rehab unit, Brooklyn Hospital Center Rehab Unit gave Nicholas a donation to TEAM NICHOLAS for the cancer walkathon next week Sunday. After leaving therapy, Nicholas and mommy walked to ARRIBA to give nurse Lynda the medical forms for the doctor to sign for the Sunrise Day Camp in which Nicholas will be attending in July. When Nicholas got home, you could see his body was tired and after eating lunch and watching Thomas & Friends he went to sleep before class in the afternoon. Today Nicholas had another productive day in class with Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens started out the class by given Nicholas a spelling test with the letters AT, but this time around he had Nicholas writing out the word. So he had to spell out HAT, BAT, FAT, CAT, PAT and MAT. After the spelling they played a math game in which Nicholas had to give a answer of higher and lower of a object shown by Mr. Stephens, shapes and patterns, name writing and finished off class reading a book Franklin Goes To School. When the day was over, you would think Nicholas was tired no, he wanted to play. So later on daddy tossed the baseball and football around with Nicholas until he got tired. Once he got tired he ask he sat down watched some television and went to sleep.  

 

 

May 25th: Today was a beautiful day for Nicholas all around. During the day since there wasn't no therapy, daddy toook him to the park so he could get a worokout in his legs and work on climbing up and down and strengthen up his left leg. The bad thing that happen to Nicholas today was that he fell down walking to the park and scratch his knees a little. with Nicholas getting cut on his knees, daddy had to hear it from mommy who went out to do some chores. Daddy and Nicholas went to the park early to beat the sun before it got at midday. Nicholas did good walking around the park, he used his whole body to move around the playround, when he got tired he took a break and when he was ready to play he paced himself. When he was done and felt tired, he asked to go home. Later on in the afternoon, Nicholas had a productive day in class with Mr. Stephens. You could see from the start of class Nicholas was into his teacher. They started out reading a book "Clifford The Big Red Dog. Next they worked on things that don'tt belong, things that belong, name writing his first name in which he is getting better and the letters are getting closer, site words and got introduced to spelling words that was using the letters AT. Mr. Stephens was happy with Nicholas spelling. After the spelling, they worked on letter recognition and letter writing in which they worked on letters Q&R and finished off the class reading another book. Today we also got good news that Nicholas will get extra time added in physical and occupational therapy and his classes in the afternoon.

May 24th: Nicholas gets up full of energy after having a relaxing day yesterday. Today he had physical therapy with Ms Angelie and class in the afternoon. The steroids chemotherapy medication can be seen in Nicholas' face as he cheeks were puffy again. He continues to eat good and after eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast, he was ready to head to physical therapy. Today's Ms. Angelie was going to focus most of her class on building up the left side and left foot of Nicholas. She started out with stretching out to loosen up his body and once that was over she walked Nicholas over to the steps. For every step on the steps, Ms. Angelie forced him to use the left foot first on his first step. Next they did stair climbing with left foot first, stepping in and out of tube with his left foot first, zig zag with his left, kicking ball with his left, throwing the medicine ball with hands, tricycle, scooter on stomach first and then on his knees and to finish off the obstacle course with Nicholas jumping into the pool of balls. When class was over, Ms. Angelie was happy with the productive class and Nicholas getting more mobile, having more balance and his endurance is growing much stronger. After class the rehab center got good news that a foundation is going to help Nicholas with therapy equipment. Later in the afternoon after eating lunch class was cancelled and Nicholas went to sleep. Mommy was happy that Nicholas went to sleep and gave her a chance to watch a friendly soccer match of Mexico vs England in which the English squad won 3-1. Nicholas got up to catch the final minutes of game. The one sport Nicholas likes to watch with mommy and daddy is soccer, because he enjoys saying "Goal".  

May 23rd: Today was a rest and relaxation day for Nicholas. After having a blast yesterday at the party, he just sat back and watched some television and rested. The only bad thing about these days is that Nicholas has long periods of sleeping and then he gets up full of energy and sometimes it is hard to get to sleep at night. Daddy was home today, so mommy rested. When Nicholas was up he helped build his tracks for his trains with daddy and had fun with Thomas and Friends. After playing with Thomas and Friends, Nicholas watched some television, did some leg exercise and rested.  He is eating good after having a dosage of vincristine last Thursday. Sometimes after having a dosage of vincristine, he loses his appetite, but for the last two days he is eating good. After lunch he took his steroids chemotherapy medication and later on at night he takes usual medication. Several family and friends have called or email to show support of helping to sponsor TEAM NICHOLAS in the Sunrise Walkathon in couple weeks. We hope we can continue to generate the support and beat out goal of raising $3000.

May 22nd: Nicholas has a fun day today. Nicholas was invited to birthday party for a 1 year old girl Peyton of a family friend. He had fun with the clowns, magician, meeting new friends and running around till his body said no more. The party was suppose to be indoors, but the nice weather gave Nicholas and all the kids invited a chance to run around the grass. His cousins Christiaan and Chanel went to the party also and they had fun with Nicholas. When the party was over, Nicholas' body was tired so he played with them and his new friends. Once he got home, he washed up, took his steroids chemotherapy medication and went to sleep. He got several hours later to take his usual late night chemotherapy medication.

May 21st: Nicholas gets up in the morning knowing that he had to do good in class today. Daddy got up early as he was called to substitute again and Nicholas was saying "daddy when I do good in class today can we got to the park". Daddy told Nicholas you have to do good and be consistent and when class is over we will see if you can go to the park. Later on in the afternoon when class started Nicholas was good and had a productive day. They started out class with Nicholas writing his last name using dots first and then wrote his first name by himself. After the writing, they did counting, skip counting by 2 and 3, counted up to a 100 with help of Mr. Stephens, sequencing, wrote numbers 7-8-9, sorting numbers and finished off class with clock reading. When class was over, Mr. Stephens was happy with Nicholas' work today. Yesterday Nicholas had a dosage of vincristine and usually mommy and daddy give him a day off from activities. So instead of going to the park, daddy helped Nicholas build his tracks to play with his trains. Today was also the second day of Nicholas taking his steroids chemotherapy medication that you could see his body just getting solid. Nicholas was happy with his work and he knew he was good.   

May 20th; Today was a trip to ARRIBA to get a shot of vincristine chemotherapy. Good thing about when Nicholas only gets a dosage of vincristine is that he can't eat good before leaving to the hospital not like when he has a spinal tap and vincristine is when he has to eat extra early. Mommy took Nicholas as daddy got another call to substitute. Once he got to the 10th floor he said hello to everybody and gave nurse Lynda her mother's day card in which he hasn't seen her since spinal tap and vincristine back in late April. The doctor was happy to see how Nicholas is doing with his walking, balance, talking and upbeat attitude. Nurse Lynda weighed Nicholas and he weighed that same weight he had back on April 25 in which he was at 62pds and gained another 1/2 inch and went from 46 to 46 1/2 inches. Later he was checked out by the doctor and several interns and things looked good. Today was also the day Nicholas was introduced to another cancer patient who was getting her mediport installed in her. Nicholas met the teenage girl and instead of telling the girl about the mediport doesn't hurt, he tells her it hurts and everybody in the room started smiling and laughing. The girl parents had to smile with Nicholas' answer. Later on he went to play in the playroom with some blocks and went back to the waiting to watch the movie "cars" until his was called for his vincristine. Once he got his vincristine around noon and relaxing for awhile, Nicholas and mommy went home. Before leaving doctors were happy with his count of red blood cells, platelets and white blood cells. The next visit is also is to get a dosage of vincristine which is on Thursday June 17th. Vincristine is a funny after affect chemotherapy. You never know when it affects Nicholas' body, some days on the third or fourth day, he loses his appetite or eats a lot and then comes in five straight days of getting steroids medication. With all medication he gets, this is were Nicholas gets solid and his body feels like a rock in which sometimes daddy finds him heavy to lift when he feels tired from walking. Once they got home Nicholas was tired and went to sleep. This week has been full of surprises for Nicholas. First we got news that a foundation that helps kids with cancer with orthopedic and physical therapy equipment was giving Nicholas a trike/tricycle, balance beam and a scooter to continue to building up his muscles in his body to get him back 100% walking and running again. Thank You. Then his Angel Monika sent him a sports box full of sports stuff. She sent him a football, basketball and a soccer ball to play with and several other gifts to open each day till the end of the end of the month of May. Thank You Monika. His other Angel Betty, she is a another blessing to the family and Nicholas. Every week at least four days a week she sends Nicholas a gift in whoch he needs. This week she send a book on animals. letter writing book and a outfit for his physcial therapy class. The other Angele, Angel Kathy, she sends cancer gifts and tshirts that make a statement for Nichoals to wear. The one favorite is " Cancer Does Not Scare Me" Mommy and daddy want to thank everybody who has giving support, love, caring and overall building up his confidence during his battle with cancer. THANK YOU.

May 19th: Last week Wednesday Nicholas had a fun day, this time around he was back to his full schedule. Nicholas gets up at sunrise as the phones rings for daddy for a substituting job. The usual routine as daddy gets dressed, Nichoals sits back and watches the morning news. When daddy left, Nicholas woke up mommy for breakfast and in a couple hours he was getting ready for a 2 1/2 hours of rehab. Since he missed last week, Nicholas had a make up class in occupational therapy and today Ms. Brown was going to see him for one hour first and then 1/2 hour after his speech therapy class with Ms. Yassaman. Mommy saw that Nicholas was a little jumpy today and Ms. Brown saw it a little during her occupational class as sometimes he didn't want to do her work. The first hour Ms. Brown worked him out doing leg exercise, coordination skills and motor skills. When he was done with Ms. Brown he walked over to Ms. Yassaman for speech. Ms. Yassaman woked on reading skills, conversation, letter recognition and overall perspective of understanding what he is saying. After the speech class he went back to Ms. Brown and she worked on his behavior, focus and independent work. One thing the therapist are happy about is Nicholas' concentration, focus and paying attention, but sometimes he gets out of hand and good job of the very discipline therapist they take care of Nicholas before he fades away from his work. Later in the afternoon, Nicholas was still a little jumpy and had a bad day on class with Mr. Stephens. They started off writing his name in which he did a good job, but while writing he wasn't listening to Mr. Stephens and Mr. Stephens had to stop and start couple times. Next they did letter writing of the letters O & P, ordering numbers, skip counting using blocks in which were Nicholas just wanted to do class in his owen way. After going back and forth with Mr. Stephens and not listening, class was stopped early. Nicholas knew right away he was in trouble when mopmmy said no TV and no trains for the rest of the day. With the punishment of nothing with trains or TV, Nicholas turned around to daddy after dinner and did some name writing and number writing in which he wanted to do after dinner. Mommy and daddy have learned with Nicholas that he is good in self correcting and knows when he has done something wrong.

Nicholas doing some name writing.  

May 18th: The early sunrise phone call from the Board of Education woke up daddy and Nicholas as daddy was called to work as a substitute teacher for the day. Nicholas woke up as soon as daddy got the call to get dressed and leave. Mommy stayed sleeping until was ready to leave. Nicholas woke up full of energy and was driving mommy up the wall as he wanted to play, leg exercise, writing and coloring and watched some television. Mommy just gave him his Diego questions and answers book at the start and then they did some leg exercise and walking around the apartment. With no therapy during the day, all Nicholas had today was class in the afternoon with Mr. Stephens. Today's class didn't start off good for Nicholas as Mr. Stephens was saying his name to much and Nicholas wasn't paying attention. Once he settled Nicholas down, they started out class. First they went over name writing in which Nicholas is bringing the letters closer to each other. Next they did letter writing in which they focused on letters M&N. After letter writing, they did missing parts of animals, matching objects to a pictures using food, figuring out biggest and smallest, played a memory game in which Nicholas did a good job. Mr. Stephens was happy with Nicholas' memory. To finish off the class they read three books. After class was over Nicholas wanted his trains, but he knew he wasn't listening in class and apologize to mommy and daddy. Mommy and daddy spoke to Nicholas about paying attention in class and keeping consistency. Later on he got his trains, watched some television, ate dinner so he could take his chemotherapy medication and went to bed.    

May 17th: After the long drive home the night before, we decided to cancel in the afternoon and not physical therapy with Ms. Angelie. Nicholas hasn't seen Ms. Angelie in two weeks and she was ready for him. Today she worked him hard on his endurance and strength in legs and upper body. They started out first with the tricycle, then played kicked ball with Ms. Angelie, after kicking they threw a medicine ball back and forth to see how long his arms and shoulders will go, next the walk around to relax and calm down before doing leg exercise. First they did some zig zags to work on balance and coordination, climbing up a hill mat and finished off class with a obstacle course and jumping into a pool of balls. When Nicholas got home from his workout with Ms. Angelie, all he told mommy was "I'm tired and want to rest". Once he ate lunch and watched some television, he was out like a light. When Nicholas got up, he said sorry to mommy and daddy for sleeping through and missing class with Mr. Stephens. He was so tired that he forgot mommy told before heading to Ms. Angelie there wasn't no class in the afternoon. Ms. Angelie, Ms. Brown and Ms. Monica have done a solid job of getting Nicholas back strong with more balance, coordination, ability to control his body and overall getting his confidence back of knowing there is still work ahead, but he will be back 100%.

Nicholas posing with his cousin Karina upstate while playing around.

May 15th & 16th: Mommy and Nicholas head to upstate New York to spend time with grandma. Mommy's mother was rushed to the hospital with high blood pressure and that could have caused a mild stroke Thursday night. Daddy had to work the weekend, but after work on Sunday went to pick up mommy and daddy upstate.

May 14th: Relaxing day for Nicholas. Mommy and daddy had a meeting about Nicholas to attend, so physical therapy session with Monica had to be cancelled in the morning. With no class in the afternoon, the family went food shopping, before daddy went to his freelance job. After food shopping, Nicholas got home and played with his trains and did some leg exercise with daddy.

May 13th: Nicholas gets up early as daddy had a substituting job today. As daddy is getting dressed, Nicholas sits back and watches the morning news with daddy. Today was a easy day for Nicholas during the day until his afternoon classes. Mommy makes Nicholas do leg exercise and ups and downs to give his body a workout. After the leg exercise, mommy gives Nicholas squeezing balls to work on his wrist and then sits down and practice speaking Spanish with him. When all the workout was done and after eating a good lunch, Nicholas took a nap before class. When he got up he watched some television to wake him. Today's class was based literacy. They started out with name writing, then moved on to letter writing in which they worked on letters K&L and then identified pictures and words that started out with the letters K&L. Next the work on consonant blends, difference of objects and pictures, weather and using pictures to match with the right weather and finished off class reading two books. When class was over Nicholas was a little tired. He ate dinner, took his seven pills on Thursday that made him sleepy and he just dosed off.  

Nicholas and Ms. Angelie working out on the tricycle during physical therapy.

May 12th: Today was the first Wednesday since Nicholas started his therapy that all his session was cancelled today. Ms. Brown who is his occupational therapist had a meeting to attend, due to the rain and cold day mommy and daddy cancelled speech therapy class with Ms. Yassaman and his afternoon class with Mr. Stephens was also cancelled. So with no therapy, Nicholas got creative all day. After eating breakfast, he did some name writing, coloring and practice speaking Spanish with mommy. Funny how Nicholas understands when they speak Spanish to him and is getting better of speaking it. He was speaking it, but once he got hit with cancer and the month in the hospital he lost it and now mommy is working on getting him back speaking Spanish. After the writing and coloring, he sat back and watched some television. Once he was done with the television watching he went to sleep knowing no class in the afternoon.  When he got up he ate a good dinner and for the first time he called out “medicina” for the chemotherapy medication he had to take after dinner.  Mommy and daddy sat there with a big smile knowing how Nicholas is realizing when he has to take his medicina. For the rest of the night he played with his trains and read some books with mommy before going to bed.  

May 11th: During the day Nicholas didn’t have no rehab or therapy during the day and since he didn’t go to physical therapy yesterday, he did some leg exercise with mommy. First mommy gave him a leg massage and later had him do some ups and downs, leg kicking and squeezing balls to work on his wrist. Once the exercise was done, Nicholas ate a good lunch and got ready for his class in the afternoon. Today’s lesson with Mr. Stephens started out with letter writing in which they did letters I and J. After Nicholas wrote the letters thay used and spoke about words starting with the letters I and J. Next they worked on letters SN and SK. When the letter writing part of the class was done, they did skip counting by 2 and Nicholas got introduced to skip counting by 3. Sometimes during class Nicholas tends to fade away from the subject in front of him and thanks to the discipline of Mr. Stephens that he has put into Nicholas from day one, mommy and daddy are glad that Nicholas got a teacher he straighten him out when he gets out of line. Mr. Stephens has done solid work with Nicholas from day one in which they have bonded and got adjusted to each other.  Mommy and daddy are happy with the work that Mr. Stephens is doing  words can’t explain the work he is doing with Nicholas. Thank you Mr. Stephens.

May 10th: Nicholas got up tired after all the playing around with his cousins all day yesterday. Mommy and daddy decided to give Nicholas’ body a rest. His legs got a good workout yesterday and you could see in his eyes and body he just wanted to rest. Even though he wanted to see Ms. Angelie for physical therapy, his body was saying rest.  We called to cancel physical therapy and reschedule for another day. With no class in the afternoon, Nicholas spent the day relaxing and resting. He watched some television, did some coloring, played with blocks and shapes to kill time and not to get bored.

Nicholas and Ms. Brown working out on the bungy ball during occupational therapy.

May 9th: HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY. Nicholas and mommy get up early to head to upstate to spend Mother’s Day with grandma. Daddy had to work and couldn’t spend the day with me, but had to pick them up later. Nicholas gave mommy a card and chocolate. Daddy and Nicholas will take mommy out for dinner next weekend.  Grandma was very happy to have all her kids and grandchildren with her on Mother’s Day. She was happy to see Nicholas again and looking everyday strong with more balance in his step. Nicholas was happy to see his grandmother and all his cousins. Nicholas played, ran, did some name writing when his cousins were writing and coloring and when he body got tired, he took a break. After eating lunch and taking a break, Nicholas was back playing with his cousins. This was also the first time since he got diagnosed with cancer he saw his cousin David. David had fun with Nicholas. This was a day that mommy gopt a break as aunt Patty looked over the kids while they were playing and running around. When the playing was done as all the kids bodies were tired, everybody sat down and watched television. Nicholas dosed off until daddy came to pick them up. Once daddy came mommy and Nicholas were ready for the ride back to Brooklyn. The ride was smooth until we hit the Holland Tunnel. Nicholas was out the whole ride until we got home.     

Nicholas posing with his cousin Rachel after Rachel's first communion.  

May 8th: After giving Mr. Stephens a hard time when it was time to write his name yesterday, Nicholas gets up in the morning in a mind set to do some homework.  First he ate a good breakfast and after watching some early morning shows to relax, he was ready to write. Nicholas sat down with mommy and wrote his name six times. The first four he did good and mommy saved the last two for later. After the writing Nicholas did some leg exercise and walking around the apartment to give his legs a workout. Later on in the afternoon, Nicholas finished up the name writing. Funny thing about Nicholas that when he knows he has done something wrong, he likes to self correct himself and do the work that he didn’t want to do the day beforte during class. When the writing was finished, he sat back and watched some movies before going to sleep.

May 7th: Nicholas starts off his day at the hospital having physical therapy with Monica. Today Monica got Nicholas working right away after stretching out. First they played red light green light to work on Nicholas’ mind and body of listening and controlling his body to walk/run/stop.  He did a good job of stopping and going on Monica’s command. Next they hit the steps and first had him climb with no hand usage to see how much strong his legs are and then sideways to work on coordination and balance. After the steps she worked him on the even bars and left a balance beam in the middle that moves side to side. This was another exercise to see how he control his body and a chance to use both left and right part of body to balance when going side to side. To finish off class they tossed a medicine ball and played bowling. When class was over Nicholas said his goodbye to all the people in the rehab center. Nicholas is also starting to say hi to Dominique. Dominique was the therapist Nicholas remembers who had to loosen him up while he was in the hospital for a month when his body will tighten up. For every time he saw her he will not say a word to her and now he is all smiles with her for the last couple months. Once he got home he ate lunch and watched some television, before getting ready for his afternoon class.  Nicholas started off bad with Mr. Stephens today as he took close to 20 minutes to write his name. Today was one of those days that he was not cooperating, but after the writing he settled down and did letter writing in which included letters G & H and finished off the class reading books.

May 6th: Today was the last day for Nicholas to take the last part of his assessment test.  After having two days of testing, Nicholas was ready for the third day. When he was all done with the testing, Mr. Stephens was happy with the productive work Nicholas gave him during testing for three straight days. When the test was over, Nicholas made a Mother’s day card for mommy. After the test, daddy and Nicholas built his tracks so he can enjoy the rest of the afternoon playing with his trains after three days of testing. Nicholas had to stop playing to eat dinner so he could take his seven pills on Thursday’s. After dinner he went back to playing with his trains. 

Nicholas building blocks during physical therapy class with Ms. Angelie.                                   

May 5th: HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!!!! Nicholas’ occupational therapy started a little late as Ms. Brown was stuck in traffic. Today was also a strange start with Nicholas as he didn’t want to have class with Ms. Brown at the start. Once again mommy wondered what was going with him. After Ms. Brown got him to smile and gave him a big hug, he was ready to start class. Ms. Brown worked on Nicholas’ motor skills, hand coordination, foot coordination and independent exercise. After finishing his therapy with Ms. Brown he walked over to Ms. Yassaman for speech therapy. Today she focused on having a conversation to work on his answers, questions and clarity. After the conversation they played a birthday party game in which Nicholas had to choose what belongs and what doesn’t belong at a birthday party. He had fun planning the party and figuring out things that don’t belong. When he was done with therapy, he had to get ready for class. Nicholas’ body was a little tired that he almost dosed off until mommy kept him up for his afternoon class. Today Mr. Stephens gave Nicholas another assessment test in which he did better than yesterday in which he self corrected himself several times while taking the test. When the test was over, Nicholas just wanted to rest and go to sleep. He ate dinner took his chemotherapy medication, watched some television and went to sleep.                           

May 4th: Nicholas drove mommy up the wall during the day as daddy got a call to substitute. Today boredom got the best of Nicholas and to kill time he did some leg exercises, played with his Diego answers and questions and watched television. Later on in the afternoon he had class. Today’s class Mr. Stephens gave Nicholas an assessment test of all the things they have worked on since day one. At first Nicholas got frustrated to start the test, but gradually he got comfortable and did a good job. After the test we went food shopping. Food shopping is always an adventure with Nicholas as he loves to name out all the foods that mommy and daddy pick out. He likes to choose his uvas and bananas. The one good thing about taking him food shopping is that he is walking more and giving his legs a good workout of walking around. When he feels tired he stops and ask to get into the cart and he ask out to start walking again until it’s time to check out. Mommy and daddy were happy with how Nicholas responded during his test after his frustration and showed that when he concentrates and focus he can do the work and enjoy himself learning.    

Nicholas hugging aunt Dahlia and cousin Christiaan during Christiaan's first communion dinner.                                                                                                               

May 3rd: Since we came back late the night before, we cancelled physical therapy class with Ms. Angelie in the morning.  Mommy decided to change his class for Tuesday. Later in the afternoon, Ms. Rochelle called from the rehab center and had an open hour as somebody cancelled. Nicholas look good in the morning and we thought the long drive would make him a little tired, but he was ready for class with Ms. Angelie. Daddy was home for the day and took Nicholas to the rehab center. Today’s class was intense and Ms. Angelie had Nicholas working hard. He stared out class frustrated, because again he wanted the scooter first instead of the tricycle. Ms. Angelie strong and stays to her word, started out with the tricycle after stretching out. He rode the tricycle several times up and down the hallway to get his legs loosen up and get his lower body a workout. After the tricycle, he did the scooter on his knees first and laying down next. You could see in his workout during the scooter, that Nicholas is getting more mobility of using his whole body and getting his legs stronger. Since he is losing more weigh now, his body is getting more relaxed and mobile. They went on to do jumping in and out of tire tube, obstacle course, hand coordination skills,  zig zag and speed walking and little running to work on foot coordination and balance. After the foot workout, they threw a medicine ball back and forth and finished off with climbing the mats and jumping into the pool of balls. On the way home from rehab, Mr. Stephens cancelled class, because he wasn’t feeling good. When Nicholas got home and knowing no Mr. Stephens he went right to sleep. He got later on to eat some dinner and to take his chemotherapy medication and went right back to sleep from the hard work out from Ms. Angelie.                                                                                                 

May 2nd: Another day of attending a first communion, buy this time around we had to drive upstate New York for Rachel’s first communion. Nicholas was all smiles when he got to Rachel’s house. He ran and jumped into his grandmother’s arms since he hasn’t seen her in months, hugged his cousins Rachel, Karina, Raul and Manny, aunts Patty and Ruth and uncles Juan and Hermilo. Since the communion was in the afternoon, Nicholas played with his cousin Manny. They played kick the soccer ball, cars and trucks and a water gun. When it was time to go, Nicholas needed a clean up before heading to the church. Once we got to the church, Nicholas body was tired and once the ceremony started, he went to sleep. When he got up, the religious ceremony was over. Nicholas took pictures with Rachel and the rest of family. Rachel’s mommy and daddy invited us to a barbecue. Nicholas and Manny played more and now that his cousins Jasmine, Janet, Claudia and seeing his uncles Martin and Rafael and aunts Elia and Florina, he saw some family members in a longtime since he got diagnosed with cancer and came out the hospital. When all the activities were over Nicholas was all wet from the water gun and had to be changed. He said goodbye to everybody and knows he will be coming back in eight days to spend Mother’s Day with his grandmother.    

Nicholas and his cousin Christiaan at Christiaan's first communion dinner.

May 1st: Nicholas got up in the morning full of energy and when he saw his aunt Yvette, he was full of smiles. He played and talked with his aunt Yvette until it was time to go to Christiaan first communion. When we got to the church, Nicholas wanted to y hello to Christiaan before sitting down. After saying hello to Christiaan, he sat down with mommy, daddy, aunt Dahlia and cousin Jasmine. One thing about church with Nicholas is that he likes giving money to collection and likes to walk with daddy to get communion. After the religious part of the ceremony, Christiaan’s mommy and daddy invited family and friends to dinner.  Nicholas ate a good dinner and it was nice t see him eat well especially after a week of getting a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine. Sometimes his body and appetite is low after getting a spinal tap and vincristine. When the dinner was over and playing and taking picture with Christiaan, Nicholas’ body was tired. Once he got home he went to bed. When he got up later on at night, he took his chemotherapy mediction and went back to sleep.    

Nicholas getting a dosage of vincristine from nurse Nelly during a chemotherapy day at the hospital.                                                                                                                                   

April 30th: Relaxing and easy day for Nicholas. Physical therapy at the hospital was cancelled because mommy couldn’t take Nicholas and daddy had a substituting job.  So Nicholas spent the day reading and writing his name, practiced Spanish speaking with mommy and watched some television. Later in the afternoon he went to get a haircut to get all new and smooth for his cousins Christiaan’s and Rachel’s first communion. Nicholas was good with the hair stylist getting his haircut. After the haircut, we ate a good dinner and went to sleep. Aunt Yvette came later at night, but Nicholas was already sleeping.     

April 29th: After a day of feeling bad and getting better, Nicholas got up this morning full of energy and off the chemotherapy medications with steroids. Today was an easy day for Nicholas as he rested during the day until class in the afternoon. Today’s class was a mixture of math and literacy. They started out with skip counting, and then moved on to subtraction in which the teacher had Nicholas read the sentence problem and give an answer and write the number in the empty space. They went back to skip counting and counted by 2 and 5. Next they did some clock reading in which Nicholas had to fill in the missing number on the clock and read by hour and ½ hour. To finish off the class the read some books and did some memory of what they worked on in class today. When class was over and since he had consistent days of class and therapy Nicholas asked daddy to help him build his track for his trains. Now that Nicholas has two bridges in his tracks, he organized his tracks in a way that he wanted to have one track go under a bridge and the bridge connected with a loop track. Mommy was happy to see Nicholas build his tracks with daddy and gave her a chance to sit back and relax. Nicholas took a break from his trains and took his seven pills in which he takes on Thursday’s during dinner and went back to his trains after dinner. When he was done with his trains, he watched television before going to bed.

Nicholas playing with his Lighting McQueen car in the hallways at the hospital waiting to be called for his spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine.  

April 28th: Daddy gets another day of substitute and Nicholas gets up early with daddy to say goodbye. Wednesday is a full day of Nicholas and the test his endurance and to see how he controls himself. He starts out first with Ms. Brown in occupational therapy, then Ms. Yassaman in speech and finishes his day with Mr. Stephens in the afternoon. Ms. Brown had him do a lot of writing that included his name, straight lines and hand coordination. After the writing the played missing objects of making Nicholas find and fill the missing letter of the word. When they finished that assignment they did some leg exercise. He walked over to Ms. Yassaman for speech and she spent the whole class working and speaking about the difference of left and right. At first she used Nicholas’ body while talking about left and right and made him recognized the difference of left and right. Next during conversation they spoke about everyday life for a kid his age on using left and right when walking, talking, eating, drinking and things people say and do when using left and right parts of the body. When he was walking out of the rehab center, he walked back to say goodbye in which he likes doing after having a good day with Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassaman. Once he got home, he ate his lunch and got ready for class in the afternoon. The start of class Nicholas wasn’t feeling good as the chemotherapy medication finally caught with him and he was feeling tired, so Mr. Stephens stopped class when he say Nicholas getting frustrated with the work. They started out playing a memory game like Ms. Brown, but with colors, patterns and missing letters. Next up they did bigger and larger, counting, skip counting, heavy and light in which Nicholas had some problems and finished off the class with clock reading. When class was over, he was tired and wasn’t looking good. Thank god Mr. Stephens cut class, because after taking his chemotherapy medication and eating an hour later he vomited. Looks like after he vomited, he got back to his happy full of life self and was feeling better. He even did some letter writing since he was bored.  

April 27th: Nicholas gets up early as daddy had a substitute job to go to. During the day he runs around to give his legs a workout and does some jumping up and down holding on to mommy and the corner of the couch. Later in the afternoon he had class and today Mr. Stephens hit him hard with the literacy. They started off with name writing in which he is getting better and Nicholas corrected himself when he wrote his letters wrong. Next they did word families with the OO sounds, beginning sound matches of letters T, B, C and S and worked on letters giving him problems in which included letters I, G and W. When they finished working the letters, they did some letter recognition and finished off class reading four books. Mr. Stephens was happy with the productive work of Nicholas. After class he played with his trains and watched some television before going to bed.  

Nicholas walking into The Brooklyn Hospital Center Pediatric Cancer Unit for his spinal tap and dosage of vincristine.  

April 26th: The chemotherapy medication is taking a toll on Nicholas, but he was ready to head to physical therapy with Ms. Angelie. Nicholas started out his therapy frustrated when he didn’t want to start class with the tricycle instead of the scooter. After going back and forth with Ms. Angelie, he lost his battle. They worked on the tricycle first in which he rode the hallway back and forth for about three times, followed by the scooter. He rode the scooter first lying down on his tummy and then on his knees. During the exercise, Ms. Angelie was happy with how Nicholas was using his whole body, his control and his keeping his balance off the ground. When they left the hallway, she had him walk/run the obstacle course at his pace without any falling down. He did a good job and was happy and smiling to jump into the pool of balls before a little break. Once the water break was over, she had him walk/run zig zag through cones to work on controlling his balance and working on coordination. After the obstacle course, Nicholas did some step climbing in which he climbed two steps. When he finished the steps, she had him jump/step in and out a tire tube to work on his jumping abilities and to see him again work on controlling his body. For the last three Monday’s with Ms. Angelie, Nicholas has been productive in his classes. She is happy with his endurance, balance, coordination, level of getting up speed on walking and a little running, losing weight overall he is enjoying himself during therapy. When he got home, you could see in his eyes his body was tired and just wanted to rest. With no class in the afternoon, Nicholas watched his favorite television Wordworld, Thomas and Trains and T&P in Spanish. After eating dinner he took his chemotherapy medication and for everyday while taking the steroids, his body just kept feeling more solid. He is eating good and feeling good with all the medications he is taking since his spinal tap last Thursday.   

Nicholas walking out of physical therapy at the hospital after getting a leg massage when he was done doing his workout with Monica.

April 25th: After having a relaxing day yesterday, Nicholas was going to have a fun and playful day today as his cousins Rachel and Karina came over with aunt Patty who was in town to get Rachel’s first communion dress. Mommy was happy to sit back with her sister and watch the kids run around. The good thing about when the girls come over, they do a lot of reading, coloring and writing with Nicholas. So he gets a chance to write his name and do some coloring. When they were done, they ran around the apartment to get Nicholas’ legs a workout until his body felt tired. Once his cousins left, Nicholas’ body was tired and he ate dinner, took his chemotherapy medication in which includes one of steroids and slowly went to sleep.                                                                            

April 24th: Today was a relaxing day for Nicholas and he enjoyed every minute of it. The only thing that mommy and daddy had to do was make sure he took his 48hrs after spinal pill at 11am and his 60hrs after spinal tap pill at 11pm. During the day Nicholas played with his trains and tracks, read some Spanish books with mommy and slept most of the day. With all the chemotherapy medication he after the spinal tap, his body was drained out and tired.

Nicholas getting his face painted during The Starlight Foundation Easter Party for kids battling cancer.  

April 23rd: Relaxing day for Nicholas today after having a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine yesterday. Daddy got a call this morning to be a substitute teacher and Nicholas got up when daddy got up. Thank god daddy is getting time for substituting as he continues to look for a full-time job. The one good thing this morning, Nicholas didn’t wake mommy up and left her to sleep until daddy was walking out the door. Once mommy woke up, he ate some breakfast and knowing there was no therapy and no class with Mr. Stephens in the afternoon, he had the whole day to have fun and play. Mommy took some fun away a little when it was time to do some ups and downs, letter recognition and reading some books in Spanish. The day was nice outside, but after taking a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine, we played it safe and kept him in. When mommy was done with the exercise and teaching, Nicholas played with his trains, numbers game and watches some television. Later on at night he sat down and relaxed after a day of fun.                                                                           

April 22nd. Today was one day that mommy and daddy didn't mind Nicholas getting up at sunrise. He had to get up early to eat an early breakfast, because today he had chemotherapy and a spinal tap to start his new cycle called Maintenance 5. After getting washed and cleaned up, he ate a bowl of oatmeal and was ready to go. Daddy didn't have no freelance job today, so he took mommy and Nicholas first then return home to job hunt a little, because no parking around the hospital. Today was also the day to see if Nicholas lost or gained weight from last month's check up. After getting weighed, measure for height, blood pressure and temperature from nurse Lynda, Nicholas looked good. This time around mommy took off his shoes, pants and when he was weighed he weighed 62pds and lost four pounds from last month of 65pds. This goes to show us that when he is weighed with his jeans and shoes last month, that was a two extra pound. He also grew one inch to 46 from 45 inches on his last checkup on March 25th. Dr. Sedrak took care of Nicholas today. After getting the blood results, Sedrak said he looked good and his red blood count was good, platelets good and white cells were normal. When Nicholas was done with Sedrak, he went back into the waiting room and watches some Thomas and Friends CD while waiting to get his spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine. Funny thing happen before getting a dosage to sleep before getting his spinal tap. There were about six medical students in which Nicholas didn't like, because about four of them were wearing a white jacket, in which he is not a big fan of doctors wearing white jackets. Bad enough they were all new and he didn't know them, he told them get out. A couple of them did and then came in when he was knocked out. When he got up, he went back into the waiting room watch some more Thomas and Friends before going home. Lynda gave him some Thomas stickers and he was ready to go home. While walking out, Nicholas gave all the nurses and doctors a big hug and kiss. Once we got home mommy gave him couple medications including one which has steroids in it. Nicholas got his spinal tap early this time around at 11am, so mommy/daddy have to give him his 48hrs after spinal pill at 11am on Saturday morning and his 60hrs after spinal tap pill at 11pm Saturday night.   

Nicholas tossing bean bags during The Starligh Foundation Easter party for kids battling cancer.                                                                                                                    

April 21st: Nicholas gets up really early morning in the morning thinking daddy had a freelance job this morning, but didn't get any calls in the morning. So Nicholas turns around and looks at daddy still sleeping and decides to wake up daddy. Once he woke up daddy he wanted some oatmeal for breakfast with a banana. Daddy made the oatmeal, while mommy was sleeping. After eating his oatmeal/banana, he watched some television before getting ready for occupational and speech therapy class. Right before leaving for therapy, Nicholas decides he wants to use the toilet and instead of carrying him to the rehab center, daddy took him back upstairs to use the toilet and get cleaned up. We got to the rehab center about five minutes late, but daddy called and let them know what had happen. Once we got to the rehab center, Nicholas ran into the arms of Ms. Brown. Today Ms. Brown started off occupational therapy class with writing skills of having Nicholas write his name, lines, letters and numbers. Next they colored in which she workedon Nicholas staying inside the boundaries, shapes and patterns and figuring out the different sides of shapes. Ms. Brown was happy with the productive work of Nicholas. After the writing and hand coordination skills, he did leg exercise and finish off class practicing putting and taking off clothes. When class was over, Nicholas walked over to Ms.Yasssaman for speech therapy. Ms. Yassaman concentrated most of the class on spontaneous directions, words and sentences. The reason of spontaneous is to work on Nicholas to talk and express himself in the correct way when he gets excited over a subject while talking. He did a job and he had a couple words that put extra letters when he got excited, but overall he did a good job. There is still a lot of work ahead, but Nicholas is going at a good pace. Later omn at night we went to celebrate aunt Michele's birthday.                                

April 20th: Today was going to be different a day for Nicholas. After cancelling his physical therapy at the hospital lat week Friday and rescheduled it for today in the afternoon, this was going to the first time that Nicholas was going to PT first and run back home for his afternoon class. During the day Nicholas rested until he had to go to PT at the hospital. He first had Monica at 245pm, then class at home at 4pm and if everything went good since it was a nice day outside, he will finish off the day at the playground. Monica worked him hard during PT today. She started out with stretching out and doing legs exercise to loosen him up. Once the stretching was done, she did some walking skills to work on balance and strength and walking up and down the steps. While he was walking up and down she had walking first using hands and then not using hands to see how he was going to use his legs alone. He did a good job, but more work is needed on getting more strength in his left leg. When they finished the steps, they played with a medicine ball in which she had him toss it and chase to work on speed, agility and coordination and they had him play catch with her with different size balls to see how much pounds he can handle throwing. Nicholas did a good job of throwing back and forth with Monica, but you could tell when the ball got a little heavy, his throwing motion got shorter. Monica finished off the class with jumping on the trampoline for 10 minutes. She made him jump off both feet for four counts of 10 and on each foot for 5 counts of 4. When class was done Nicholas had to rush home to get ready for class. He wanted to go ARRIBA and say hello to the doctors and nurses, but he had class to attend at home. We got home couple minutes after Mr. Stephens arrived. Nicholas washed his hands and got ready for class. They started out with name writing in which he wrote his name alone six times. Next they did sequence of events, missing object in picture, memory game of missing color, directional of shapes and patterns, counting and finished up with substraction using sentences. Mr. Stephens was happy with the productive day he got from Nicholas. Once Mr. Stephens was gone, Nicholas went to the playground with daddy to run around and give his legs a workout. He wasn't tired with all the work he did today. Once he was done he was tired and he said it "i'm tired". So we decided half way daddy will carry him and 1/2 he will walk and since we only had two blocks to walk home, that is how we got home. When Nicholas got upstairs he drank water, ate dinner and took his chemotherapy medication. Mommy read a spanish book to Nicholas, before he started to fall asleep.                                                                            

April 19th: Nicholas gets up very early in the morning as daddy called to work as a substitute today. When daddy gets up to do a freelance job, Nicholas like to get with daddy and conversate and always ask were is daddy going to work today. He knows when daddy has to go to teach or freelance working a baseball or basketball game. The good thing that when Nicholas gets up with daddy, he doesn't wake mommy up until daddy leaves or he is hungry for breakfast. Once daddy left he woke up mommy and ate breakfast before getting ready for physical therapy class with Ms. Angelie. Ms. Angelie worked on Nicholas' legs a lot today. She focused the day on leg exercise and leg strengthing exercise. Nicholas started stretching out. He then walking slow and then for every five steps he picked up the pace to on speed and light running and to see how much walking/running he can do to work on endurance, balance and how far he can go without stumbling. He did a good job going back and forth about six times until he felt a little tired. After the walking and the running, she had work on stair and step climbing to work on using his whole body and getting his left leg to go first on every step. Ms. Angelie was happy with Nicholas' dedication and productive work today. She was happy to see Nicholas balance getting better and his body functioning good to a point with more physical therapy and hard work, he will get stronger and start running a little faster. When class was over it was time to get ready for class in the afternoon. For the first time in awhile, Nicholas was wide awake and dind't fall asleep after having therapy with Ms. Angelie. When class started with Mr. Stephens it was all fun as the played Simon says in which Nicholas had to follow instructions from Simon. When they finished with Simon, they did substraction in which Nicholas did a good a job and Mr. Stephens was happy with Nicholas writing the numbers. He did problems like 4-2=2, 6-3=3, 7-1=6. After working on math they did some letter writing of the letters E & F, worked on rythm words, position review, name writing and finished off with singular and plurol. After class with Mr. Stephens, Nicholas was tired and sat back and watched some television, took his daily chemotherapy medication and went to bed.                                            

April 18th: Relaxing Sunday for Nicholas. Today was also a good day for Nicholas as he ate solid foods today. Yesterday his appitite was low and today he ate god which brought smiles to mommy and daddy. During the day Nicholas ran around to get his legs a workout and then did some ups and downs. He first jumped off both feet and then the right first and then the left.  After doing a good amount of exercise, Nicholas sat down with mommy and did some letter writing. He practiced writing letters B-C-D, name writing and coloring. Later in the day he played with his trains, watched television and ran around before getting tired. Once he felt his body tired he sat down and went sleep.  

April 17^th: Sometimes after taking the seven chemotherapy pills on Thursday’s, Nicholas sometimes loses his apatite to eat. He ate well yesterday, but today was different as everything he wanted he just nibbled on it and didn’t finish eating. He finally ate some fruits and to get mommy and daddy smiling. Later on in the day he did some name writing with mommy and watches some television. Before going to bed, mommy read some books.                 

April 16^th: Nicholas got up early in the morning as his cousin Manny, aunt Patty and uncle Juan come over, because Patty and Juan had business to take care of in the city. Mommy had to babysit Manny with Nicholas. Today was physical therapy for Nicholas with Ms. Monica, but since it was cold and raining outside, mommy decided to keep Nicholas in and reschedule his physical therapy for Tuesday. Manny and Nicholas played with every possible toy in the apartment that they could get their hands on. They had fun and drove mommy crazy. The only time they stopped playing when it was time to eat lunch. When they finished eating lunch, they played a little more until Patty and Juan came back. Once they left Nicholas was tired and ready to get some rest before getting for class with Mr. Stephens. When Nicholas got up after all the playing and running around, his body was tired, but his mind was ready for class. Today they started off class with name writing in which Nicholas did a good job of writing alone without lines, no dots and no help from the teacher. After writing the did some some memory work, consonant blends, letter and number writing, coloring, skip counting and everyday Nicholas is getting better of understanding the multiplication problems of two of using blocks and and colors. They finished off class by reviewing and reading the basel books there read during the week. After class he played with his trains and watched some television before going to sleep.  

April 15^th: With no therapy or class in the morning, Nicholas spends his morning running around and doing up and down jumping exercise. The physical and occupational therapist gave us some exercise for Nicholas to while jumping up and down to increase his balance and his jumping skills. After doing some jumping exercise, Nicholas read some books, played with his Diego answers and questions book and watched some television. He took a nap and when he found out that he class got cancelled he went back to sleep and got up later to eat and take his seven chemotherapy pills that he takes on Thursday’s.  Overall today was an easy day for Nicholas. After dinner mommy read a book ion Spanish for Nicholas before going to sleep.    

April 14^th: Nicholas was going to have a full day today and he knows on Wednesday is a trip to Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassaman and in the afternoon class with Mr. Stephens.  Daddy had a substituting job today, so mommy took Nicholas to therapy. Ms. Brown was waiting for Nicholas to start occupational therapy. Funny thing happen in occupational therapy today that had Ms. Brown laughing during a break. Ms. Brown was going to spend most of the session like Ms. Angelie working on loosens up Nicholas’ body. She started with a lot of hand coordination exercise, and then went on to work on leg coordination exercise, played throwing a small medicine ball back and forth until Nicholas wanted a break. The break was because Nicholas had to pee pee and told Ms. Brown he need to blow up and pee and had her laughing. When he got to the toilet, Nicholas peed more outside the toilet than inside. Ms. Brown was just happy that Nicholas got his potty training skills back and now just has to work on peeing inside the toilet. After peeing they went back to class and did more throwing the ball around and to finish off kicked the ball with Nicholas using his left foot more than the right foot. After Ms. Brown, he walked over to Ms. Yassaman for speech therapy class. Ms. Yassaman worked on conversation and communication of teaching Nicholas the difference of how to read things of ½ and full. She used water, blocks and a showed him the different measurements while conversation with him. When they were done talking about measurements, she had him work with pegs to make a picture using his mind. When Nicholas was finished drawing a picture using pegs, he drew a dog and house. Ms. Yassaman is very happy with the hard work Nicholas puts in when he comes to the speech therapy and you can see the progress he has put in since he started back in July 2009. When mommy came to pickup Nicholas, Ms. Brown told her what happen during the pee break and how Nicholas made a mess, but she was happy with him telling her he had to pee and him using the toilet. Nicholas has come a long way of learning how to potty train again and he has done a good job of listening to mommy, daddy and his therapists. The cancer took a lot away from Nicholas and everyday he is taking step-by-step to get stronger, better and overall his continues to fight to beat out his cancer. Later on in the afternoon he had class with Mr. Stephens. Today Nicholas gave Mr. Stephens another productive class. They started out with name writing in which he did not get frustrated and wrote his name alone, with no lines and no dots. Next they did more or less, addition using number sentence, skip counting in which Mr. Stephens was happy with Nicholas understanding the concept of groups of numbers. He finished off class with mixing coloring and had Nicholas give the answers of the final color, reading comprehension and visual reading with Nicholas saying what is in the picture and what the story is about. The day was spoiled after class when Nicholas got a little rude with mommy and was discipline and no trains and television for awhile till he understood what he did. After sitting down and playing with some blocks, he apologized to mommy. Mommy still a little upset, made him sit there for awhile until dinner was ready and they could all sit down and watch the news together. After the news mommy made Nicholas watched a couple shows before giving him his chemotherapy medication and he went to sleep.                                                                   

April 13^th: With no therapy of hospital in the morning, Nicholas spends his time finishing up the writing homework left by Mr. Stephens. When he was done with the writing, he played with his Diego answers and questions book, colored a little and watches some television. Later in the afternoon, Mr. Stephens came for class. Today Nicholas had a productive day in class. They started out with name writing without lines and having Nicholas write alone as Mr. Stephens stepped away. Next they did opposite of in/out in which more writing was needed to fill out the answer. Worked on difference in picture and again he needed to write his name on the page, word families, math skip counting, grouping and to finish off class, he read his fifth basel book. Nicholas knows when he gives Mr. Stephens a productive class that he just jumps into mommy hands and tells him everything he did in class and when he doesn’t give a productive class, he skips the part in which he got frustrated in doing. When he was done eating dinner and running around to give his legs some exercise, he took his chemotherapy medication and sat down and watched the Ice Age Meltdown movie.                                                                  

April 12^th: Nicholas starts off his day full of energy. After eating a good breakfast of a bowl of oatmeal and a banana, he was ready to head to physical therapy with Ms. Angelie. Today Ms. Angelie spent most of the physical therapy doing exercise and stretching out skills to help loosen up tight points of Nicholas’ body.  At times he felt tired, but his body was moving well with all the movement he was doing with Ms. Angelie. To finish off class he did the obstacle course and jumped into the pool of balls. After class Nicholas felt good and didn’t want to leave, because he enjoyed doing exercise with Ms. Angelie. Once he left the rehab center with mommy, for the first time in a longtime he didn’t feel tired and his body didn’t feel tired. When he got home, he ate lunch to get ready for class with Mr. Stephens. Right before class had to start; Mr. Stephens was called away and left the rest of the writing assignment for Nicholas to finish. Since the family had to go food shopping, we left the writing for the next day.  We did a light food shopping of mostly fruits and vegetables for the family. Nicholas was all happy to be picking out the fruits and eating some grapes a little when mommy and daddy were not looking. He had a good time and also gave him a chance to walk and run around a little and give his legs a workout.                                                                                                           

April 11^th: Nicholas spends another day relaxing. Mommy gives him a leg massage and makes do some letter and number writing and some coloring to work on hand coordination. When all the writing and coloring was done, Nicholas played with trains, cars, watched some television and ran around the apartment to loosen up his legs as the therapist ordered. He did some ups and downs and squeezed a sponged ball to loosen and strengthen up his wrist.                 

April 10^th: After having a week full on intense physical therapy, Nicholas spent the day relaxing and resting.  When he wasn’t relaxing, he was playing with his Thomas and Friends train set and tracks, watching some television and playing with his Diego questions and answers game given to him by one of his chemo angels.  Late in the afternoon before dinner, mommy did some name writing with Nicholas. He started out frustrated since he didn’t want to do no name writing, but he settled down and did name writing. Mommy didn’t use any dots, lines and made him write his name six times alone and see he can handle himself without anybody looking at him. She left him alone to write and when she came back, Nicholas did a good job of writing his name. There is something about writing that gets Nicholas a little frustrated. He does it with Mr. Stephens, daddy and mommy, but always finishes the assignment.

April 9th: Nicholas gets up bright and early as the sun rose this morning with a steady rainfall. Daddy got a call to substitute today and mommy had to take Nicholas to the hospital for physical therapy. At first the rain was coming down and mommy was thinking twice of taking Nicholas out in the rain, but when it was time to go to physical therapy the rain stopped and the day dried up, but it was a little chilly. After four days of beautiful weather, mother nature brought us right back to earth. Nicholas was happy to see Monica today and it showed during his session. While Monica was getting some stuff to start the session, Nicholas started throwing a medicine ball with another therapist. They went through three different size balls to get Nicholas to use his strength throwing. He was throwing with both hands. When Monica finally started she had Nicholas start with the trampoline. First she had him doing ups and downs with both legs, then while holding Monica he jumped off his left leg first and then the right one next. After the trampoline, the did some hand coordination exercise of using medicine balls and squeezing ball to help strengthen up his hands and wrist. She then moved over to step climbing with having him go with the left first and having him walk up and down without using the rails to have him balance his body without assistance. When they were done with the step climbing, Nicholas worked the even bars with a balance ball in the middle in which he had to stand and moved side-to-side with his body, use his body only with holding on and finally walking up and down off blocks. Monica let Nicholas play with toys after speed walking/running a little to loosen up his upper part of his legs. When physical therapy was over, Nicholas didn't want to leave Monica, so she made him play a little more just to relax him and when it was time to go he walked out with a big smile after a productive session. When mommy and Nicholas got home, Nicholas was tired and took a nap beofre getting ready for class in the afternoon. When he got up he ate a good lunch and watch Thomas and Friends television show. Today Mr. Stephens started off class with name and made Nicholas write alone with no dots. he did a good job today and just has to do a better job with the H and S in his first name. After the name writing, they played alphabet bingo in which Nicholas had to identify the letter by sound recognition. Next they worked on beginning and ending sounds and finished of the class reviewing the four basel books he read this week and read a fifth one today. When class was over, Nicholas played with his trains, read a spanish book with mommy before heading off to bed. Nicholas had a long hard working week with physical therapy and by the end of the week, you could see in his face that he knows what he has to do and work hard to get back 100%.

Nicholas full of smiles during one of his opening of his easter baskets.  

March 15th: After having a whole weekend washed out by rain, the rain continued on Monday to spoil the day for Nicholas. He had physical therapy with Ms. Angelie in which got cancelled because it was raining to hard outside so it was best to keep Nicholas inside. Later in the afternoon, Mr. Stephens couldn't make it for class, so class was also cancelled for the day. Nicholas had a lot of free time for himself and used up much energy. He was a little tired when he got up, but he found energy to play around. Mommy continued to practice with Nicholas on peeing and letting her know it was time to pee pee. When he wasn't saying pee pee, he did some leg exercise, practice going over everyday words in spanish like (buenos dias, como estas, cual es tu nombre and other words), and did some addition and take away. He took a break so his body to get some rest. After eating dinner and taking his medication, he played with his trains and read a book in soanish with mommy before going to bed.

March 14th: Relaxing day for Nicholas. He spent most of day resting and relaxing. When he wasn't relaxing, he was practicing more of peeing in the toilet and getting use to saying mommy/daddy I have to pee pee.

March 13th: Nicholas gets up in the morning wanting to do addition and subtraction with mommy and daddy. Daddy played a addition game with Nicholas and mommy did substraction and reading in spanish. Today was also the day of letting Nicholas work on peeing in the toilet. So he spent the day in his undies and out of the pull ups, so he can tell us when he has to pee and we can take him to the toilet. He lets us know when he has to use the toilet, but know we have to work on making go to pee more in the toilet. He did a good job of alerting mommy to pee and did his pee pee in the toliet. Nicholas getting so big, we have to go back to Target and get him size 12 boys undies instead of size eigght in which is a little tight on him. Later on at night after all the educational work, mommy, daddy and Nicholas sat down and watch the movie Monsters vs Aliens in which we all enjoyed and also watch Nicholas stay up through the whole movie laughing and enjoying himself.

March 12th: HAPPY FRIDAY!!! Another day with no therapy session or classes during the day, Nicholas was full of energy and wanted to be creative. So today he decided to bring out his blocks and build a bridge, house and whatever else came to his mind until he has class with Mr. Stephens in the afternoon. He took a break from the blocks to eat lunch and after eating he went right back to build more blocks. When Mr. Stephens came, Nicholas again gave him problems of listening. Even though he did a good job of writing his name, reading the home address, reading time of the hour, he wasn't into shapes and patterns today. So when class was done he knew his trains will be gone and no television and he just had to be creative and read a book or play with his educational computer. Kids today are some smart that they know when they do something wrong. Nicholas is battling to beat his cancer and the doctors have advise not to go easy on him and keep him in a straight line of good behavior. Later on at night he gave mommy a big hug and kiss and went to bed.

March 11th: During the day Nicholas just ran around the apartment working out as mommy made him do leg exercise. Later on in the afternoon Mr. Stephens came for class and today gave Nicholas a lot of work. Even though Nicholas gave him a 50/50 effort because he wasn't concentrating today, Mr. Stephens was happy with Nicholas reading the basel books. They worked on biggest-to-smallest using shapes and patterns, time to the hour, addition, 1-on-1 correspondence, number writing and name writing. Nicholas knew after class mommy wasn't happy with his behavior with Mr. Stephens, so he apologized to mommy for his 50/50 effort and will do good tomorrow. Mommy took the train away for awhile to let Nicholas know that during class time he has to focuse, pay attention and listen. Nicholas knew mommy will punish him by taking the trains away, since after class he likes to play with the trains. After eating dinner and taking his daily seven pills on Thursday, he was a little tired and sat down and watch some television news with daddy.

March 10th: When Nicholas got up in the morning he was still feeling a little tired, but wanted to go to occupatinal and speech therapy. Daddy got a call to do some substituting, so mommy took him therapy. When daddy is home, Nicholas gets carried halfway down the steps and walks the rest, but with mommy in which she can't lift him up that much, they take time walking down the steps. Once they got to the rehab center, Nicholas was ready for Ms. Brown for occupational therapy, but she was stuck in traffic and running a little late. During the wait Nicholas played until she came. Once she came it was down to work. Ms. Brown continues to work on independence of putting and taking off clothes, motor skills and hand coordination. She had him write every letter in the alphabet by tracing first and then writing alone. He did a good job and recognized the letters in his first and last name. After Ms. Brown, he walked over to Ms. Yassaman for speech therapy. Today they worked on letter F, inside and outside of objects and things that we do everyday using the words inside/outside, wrote his name, talking about family circle and who is mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. When Nicholas gave Yassaman of who is who in the Modestin family she was suprise a little he knew a good chunck of the family. When therapy was over Nicholas wanted a slice of pizza on the way home. After eating his pizza for lunch and watching WordWorld and Thomas and Friends he was ready for Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens couldn't make it to class today, because he was stuck at work. So in place of Mr. Stephens, mommy did some spanish reading with Nicholas and learning how to read his home address. When the day was over, he was happy to sit back and eat dinner with the family before going to bed.

Nicholas smiling and enjoying his his birthday gift a workout outfit for physical and occupational therapy class.

March 9th: Relaxing day for Nicholas today with no therapy and no classes with Mr. Stephens, he spent most of day during the day watching television and playing with his train set. After lunch, he did some clock reading with mommy, did some homework left over by Mr. Stephens and slept since his boddt needed some rest. Today you could see from the all the running around on the weekend, his legs were tired and his body just wanted to rest. Cancer takes teh fun out of everything. You can have a fun day today and tomorrow cancer tells your body slow down and take a break. So Nicholas took a break today.

Nicholas enjoying his birthday with his cousins (l-r) Rachel, Karina and Manny before blowing out his candles on his 4th birthday.

March 8th: After having fun on his birthday, Nicholas was ready for physical therapy with Ms. Angelie. Today Ms. Angelie focused a lot of walking up the steps without using his hands for balance and teaching him how to control and coordinate his body without using his hands for balance. He reached to the third step without holding, but that as far as he could go. She was happy with his effort and work today. After the steps, she had him do some balancing exercise, hand coordination exercise, obstacle course and finish off with diving into the pool of balls. Nicholas was a little tired after the workout with Ms. Angelie. You could see it in his body. Once he got home, he ate lunch and took a nap before having class with Mr. Stephens. When Nicholas got up he was ready for class. Class started out with letter recognition of the letter N and P in which Mr. Stephens had him reading and talking about objects and pictures that start with the letter N and P. Next they did name writing first and last and finished off the class with Nicholas reading two basel books. Everyday Nicholas is improving on reading the basel books. Later on after eating dinner, he sat down with mommy and read a book in spanish before going to bed.

Nicholas blowing out his candles on his 4th birthday with his cousins Manny, Rachel and Karina. 

March 7th: HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICHOLAS!!!!! Today Nicholas is 4 years old. He had a beautiful day spending time with family. During the day he had fun playing around with his cousins Karina, Rachel and Manny. They played with every toy that was in the apartment. They started out playing hide and seek, followed by playing with the educational computer, his train set and after taking a break ate pizza. After eating pizza they continues playing around until it was time to cut the cake. When it was time to cut the cake, Nicholas was joined by mommy, his aunts Patty, Elia, Ruth, his uncles Hermilo, Rafael and Juan. Daddy spent sometime with the family before he had to go work. Later on in the afternoon after the first set of family members left, his cousins Chanel and Christiaan, aunt Michele who backed the and uncle Andre came over. Since the apartment can't hold everybody, we decided to split up the families so Nicholas can see everybody and have fun all day long. Nicholas full of energy on his birthday started playing with his train set with Christiaan and once they finished with the trains, the read a book together and played a little hide and seek. Everybody ate and had fun. When daddy came home, Nicholas was sleeping from the fun he had with the family on his birthday. Nicholas had a blast with his cousins and watching him run around and enjoy himself on his birthday was beautiful.  

March 6th: Nicholas was on his own today with his own rules as mommy cleaned the apartment from top to bottom for his birthday tomorrow and daddy went out to do some chores of buying balloons and birthday stuff. Nicholas will be having ice cream and cake made by his aunt Michele and will have visits from him cousins, aunts and uncles.

(NICHOLAS PLAYING A PUZZLE GAME WITH MS. MONICA DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY AT THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER)

March 5th: Today Nicholas got up with more energy this morning knowing he had physical therapy at the hospital with Ms. Monica. Since Monica took over for Tasha, she is bonding good with Nicholas and she got his attention. She started out the therapy with stretching out exercise, then speed walking and light running and up and down the steps. After the steps she took Nicholas to work on a power machine in which he had to use his legs top move up and down. At first he was tight in the legs from being nervous, but once he knew what he was doing he pumped up and down several times till he felt tired. When the machine exercise was done, they did some cone coordination to help Nicholas work on eye to hand coordination. She made fix the cones in the straight line by colors and then in circle by light to dark and finish off by kicking the cones down. To finish off class Monica had Nicholas kick the ball mostly with his left foot and throwing a small medicine ball back and forch with her. He got a good workout that after he was sweating and wanted a glass a water. We ARRIBA to say hello to nurse Lynda in which she gave Nicholas a car for his birthday. When we got home we all ate pizza, before going food shopping. Nicholas and mommy went first to Pathmark, while daddy went looking for a parking spot. Nicholas almost tumbled all the apples as he wanted a apple and took one from the middle and couple apples came tumbling until mommy caught them before falling down. He likes to go food shopping, one to walk and get some exercise, work on saying his food groups in both english and spanish and gets a chance to pick out things he likes to eat. After food shopping the day was over and the bodies needed some rest before the weekend. Mr. Stepehens didn't come today, but before he left yesterday he left homework for Nicholas to workover the weekend. Nicholas had a good week, he did good in his therapy, getting better of saying the letter F, his endurance has improved, his walking and balance is getting stronger and overall he is paying attention and focusing on getting better and beating his cancer.   

NICHOLAS WORKING ON HAND AND EYE COORDINATION OF MAKING A CIRCLE OUT OF CONES WITH MS. MONICA DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY AT THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER 

March 4th: Nicholas wasn't felling himself today, so he rested most of the day until later in the afternoon before having class with Mr. Stephens. The one good thing is that he was eating good even though he wasn't himself. We wanted to cancel class with Mr. Stephens, but Nicholas wanted to do his class. After doing most of literacy work, Mr. Stephens focused on math today. They started out with skip counting by 2 and 3, reading the clock by the hour then by 1/2 hour by using the clock in the apartment, addition and take away in whcih he had to read the question and get the answer by using shapes and patterns. They also played missing number and finished off the class with name writing. When class was over, Nicholas watched some television, took his seven pills on Thursday, played with his train set and read a spanish book with mommy.  

March 3rd. Last week Nicholas cancelled therapy with Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassaman due to the cold rain and snow, so today after eating breakfast and watching television, he was ready to see Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassaman. Once he got to the rehab center, Ms. Brown worked on clothing skills of having Nicholas practice on taking on and off his jacket and sweater and zipping it up and down. The only problem he had was the zipping part. When the clothing part of occupational therapy was done, she spent most of the class working on motor skills. Nicholas worked on hand coordination in both writing and coloring, but a lot of focus of staying in straight line. He wrote his name by himself and did a good job of staying in his boundaries. After having occupational therapy with Ms. Brown, he walked over to Ms. Yassaman for speech therapy. Right off the bat she work on several letter recognition. They went over the letters D, T and F. For the rest of the speech therapy, they used those three letters in sequence reading, sentences, coloring, conversation and shapes and patters. To finish off class they played a name game using Nicholas' full name of having him say the letter, then pronuncing the letter and then recognizing were the letter went in his name. After class he felt a little tired, so he took a nap before getting ready for Mr. Stephens. he ate a slice a pizza and soup for lunch before the nap. Later on after getting up, he watch Thomas and Friends on television before class with Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens started out with letter recognition also. He focused on double letters CL, CH, SL and SK. Today he focused on literacy with Nicholas. When letter recognition was over, he introduced Nicholas on how to read his home address, did some independent reading out of basel books. Funny thing after class was over. Mr. Stephens called out both mommy and daddy to see Nicholas read alone in which he didn't want to, but hearing no trains, he read several books and his clarity was good. We're so happy with the hard work Nicholas is putting in with Mr. Stephens, he is focused, he is listening and overall he is paying attention and cating on the material they're working on. Today was also the first day Nicholas was not taking his steriod chemotherapy medication after five days after having his spinal tap. One thing you can say when he taking the steriods, his body just feels solid and he is hard to pick up. Mommy can't pick him up so after therapy they walked up the stairs to the apartment.  

NICHOLAS IN PLAYROOM COLORING WITH HIS FRIEND LIAM DURING A VISIT TO ARRIBA AFTER PHYSICAL THERAPY.  

March 2nd: With nothing to do during the day until class with Mr. Stephens in the afternoon, Nicholas got creative. After eating breakfast, he practiced reading the clock by the hour going from 12am to 12pm, then did some coloring, played with his train set, practice speaking spanish with mommy and then took a nap after lunch. Later on in the afternoon Mr. Stephens came and Nicholas was ready. They started out class with name writing both first and last name. Nicholas is getting better with clarity in writing and is doing a good job with his last name. Sometimes he skips the I in Modestin. Next subject in class they worked more/less, first/last, skip counting, lighter/heavy, reading the clock by the hour and finished off with independent reading. Nicholas read several pages by himself from a basel book. When class was over, he played with his trains and cars and before going to sleep he read a book in spanish with mommy.

NICHOLAS TAKING A BREAK AND RELAXING WITH MS. ANGELIE DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY.   

March 1st: After a long weekend in which mommy and daddy didn't get enough sleep, daddy had to get up early to go to another substitute job. Good thing for daddy that these substitute jobs are helping him pay bills and a little extra of getting some extra money to help pay rent. Mommy took Nicholas for physical therapy with Ms. Angelie. When Nicholas was done eating breakfast, he was ready for his walk/stroller to the rehab center. Today Ms. Angelie worked out Nicholas to the fullest in every part of his body. They started out with the obstacle course in which she was happy the way Nicholas was moving his feet and his body to walk and turn around the cones and mats. He pushed the barrell next to work on leg coordination and strength, jumping up and down, riding the scooter, balancing on a board with both feet first and then left and right foot after and then before a break he ran a little before diving into the pool of balls. Ms. Angelie finished off the last half hour of the class with Nicholas kicking the ball. He did a good job today of using both left and right to kick the ball. She was happy with the productive day they had together. Later on in the afternoon, Mr. Stephens cancelled class so Nicholas already a little tired from his hard working therapy went to sleep when mommy told him about Mr. Stephens. Later on when he got up he ate some dinner, took his chemotherapy medication, read a book in spanish with mommy and went to sleep.

NICHOLAS GETTING HIS TEMPERATURE FROM NURSE NELLY BEFORE HAVING A SPINAL TAP AND A DOSAGE OF VINCRISTINE CHEMOTHERAPY MEDICATION.

February 28th. The month of February came and went. The day started out really early in the morning as we had to give Nicholas his 60hrs after spinal tap pill at 230am. We all went to sleep after giving him his daily nightly chemotherapy medication, but made sure the alarm was on for 230am. Daddy got up at the sound of the music and woke up mommy to give Nicholas the medication. Nicholas was all smiles in the morning knowing his cousin Manny was coming for a visit with his parents Uncle Juan and Aunt Patty and Uncle Hermilo who came along for the ride as they had to do some business in the city today. After eating breakfast and taking a shower, Nicholas helped daddy build his train tracks before daddy left the house for his freelance job on Sunday's. When the track was built, Nicholas put all the trains in a straight line so when Manny came, they can choose what trains they wanted to play with. The one good thing Nicholas has two Thomas'. So both Manny and Nicholas played with Thomas and Friends. They played with the trains, tool set, did some coloring and had conversation with each other. They played good together and it gave mommy a break to relax and enjoy sometime talking with her sister Patty, brother Hermilo and brother-in-law Juan. When Manny left Nicholas took a break and took a nap. When he got up he ate dinner and read a spanish book with mommy. Even he talking of spanish is coming back slowly, he is understanding more of mommy's reading and following instruction from both mommy and daddy in spanish.You could see Nicholas was happy after spending a day with his cousin and come next week Sunday on his 4th birthday, he would have cousins, aunts, uncles and friends over to spend the day with him.

February 27th: Relaxing and rested day for Nicholas. Most of day he spent playing with his trains, cars and trucks, tool set, watching television, watching soccer games with daddy, reading books in spanish and sleeping. He took his after spinal tap pill at 48hrs at 230pm and after that he was a litlle tired and just rested. The one good thing that we were happy about is that he ate good after taking a dosage of vincristine on Thursday. Usually after taking vincristine he appetitte goes up and down on the second and third day after.  

February 26th: Let it snow Let it snow Let it snow. The snow came and stayed all day and mounted into lots of inches. Nicholas gets up early to eat breakfast and then turns around and wants to play numbers and letter games. Mommy was tired so she kept sleeping and daddy was home after his day of substituting was cancelled when New York City Public Schools was closed due to the snowstorm. We started out playing with numbers in which we did counting up to ten with magnetic numbers and then we did some addition and subtraction/takeaway. After doing some math we did some letter recognition, Nicholas spelled out the alphabet and then spelled out his name. When he was done we played with building blocks and played shapes and patterns to work on coordination. Daddy had to go outside to get Nicholas' 48hrs and 60hrs after spinal tap spill which wasn't ready yesterday and the pharmacy had it today. The pharmacy called when the pill was ready and daddy went to pick it up. For the rest of the day after having a educational morning he spent the rest of the day playing with his trains, watching some television, playing with his tool and getting some sleep. He got up later in the afternoon to eat dinner and take his chemotherap medicine and steriod medication in which he needs to take for five days after having a spinal tap. He ate good and after taking his medications, mommy read a couple stories in spanish for him as he was starting to fall asleep.

NICHOLAS GETTING WEIGHED FROM NURSE NELLY BEFORE HAVING A SPINAL TAP AND A DOSAGE OF VINCRISTINE CHEMOTHERAPY MEDICATION.

February 25th: Today was visit to ARRIBA to visit the oncologist for a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine. Everybody was up early as we had to get Nicholas to eat breakfast before 7am, because he needs to be clean for the oncologist at 9am. Yesterday we had rain for most of the day and today we had snow and rain mixed in together. Mommy wasn't feeling a little good in the morning, so daddy was going to take Nicholas to the oncologist and mommy was going to stay home. Mommy went to sleep to rest off her headache and in a couple hours whe was feeling better and we all went to the oncologist. Daddy drove mommy and Nicholas to the hospital and then drove back home and walked back to the hospital becuase of alternate side parking today was in affect. Around the hospital alternate sides are on Thursday's and Friday's. We drove slow because of the slush and snow and Nicholas was enjoying his time driving thru the snow. Once he got ARRIBA he said hello to nurse Nelly and nurse Lynda before taking off his jacket and sweater. Once he was ready to go, nurse Nelly took care of Nicholas. She was happy to see Nicholas and she was happy that he was good boy today with while taking his blood pressure, height, weight and drawing blood. Nicholas gained four pounds and went from 55-to-59 pounds since his last spinal tap on January 28th and grew a 1/2 inch from 44-to-44 1/2 inches in height. When he was done, he went back into the waiting room and watch some Thomas and Friends movies and when he was finished watching Thomas, he played with his car given by Nelly in halls with daddy to kill time before his spinal tap. As time went by, Nicholas started to get hungry in which later we went into the playroom and did some coloring and watch some cartoons. After coloring, qwe walked the halls again just to get his mind off from food sonce he can't eat before the spinal. His friend Kevin came just to get some vincristine and leave and Nicholas was wondering he came and left and I'm still here. Nelly came by a couple times and told us the anesthesiologist was on his way, but nowhere in sight and it was already 130pm. Daddy finally asked on of the doctors and they told him they were running behind time, because they had to insert a mediport in a kid. Mommy was a little upset because of the lack of communication and seeing her 3year old run around and then realize that he was hungry and can't eat was getting frustrated. The one thing we would like to see more out of The Brooklyn Hospital Center Pediatric Oncology Unit and the anesthesiologist is better communication if you're running late and have a emergency downstairs or a surgery to perform. Having little kids 2,3,4,5 years old wait for a spinal tap late in the afternoon after eating the last meal around 7am, should not be happening. Thanks to Nelly for letting us know they were coming and Dr. Freed for telling us about the mediport. Communication between parents of small children should be a focus of making sure spinal taps are giving early, except if it's emergency downstairs or something came up important that we ARRIBA can wait and we would understant. While waiting for the spinal tap, nurse Nelly went ahead and gave Nicholas his dosage of vincristine. At last the anesthesiologist came around 210pm and gave Nicholas his spinal tap. Dr. Sedrak gave us the outlook of Nicholas' health and it was positive. Dr. Freed got the results and she was happy with his counts of red blood cells, platelets and his white blood cells which might be on the low side, but has risen. So come Saturday 2/27 we have to give Nicholas his 48hrs after spinal tap pill at 230pm and his 60hrs spinal tap pill at 230am on 2/27 in which we will have to get up early in the morning. Nicholas' next visit to the oncologist is on March 11th to get a blood count and then later on March 25th to get a dosage of vincristine chemotherapy medication. After getting up from his dazed, Nicholas drank some milk and was ready got home and eat some pizza. Once we got home everybody was hungry, daddy went out to buy his slice of pizza. He ate half his pizza and went to sleep. We had to wake him twice to take some medications and later woke up to eat something and play with his trains before going back to sleep.

NICHOLAS GETTING HIS HEIGHT FROM NURSE NELLY BEFORE HAVING A SPINAL TAP AND A DOSAGE OF VINCRISTINE CHEMOTHERAPY MEDICATION.

February 24th: Nicholas gets up a little tired and we could see his body needed to be rested before going to the oncologist tomorrow for a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine. Daddy left early in the morning to work as a substitute teacher for the day. The day was ugly as it rained all day and with Nicholas tired we cancelled his occupational therapy class with Ms. Brown, but later in the afternoon, he would have class with Mr. Stephens. Mommy let Nicholas rest for most of the day until class with Mr. Stephens. He watched all his favorite television shows, watched some Thomas & Friend Trains DVD and read some spanish books with mommy, After eating lunch he took a nap before getting ready for class. When he got up he was ready for Mr. Stephens. Today they started out working on five sentences, then went to work on letter recognition in which they focused on the letter L and finished off with name writing and spelling of his full name using magnetic letters. When the language arts of the class was done, he went on to work on body parts and what they're used for. Eyes, nose and mouth. To finish off the class Nicholas did some some coloring and Mr. Stephens is now focusing more on keeping Nicholas inside the boundaries of what he is coloring. After class he ate a good dinner, played with his train set and went to bed.

February 23rd: With no therapy during the daytime, Nicholas sat back and watched his favorite television shows Super Why, WordWorld, Bob the Builder and Thomas and Friends. After watching his shows, he practiced saying his names and played with is trains before Mr. Stephens class in the afternoon. Mommy went out to do some chores and daddy took care of Nicholas. Nicholas took a afternoon nap and during that time, daddy did some job hunting and cleaning up before class. Mr. Stephens was running late after getting stuck in traffic in a day wre it was just rain and cold for most of the day. Once Mr. Stephens came and started class, he got Nicholas' full attention. Mr. Stephens devoted most of the class to math. They started out with addition in which Nicholas got the answer by himself, skip counting by 2, addition and take away using patterns and shapes and to finish off clock reading by the hour. After math, they played a memory game, he made Nicholas create patterns by colors and shapes and worked with a string in which Nicholas had to put shapes from biggest to smallest. When class was over, Mr. Stephens was happy with the productive class he had today with Nicholas. Later after eatung dinner and taking his chemotherapy medication, he played with his trains, did some walking exercise and went to sleep. 

February 22nd: Nicholas gets up with a little more appetite this morning before getting rwady to go to physical and speech therapy at the rehab center. He eats a bowl of oatmeal and eats a eggs and sasauge. Daddy went off for the day to be a substitute teacher. Mommy dropped off Nicholas at the rehab center. Once he got to the rehab center he jumped into the arms of Ms. Angelie with such joy and happiness, that mommy finally saw the spirit of when Nicholas has class with Ms. Angelie. Mommy was happpy to see the connection and bond that Nicholas has with Ms. Angelie. Ms. Angelie spent most of the therapy doing strength condition drills of making Nicholas use his whole body. She started with the upper body, went to the mid section of the body in which Nicholas needs to be more loose and finished off with the lower body. She was happy with thr productive workout that included running, jumping, pulling and grabbing, stait climbing in which he stepped up with both legs, step climbing in which he only did one step again, hand and eye coordination and finished off with a dive into the pool of balls. When class was over he walked over to Ms. Beth Ann who was replacing Ms. Yassaman who is on vacation. He usually has Ms. Yassaman on Wednesday for speech, but with Ms. Beth Ann already having a student we pushed it to Monday. Today Ms. Beth Ann continued to work on the letter F both ion recognition and sounds to let Nicholas hear himself of what he is saying and what needs to be done to improve. After the letter F they did some reading together, sentences, played reading games and finished off with conversation skills. After a long day at the rehab center he had to get ready for Mr. Stephens in a couple hours. He ate some lunch and watch some television to keep him busy before Mr. Stephens came. At the start of the class Nicholas wasn't listening and couple times Mr. Stephens stopped class, but once he started to listen and pay attention they worked on learning how to read the clock by the hour. When the clock reading was over, they worked on skip counting by 2 and 3, letter recognition of lettter G and L, coloring in which Nicholas finished off coloring a whole train from Thomas and Friends coloring book and did a job for a boy his age of staying inside the line. The finished off the class with name writing in which again Nicholas started not to listen. Mr. Stephens got his attention again and continued to do name writing and have Nicholas practice saying his last name the right way. When class was over, you could see Nicholas was tired. He ate dinner, took his evening chemotherapy medication and went to sleep. He was in bed by 7pm in which was early and knowing that he will sleep through the night, he will be getting up really early come sunrise of the next day.  

NICHOLAS IN PLAYROOM GETTING ANTIBIOTICS AFTER GETTING A INFECTION AND SLIGHT FEVER.                               

February 21st: Relaxing and resting day for Nicholas. Before leaving the house this morning for his freelance job on Sunday's, daddy helped Nicholas build his train tracks. For most of the day when he wasn't playing with his train set, he was reading spanish books with mommy and driving her up the wall with all the energy he had him today. The only thing that wasn't going good for Nicholas today that his appetite was a little low. After eating a bowl of cereal, he just picked here and there for eating little. He ate some soup, ate some pringle chips and before going to bed some oatmeal. These are the type of days that worry mommy and daddy. He went a good while of eating good and now today a low appetite. We pray that he eats good before he goes to get a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine chemotherapy on Thursday 2/25. Usually after a spinal tap and vincristine is when his appetite goes low on the third day after. The good thing he didn't have a fever or a cough or anything to keep us looking. With all the running around he did with his cousins, Nicholas took it easy today and spent time with his trains, mommy and watching some of his favorite television shows.

February 20th: Relaxing day for the family. During the day we went to do some chores and it was fun taking Nicholas along as he wanted to walk around and get some exercise in. While walking he was talking and asking questions like a reporter and wanted to know what mommy was getting and telling her the products of food he likes and what he wanted. Once we were finished, his body was tired and he jumped back into the stroller all the way back home. Later on in the afternoon we went to Aunt Michele's house to celebrate a a later birthday for daddy which was couple weeks ago. Nicholas was all smiles and joy knowing he was going to spend time with his cousins Chanel and Christiaan.Once we got to daddy's sister's place, Nicholas jumped into the arms of Christiaan and just started playing with cars, trucks, transformer characters and running around the place. The good thing about the night was seeing Nicholas run around with good balance without falling or tripping up on himself. He took a couple breaks to eat and drink, but once he got his energy back he was off and playing again. When the playiong was over, he sat with Chanel and played with her laptop until he went to sleep. After cutting the cake, we started to get ready to go home and that is when Nicholas didn't want to go home and wanted to stay the night. We had to go home because he had to take his chemotherapy medication. He got dressed and said bye to everybody.  

February 19th: With no class this morning with Mr. Stephens, Nicholas still got up early around 630am and again he woke up daddy and left mommy sleeping. So after waking up daddy, he watch sesame street, wordworld and ate breakfast. With a couple hours left to go to physical therapy at the hospital with Ms. Monica who is taking over for Tasha, Nicholas just relaxed until it was time to go. Today Ms. Monica gave Nicholas a tough hard working workout that he enjoyed and was tired at the end of the session. She focused today of leg strength and making him realize what parts of the body he has to use when doing a work out. He started with stair climbing, first with holding on to the side and then going up alone to work on body balance and his coordination to use his body without the balance on the side. After rge stairs, he pushed different size medicine balls to work on hand and foot strength when pushing by ball walking and pushing ball while running a little without losing his balance. To finish off class they played bowling in which she had him set up pins all standing up and then first rolling and throwing a ball to knock down the pins and then kicking the pins mostly with his left foot in which sometimes he doesn't like to use. Overall he had a good day with Ms. Monica and he didn't fall down or lose his balance while working out. For the first time in awhile, Nicholas wanted to go ARRIBA to say hello in the stroller, because his body was tired and he told mommy I'm tired and don't feel like walking to ARRIBA. He went to the oncology department to say hello to nurse Nelly and Dr. Freed. During that time he went into the playroom to play with other kids while mommy spoke to nurse Nelly. When it was time to go, he said bye to everybody. On the way home since mommy doesn't eat meat on Friday's during lent, they ate pizza. Nicholas was happy to eat and knowing he has the rest of the day free, he went to sleep. While he was sleeping daddy did some job hunting and when he got up, he helped daddy build his train tracks to play with. For the rest of the afternoon and night he played with his trains and read a book with mommy before going to bed. His health is getting better and everyday we pray and wish for teh best for Nicholas and othe kids battling cancer. The therapist say his endurance, balance and coordination is improving with every workout and Mr. Stephens is happy with his consistency of having productive classes with Nicholas.

February 18th: Nicholas gets up with a burst of energy this morning knowing he had physical therapy with Ms. Angelie. Nicholas and Ms. Angelie have connected in a bond that has everybody at the rehab center smiling of joy. Some people say it's because of the toys and games he is playing with during his therapy session and other people are saying that she has his attention and ambition to learn, listen to get back strong to walk 100% again. Today she changed up the start of class right after Nicholas took off his shoes. Two days ago she started off working out in the gym, this time around she worked the scooter. With his knee pads on, he did a better job of crawling of using his whole back to go back and forth several times a length of a hallway. After the scooter, he did some stair climbing in which he reached to the top of the third step with both feet and walked down.When he walked down from the steps, he pushed the barrell to work on strength then did some running. After the running she had him climb a ladder and he gave her one step of the ladder with both feet for the first time and she was happy with his effort. To finish off the class they did some balancing techniques skills and jumping up and down. When class was over Ms. Angelie was happy with work and endurance of Nicholas. After leaving Ms. Angelie, Nicholas had class with Ms. Beth Ann who was taking over for Ms. Yassaman who was out of town for a half hour for a make up speech therapy class. Ms. Beth Ann gave thumbs up for the first time teaching Nicholas. They worked communication skills, letter sound and recognition, the letter F and sentences using the letter F in which giving Nicholas some problems. Overall he had a productive day at the rehab center and come Monday 2/22, he will have speech with Ms. Beth Ann for a hour this time around. Nicholas was happy to have class with Ms. Beth Ann and is couple hours he had to get ready for Mr. Stephens. We could see Nicholas was little tired and knew after class with Mr. Stephens he was going to bed. Things changed when Mr. Stephens cancelled class for today and Friday, so once Nicholas heard no Mr. Stephens he closed his eyes and went to sleep. He got up couple hours later to eat dinner, play with his trains, read a book with mommy and went back to bed.His body was tired and you could see it in his face that he just wanted to rest.  

February 17th: Ash Wednesday. Nicholas' day started out early today as Mr. Stephens started class at 9am. With NYC schools in winter break, Mr. Stephens was flexible this week of giving Nicholas class in differenty times that work around his therapy sessions. Today he worked with Nicholas for a hour and half and after Nicholas with have his occupational and speech therapy at the rehab center. Letter recognition started out the class today in which the focused on the letters T-D-G-L and double letter recognition of SH-CH-CL. They went next to work on letter patterns, constent blends, language arts and other letter reading skills. When they were finished, they worked on name writing. He made Nicholas say his full name and recognize the sounds of the letters and how they're used in his name. Now that he is adjusted of saying his first name, they worked on his last name and lettering. Nicholas wrote his first name and traced his last name. At first he kept skipping the S in Modestin and when he kept saying out loud, he realized he skipped tracing the letter S. After the writing they worked on substraction/takeaway by using objects in which Nicholas was more productive today of understanding how to work the question and getting the right answer when he take away something from the total he started with. To finish off class Nicholas read five pages of the basel books using the word families that he practiced today. Once class was over, he had to get ready to go to the rehab center. Mr. Stephens was happy with today's class and the work Nicholas is doing. When Mr. Stephens left Nicholas was redy to head to therapy with Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassaman. He had Ms. Brown first with occupational therapy. She started off class with Nicholas working on taking off and putting on clothes several times to let Nicholas be more independent when it comes to taking off and putting on his clother and sneakers. After working on the clothes, she focused the rest of the therapy of motor skills on giving Nicholas' hand more strength and working on his hand coordination. She made him do a lot of line writing and staying in a straight line, tracing animals and staying on the line to make sure he understands the meaning of staying on the line and coloring inside the object. When he was done with Ms. Brown, he walked over to Ms. Yassaman for speech therapy class. Ms. Yassaman started out class working on clarity and working on the letter F to give Nicholas more of a feeling of saying the letter F the right way. He is still not full pronuncing the letter F in some words. She used animals and sports that start with the letter F to work with Nicholas. After the letter F, she worked with opposite while conversating with Nicholas. They did hot/cold, dry/wet, high/low, far/near and night/day. To finish off class she had him color the letter F animals in which they practiced saying. He left the rehab center happy and a little tird after three and half hours of straight classes Mr. Stephens first, Ms. Brown (occupational therapy) and Ms. Yassaman (speech). Once he got home he ate a good lunch, watched some television and went to sleep before going to Ash Wednesday. We went to mass and got our ashes and came back home. 

FAMILY PICTURE WITH MS. MARY FROM FRANCES POPE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION WHO CAME OVER FOR A VISIT AND FOR A INTERVIEW. THE FRANCES POPE FOUNDATION HELPED THE FAMILY SEVERAL TIMES WITH HELPING US PAY OFF RENT.

February 16th: We got up with a snow flurries this morning and Nicholas was all excited to see snow falling. Nicholas had a makeup physical therapy class with Ms. Angelie today in the morning before having class with Mr. Stephens later on. With the snow falling and alternate street parking in affect, daddy had to move the car and took Nicholas to physical therapy. Ms. Angelie was running late due to the snow and the bad trains coming from Queens, so Ms. Rochelle looked at Nicholas after he got dropped off by daddy. While waiting for Ms. Angelie, Nicholas played with toys and looked at books. Once Ms. Angelie walked through the doors, Nicholas jumped into her arms that Ms. Rochelle was happy to see the connection with a student and the therapist. Today's therapy was full of action and Ms. Angelie had hom working out hard. She started off with stretching exercise to loosen him up and loosen up his legs. Then she had him push a barrell both standing and walking to get the muscle back strong in his legs and upper thighs, collecting ball from the pool and the carrying them in a box around the obstacle course, pulling and grabbing on a rope to build up his upper strength around his shoulders. After that part of the therapy was done, they took a break. Once the break was over, she had ride a bicycle in which he did a good job until his ankle started to twist into the wheel. The one thing that is keeping Nicholas was riding a bicycle is that his ankles after a while of pedaling they start to sometime twist in. That is why if we could find pedals that could strap his ankles down and adjustable to bikes he can ride. After testing out the bike, he did jumping up and down skills of jumping up with his two feet and then off one foot and then did some short running back and forth to check how his balance and coordination is. When Nicholas started walking out of the gym he though class was over, but Ms. Angelie layed him flat on a scooter and had him use all of his body to make it back to the gym before class was over. He did a good and she was mostly happy with his endurance in which is getting better with each workout. When class was officially over, he wanted pizza and for everytime he has class with Ms. Angelie he wants pizza. So daddy took him to get pizza on the way home to get ready for Mr. Stephens. Nicholas ate his pizza and watch some television while waiting for class in the afternoon. Today Mr. Stephens was only going to give a hour class, so right away he started class with letter recognition. He went through the letters F-H-M-S, then double letter recognition of CH-SH-CL-FL and to finish off with letters he did word families of the single and double letters he used today. When letter recognition was done, they did skip counting by 2 and substraction/take away. At first during the substraction/takeaway session Mr.Stephens was teaching him how to understand and read the question and get the answer. After understanding how to read the question, Mr. Stephens used blocks in which he had Nicholas count blocks and then take away blocks in numnbers to set up a question and then get a answer. Using blocks was a good idea by Mr. Stephens as Nicholas got more into understanding what his doing substraction/takeaway. To finish off class today Mr. Stephens used basel books to see how Nicholas will read today using the word families from yesterday and the letter recognition he learned. Today was a much improvement for Nicholas as he read two pages from the book in which brought a smile to Mr. Stephens. Nicholas continues to show imrpovement during class with Mr. Stephens, his concentration and listening is becoming more consistence and he is following instructions more instead of trying to get off the subject. Today was a productive day for Nicholas. After Mr. Stephens left he ate some dinner and played with his trains befoe falling asleep. He got later on to watch the Michael Jackson movie This is it with mommy and daddy. We watched hald the movie mommy and Nicholas went to sleep. While mommy and Nicholas were sleeping daddy styed up job hunting until he had to wake Nicholas up to tyake his daily nightly chemotherapy medication.

February 15th: Another day of Nicholas getting up at sunrise is taking a toll on mommy's & daddy's body. For everytime he goes to bed early the night before between 7&8 instead of 8&9 he sleeps right through the night and gets up early. Sometimes we try not to let him go to bed early, but what can you do when he is feeling tired and his body is ready to go to sleep. This time around in the morning he work up daddy since daddy was closer to door as Nicholas was walking out the room. Daddy made Nicholas oatmeal to eat for breakfast before Mr. Stephens comes to give him class in several hours. After eating his oatmeal, Nicholas wanted to watch some television in which daddy put on Sesame Street to watch. When daddy tried to close his eyes Nicholas kept him up, so daddy was wide awake until mommy got up to get ready for Mr. Stephens to come. By 930am Mr. Stephens arrived to give Nicholas class and he gave class for about two hours. Nicholas was all ready and waiting to start class with Mr. Stephens. Today they started out with writing in which most of times they finish class with writing. He had Nicholas start off by tracing his first and last and while writing learning to recognize the letters by saying and hearing the sound of the letter. After tracing, he wrote his first name and continued to trace the last name. Next up was +&- in which Mr. Stephens focused on substraction. At first Nicholas was catching the word substraction and Mr. Stephens started to use the word take away and Nicholas was understanding better. Nicholas would work the problem and then had to write out the answer. Mr. Stephens had him trace the answers first and then had him write the answer down. Couple times during the work Nicholas got frustrated to get the answer, but he realize by using the circles and objects more and taking his time he would get the right answer. When the math part of the class was done, they did word families, letter recognition, double letter recognition and conversation. To finish off the class Mr. Stephens used basely books to have Nicholas read, but again he was frustrated or tired that he just didn't want to do any more work. He said a couple word and that is when Mr. Stephens realized Nicholas was a little tired. Overall they had a productice day in class. Later on after class Nicholas ate a good lunch, played with his trains, book of questions and answer and watch some television. In the last couple weeks mommy is starting to read most of Nicholas bedtime stories in Spanish to get him back speaking the Spanish that he lost when he got diagnosed back in September 2008. So before he went to bed he listen to mommy's story before falling asleep. Today was good day fo Nicholas, he ate good, slept good, had a good class, did some leg exercise and spent a fun day playing around the apartment.

February 14th: Happy Valentine's Day!!! Relaxing day for the family. Chanel, Christiaan and Nicholas sit down and eat pancakes and bacon for breakfast, After breakfast Nicholas and Christiaan played with train set, cars and sang some Mickey Mouse songs from his MM song book. One thing at least they were in coordination with the beat and tunes, but changed the words along the way. After Chanel and Christiaan left, we got ready to got to church. We went to mommy's church and after church we did some chores and went home. Once we got home, Nicholas watched some Thomas and Friends movies and then sat down with daddy and watch the Daytona 500 in which he wanted to watch car racing. He likes his car racing and hope one day we can take him to see a NASCAR race either upstate New York or in PA. After the race was over and changing channels during the delay, Nicholas was ready for bed. He went to sleep early and was tired from all the weekend activities.

NICHOLAS AT BLOOMINDALE'S LOOKING AT MOMMY GET A MAKEOVER DURING THE VALENTINE'S DAY WEEKEND.

February 13th: Nicholas got up bright and early today and knowing his cousins Christiaan and Chanel were coming over and staying the night he was full of joy. Today was also a day in which we had a Candlelighters cancer party for kids and parents hosted by Blommingdale's. Christiaan and Chanel arrived early in the morning, so right away Nicholas and Christiaan played with the train set, fought over there favorite trains to see who was going to control Thomas or Edward or Toby. Finally after going back and forth, they split the trains by main characters of the Thomas & Friends televison show and they played on until we had to go to Bloomy's. we left early to get a parking in the city in which after 20 minutes of driving around we found a parking couple blocks away. We met up with Ms. Barbara and first went up to see a cake show and see how ared velvet cake was made from the chef/cake baker from Brooklyn. He did a great job and everybody got a piece of teh cake. After the cake eating we split up in groups to go counter to counter to get candy candy and chocolate for the kids. At first Nicholas was feeling tired from getting up early and playing with Christiaan, but once he got his energy back he was ready to walk and get his C&C. While walking from counter to counter with Ms. Michelle from Blommy's Nicholas and Christiaan were filling up there bags with C&C and samples of colognes. During the walk we gave Chanel her suprise in which was a makeover look. She loved it and enjoyed getting fixed. At mommy wasn't going for the makeover, but after getting convinced by Ms. Michelle, she did the makeover. While Nicholas and Christiaan went counter to counter with daddy, Nicholas was talking and asking for C&C and having fun with the people at Blommy's. When Nicholas realized that mommy wasn't around, he asked for mommy and went back to see what was going on with his mommy. He walked to mommy and stared at mommy and the makeup lady as she gave mommy a makeover. Nicholas, Chanel and Christiaan just sat back and looked at mommy while she got all fixed to look beautiful and sexy. When mommy was over, we took a family picture of Nicholas and his cousins first and then Nicholas with mommy and daddy. Nicholas continued to get his bag filled with C&C&C from Bloomy's and when it was over, we had a good time. We had a fun and loving day and Blommy's and enjoyed ourseleves and Nicholas was happy to be with his cousins. Later on we go some chicken, chinese and a movie to watch later. Nicholas and Christiaan played with the trains and read some books and when the playing was done as Nicholas was tired and went to sleep we watched a movie. We watched Couples Retreat which was funny. After the movies everybody was tired and went to sleep, daddy stayed up so later he can give Nicholas his daily nightly chemotherapy medication.

February 12th: Relaxing day for Nicholas during the day before having class with Mr. Stephens in the afternoon. His body was feeling tired during the day so he just sit back and watched some television and slept a little. He didn't feel like palying with his train set or playing with his answer and question game. So it was just best to leave him alone to get some rest. The rash on his elbow is going away slowly but surely. Once he got up he ate some lunch and got ready for class with Mr. Stephens. Today's class was arts and crafts, math and writing and letter recognition. They started out class with letter recognition while reading a body together to get Nicholas more to understand what he is reading about and recognizing the letter and listening to the sound of the letter while listening to Mr. Stephens read a little story. After the first part of the class, they went on to do some counting up to 50, counting by 2 up to 10, doing some +&- and finished off class with arts and crafts. Mr. Stephens helped Nicholas make two Valentine's Day card. He made one for mommy and made one for daddy. While making the card with glue and glitters, Nicholas' hands was full of red glitters in whioch he was having fun rubbing all over his body while making the card. Inside the card he wrote his name which was beautiful . Once class was over, Nicholas and Mr. Stephens hands were full of glitter, but overall Nicholas had fun making the card. Mommy cleaned up Nicholas before he rubbed more glitter on his body. After getting cleaned up Nicholas read a book with mommy, played with his trains until he went to sleep.  

February 11th: The day after the blizzard that hit the east coast, Nicholas was ready to head ooutside to jump up and down in the snow. He got up early around 630am and wanted to eat breakfast before getting on of us to take him outside. Daddy got a job for the day working as a substitute teacher working with kids ranging from 5-11years old in the subject of science. With daddy gone for the day, mommy had to be creative and keep Nicholas active from getting bored before Mr. Stephens cam in the afternoon. After eating breakfast, mommy called nurse Lynda to ask about the rash on Nicholas' right elbow. Lynda said the rash could come with anything from Nicholas playing with something that was dirty outside the house or rubbing up on something outside the house. She told mommy to put some cream on it and give him some benadryl to help clean out the rash and any infections. When the conversation was over, mommy took Nicholas out to walk through the snow and enjoy himself. He was happy and when he got back upstairs, he played with his train set, watch some television and did some spanish speaking with mommy. Later on he took a quick nap before Mr. Stephens came. Nicholas hasn't seen Mr. Stephens in weeks and was rady for class once Mr. Stephens walked through the door. After conversating and having Nicholas tell him what he did while he was out, class started. Class was only a hour today, so they focused on patterns, numbers and writing his full name. He made Nicholas match a number to stars, counted by two by having Nicholas using a number page and figure out on which numbers he has to skip to count by two up to 10, counted up to 30 and then traced numnbers 1-10. After numbers they practiced saying his first name first and then last name to get him with the right pronunciation. Mr. Stephens continued on with his name by having traced out the whole name, write out the first name and finish out tracing the last name. Nicholas is doing good with his educational class and Mr. Stephens sees consistency in Nicholas of wanting learn and is enjoying leaning new activities everyday during class. When class was over, we did some walking exercise with Nicholas and mommy gave him a leg message before going to sleep. He ate a good dinner, took his seven chemotherapy on Thursday's, a hour later took the benadryl and at midnight took his usual chemotherapy medication. His health is going and his walking is coming back strong everyday with his determination. Daddy had a good substituting and hope more chances to substitute come to get some extra money coming into the house to help pay off the rent owed to the landlord as he continues looking for a full-time job.  

February 10th: A Blizzard comes through the east coast and it became a snow day for Nicholas. He spent most of the morning looking at the window as the snow fell all over downtown Brooklyn. Couple times he asked to go outside to jump up and down in the snow, but it was just to windy for him to go outside. Tomorrow is another day, so we will take him outside and play a little. Today was a day that mommy and daddy had to be creative. Mommy played with Nicholas during the morning timeas daddy did some job hunting. She went over letter recognition and do spanish speaking practice. He took a little snap in the afternoon and once he got up he played with his trains, watch some television, did some work families and practice saying his first, last name and age. After the educational activity he went back playing with his trains. Today was fun day with Nicholas, couple times he wasn't listening, but when he saw his trains gone on punishment, he gave us attention, focus and much love. Before going to sleep mommy put more oitment on the little rash on Nicholas' elbow and we will see how it is when he gets up next day.

February 9th: Nicholas gets up with a little rash on his right elbow that just came out Monday night while sleeping. The little rash is only on his right hand.With a snowstorm coming tomorrow, mommy went to do laundry as daddy stayed home with Nicholas. While Nicholas was playing with his train set, daddy was job hunting over the internet until it was time to pick up mommy from laundry. When we came back from laundry and doing some chores before the snowstorm, Mr. Stephens called to cancelled and within minutes we called the rehab center to see if they have any opening just to get him out the house and out of a boredom that he wanted to do something. Luckily for us Ms. Brown had a open hour for occupational therapy in the afternoon and will give Nicholas therapy. She was making up the class that was going to be cancelled by the snowstorm. This was the first time we went to the rehab center in the afternoon and it was pack of kids and much credit to the therapist of doing a great job of giving therapy to kid after after kid during the afternoon. At first Nicholas was stubborn with Ms. Brown, but once he settled down, they did some motor skills activities, balancing of his body while writing and working on coordination of writing letters and numbers. To finish off class Ms. Brown did some arts and crafts with Nicholas in which he made a big heart for mommy with paper mache in different colors with glitter. During class with Ms. Brown, Ms. Angelie had 30 minutes open so she took Nicholas for 30 minutes after he finished Ms. Brown. Nicholas was happy to see Ms. Angelie after he didn't want to leave her on Monday. He has a connection with Ms. Angelie that only both of them know. Today she focused of building up his upper body from waist up and working on him to run more with controlling his balance. He started out by pushing a barrell first by walking and then by running without falling down. He fell couple times and got back up and now that he is using knee pads during physical therapy, he doesn't fell his fall that much. After working on the barrell, he did the obstacle course in which at the end he had to walk up some steps and throw himself into a giant mat. Ms. Angelie was proud of Nicholas today as he stood up tall on the last step instead of with his knees before throwing himself over. When class was over, Nicholas again didn't want to leave, so I ask Ms. Angelie whatever you're doing with our son, is making him happy and determine to work hard that he doesn't want to leave. All she said was, working with Nicholas is goiod because he knows what he wants and he knows what he has to do to get back 100% to walk and run with balance and control.  

February 8th: The day started off on the sad side for the family as the financial struggle continues to pay off rent. Even with daddy working yesterday, the family is still short of coming up to pay off the full month of the February rent. We had one foundation help us, but we're still a little short of rent. While daddy continues to job hunt for anything in which his working experience can be used during these bad economic times, mommy is looking for something over the weekend while daddy is home with Nicholas. Times are tough right now for the family, but we have to stay positive and hope for the best to come for us. Yes job hunting is tough right now, but taking that time off from job hunting to take care of Nicholas when he couldn't walk or run for five months was more important. Now that I'm lookingh to land a full-time job or get a good freelance or part-time job it is tough to land something, but we have to keep fighting hard to land a job. Even though the family is going through these tough times, we have stayed positive and strong and always smiling to make sure Nicholas understand that things are going good. After two weeks of not working out with Ms. Angelie, Nicholas was all ready to see her today once he got up early this morning around 630 in the morning. He ate a good breakfast and was ready for physical therapy session. Today's workout, Ms. Angelie concentrated on working on Nicholas' balance in walking, running and zig zag without tripping up on himself. They started out doing some stretching out exercise to loosen up his body and mind before starting the hour and half workout. She first had him work on walking front and back holding a medicine ball with a goof weight for him to handle, speed walking and running at his pace holding ball and then finally tossing and rolling the ball back and forth. After working with the medicine ball, he did a obstacle course in which she had him walk and sometimes speed walk between block to see how he is using his legs on a crossover. Couple times he stumbled, but overall he did a good job of working out his legs. When he was finished doing the obstacle course they took a quick break. Once the break was over, they played a alphabet game of stair climbing in which Ms. Angelie would say a letter and Nicholas will fetch the letter around the gym and then come back, climb a set of step standing up and dive into a mat or a pool of balls. They went through ever letter and during the exercise she had Nicholas spell his name and fetch the letters N-I-C-H-O-L-A-S to work on his hand coordination, body language and see if he was paying attention on were she was putting the letters around the gym when he went through the alphabet the first time to finish off class spelling his name. For the first time since he started working out at the rehab center back in July 2009, Nicholas did not want to leave. At first he didn't want to put his jacket on to leave, because he wanted to continue working out with Ms. Angelie, then for the first time he started to cry a little as he fought off daddy to leave, but after settling down, eating some cookie and listening to Ms. Browm and Ms. Rochelle, he finally walked out and went home. On the way home we picked up a slice of pizza to eat for lunch after the long workout and when we got home he ate his pizza. After finished eating his pizza. Mr. Stephens called and said he wasn't coming today and with that we let Nicholas go to sleep because he was tired until he got up later on. When he got up we did some counting up up to 30 and then he counted by 2 up to 12. After the counting he did some spanish speaking with mommy and finished off saying his first and last name before going to bed.  

NICHOLAS AT THE BIRTHDAY PARTY OF JENNIFER PLAYING WITH MIRROR THAT CHANGES SIZE AND FRAME OF BODY IMAGE.

February 7th: Super Bowl Sunday: Nicholas was a little tired during the morning from all the walking around yesterday at the Hall of Science during the birthday party for Jennifer. Once he got his energy back, he was ready to do some homework in which caught both mommy and daddy off guard. So mommy decided to let Nicholas work on writing his first name and tracing his last name, tracing numbers 1-20 and then writing numbers 1-6 by himself in which he did a good job. After the name writing, mommy had Nicholas do some coloring and help him stay inside the lines to work on coordination. Later in the afternoon when he was done doing homework as he calls it, mommy was teaching him how to brush his teeth and using the toilet to pee pee. Daddy went out as he got a freelance job for today only. When mommy was done with Nicholas in the bathroom, he played with his trains, did some walking exercise and when daddy came home he watched the Super Bowl with daddy. Daddy was going with the Saints and by the second quarter Nicholas was dosing off and went to sleep. He got up later when the game was over to take his daily nightly chemotherapy medication. Mommy was proud of Nicholas today and all the work he did and his leaning how to brush his teeth and pee pee in the toilet.   

NICHOLAS AT THE BIRTHDAY PARTY OF JENNIFER BLOWING BUBBLES WITH MOMMY.

February 6th: Happy Birthday Daddy!!! We woke up to some snow flurries and bitter cold weather. The funny thing around the city was that Brooklyn was getting snow, but Queens and Manhattan was clean as my sister Michele called me to let me know that Queens and Manhattan was clean of snow. Today we got invited to a birthday party of a family friend, who has a daughter celebrating 6 years old today. At first it was to cold to take out Nicholas, but later on in the afternoon, it wasn't that cold and the streets of Brooklyn were safe to drive, so we decided to go to the party. The party was held at the New York Hall of Science and Nicholas had fun. At first they had the kids color a box in which when was completed it was a box of colors with a mirror inside, next was playing with giant bubbles in which Nicholas had fun poking out the bubbles and sticking his face into the bubbles. They went downstairs to ride some bicycles, but Nicholas couldn't ride the bike, because his ankles twist in towards the wheel, so he decided to play with connecting shapes and animals on the magnetic board. That was one place it was hard to get Nicholas away when the bicycle activity was over. After playing with some more great stuff and having fun with other kids, they took a break. Kids ate pizza and chicken tenders and sang/wish Jennifer a happy birthday. After eating his pizza with his new friends, they went on to see some magic trick show and they party was over after the magic show. Some people at the party were happy to see Nicholas doing good and how big and tall he got since the early months when he got diagnosed with cancer. Today he walked most of the Hall of Science and enjoyed playing with kids and having fun. He showed a good endurance and showed his full of life attitude. We said goodbye to Jennifer's parents Victor and mommy Jennifer and the rest of the Flores family and friends. Once he got in the car, he was out like a light sleeping. We got home changed our clothes and saw a movie and went to sleep. Since Nicholas is getting up early around 530/600am, mommy and daddy are going to bed a little early at night and making sure to get up to give Nicholas his daily nightly chemotherapy medication.

NICHOLAS AT THE BIRTHDAY PARTY OF JENNIFER COLORING AND HAVING FUN.

February 5th: Today was changed for Nicholas. For the third time in physical therapy at the hospital since he started working with Tasha back in December 2008, Nicholas had a new physical therapist. Tasha will be gone for six months as she was moved to another part of the hospital. She will come down sometimes to check on Nicholas and to see how the therapy is going as his legs are getting stronger and his balance is getting better with hard work. As he sat in the physical therapy department with mommy, he was looking all over for Tasha, saying her name and no Tasha in site. Today he is going to start working out more with Monica his new physical therapist. Monica assisted Tasha once before to get a feel of Nicholas. She started out with Nicholas doing a puzzle of shapes, patters and colors in which she had work on him doing lots of ups and downs to complete the puzzle. For every piece he put on the board, she put another in distance to make him walk and stretch for it. When the puzzle was completed he tossed and kicked a small medicine ball with her and even impress her with throwing it a good distance with the weight his was throwing. After playing with the ball, she had play and work with the cones. The first exercise was for Nicholas to put the cones in a straight line, but instead he put the cones in the circle instead. Monica wanted Nicholas to walk between the cnes in the straight line, but was happy how he coordinated his circle by color of cone and making space to walk betwen the cone. He knocked down several cones, but she was happy to see him stand up all the way without falling after crossing his legs several times during the exercise. When they finished with the cones, they played with a puzzle of parts of body. She worked with Nicholas on improving on knowing his parts of body and also got to see his hand and mind coordination of hinding the body parts around the therapy room. Once he completed the body parts, he cleaned up the cones, put all the toys back in closet and left. Mommy was happy to see Nicholas connect with Monica and was happy to see how Nicholas gave Monica attention on his first day alone with her. Later on as usual after physical therapy in the hospital, he walks ARRIBA to visit the nurses and doctors to say hello. He saw nurse Lynda and doctor Freed as he walked around to say hello. Once we left the hospital, we did some chores, food shooping before the expected snowstorm and got him some chicken nugget and fries in which he hasn't eaten a long while. When we got home he ate, played with his trains, watched some television and went to sleep.

February 4th: With no therapy and no class with Mr. Stephens today, Nicholas spent most of the day, playing with his trains, writing his first name, practiced saying his first and last name and tracing numbers 1-15. Later on in the afternoon while daddy did some job hunting, he did some spanish speaking words with mommy, more of writing his name, coloring shapes and animals. After doing some walking exercise and eating a good dinner he was ready for bed. He watched some television and went to bed.

February 3rd: Nicholas not fully back a 100%, but was ready enough to go to occupational and speech therapy. After spending several days inside since taking a spinal tap and a dosage of chemotherapy last week Thursday, Nicholas was ready to go outside. Since it wasn't that cold outside he wanted to walk halfway to the rehab center and if he we was tired he would jump into the stroller for the rest of the three block walking distance. Once he got to the rehab center, Nicholas took off his jacket, showed Ms. Brown and Ms. Rochelle his new orthopedic shoes and was ready for class. He started out his occupational class with some independent skills ofe listening to Ms. Brown as he took off his jacket, hat, gloves and shoes before going into the gym. When they got to the gym they did some motor skills exercise, stretching out and balancing to give his body a little workout before going into the classroom. Ms. Brown worked with Nicholas on tracing every letter in the alphabet by capitilize letter, letter recognition and shapes. She was happy with his letter tracing and sees that he is practicing at home with tracing and writing letters. Later on in class he wrote his first name alone with couple dots to start him off, then finished off class working on tracing and writing his shapes. Nicholas had problems with coupld shapes staying in a straight, that more work he will improve. After leaving Ms. Brown, he walked over to Ms. Yassaman. Ms. Yassaman gets a lot out of Nicholas during class and when he is done woth her, he just wants to continue on whatever she left off with in class. Today she started off class with visual conversation in which was interesting for Nicholas. She found out how Nicholas relates to pictures in a different way than objects when it is conversation time. He did a good job of listening, concentration and delivering the words in which she was looking for. Next up they worked on in and out of places, whole and full by using fruits and vegetables, working on letters that continue to give Nicholas problems pronunciating and to finish off class they did some coloring of a frog. When class was over, Nicholas was all happy that he had a fun day in therapy today. Ms. Brown was happy to say that Nicholas catches on to subjects and leaning activities as he has a full concentration on the activity in front of him. He walked a block before getting tired of walking home, so he jumped into the stroller for the rest of walk home. Once he got home he ate some macaroni and cheese and watched some television. With no Mr. Stephens this week, Nicholas knew he had to be creative not to get bored. After watching some television, he played with his questions and answer book, played with his trains and read a book before going to sleep. The one bad thing about Nicholas going to sleep around 7pm, he is getting up around 530am the next day and is beating of the bodies of mommy and daddy.  

February 2nd: With no classes and therapy to attend. We had to get creative with Nicholas so he would not get bored around the apartment all day. Mr. Stephens gave us some activities to work on with Nicholas. He told us to work on first and last name, letter recognition, numbers and word families. So after playing with his train set and eating a good breakfast we did some activities. Mommy went out to do some chores, so it was daddy and Nicholas. We started out working with name spelling, pronunciation and recognition of letters in his name. Did some counting and finished off the day with potty training of teaching how to pee in the toilet. He is doing much better going to the toilet, pulling down his pants and pampers, but still has a little difficulty of climbing up to the toilet to use. Nicholas has come a long way since learning how to use the toilet again since he lost it when he got diagnosed with cancer. Once mommy came back, daddy went out to do some chores and pay bills. Nicholas ate a good dinner of spaghetti, took prednisone, watched some television and after a day full of fun and activities, he went to sleep. Nicholas is doing good walking with the orthopedic shoes and is getting adjusted of climbing up the stairs better to the apartment.

February 1st: Nicholas gets up with a little cough, so we decide to keep him home. So with no physical therapy class with Ms. Angelie at the rehab center, we decided to do some activities. During the morning daddy did some job hunting while Nicholas watch his shows WorldWord, Super Y and Sesame Street. After watching his shows mommy went to due laundry from all the clothes, pillow cases and sheets he vomitted all over the weekend. Once mommy left, Nicholas started out with working on saying his first and last name, writing his first name and tracing his last name with daddy. After the naming activity we did some coloring, letter recognition and to finish off with some leg exercise with his orthopedic shoes. While daddy was job hunting, he got a email from Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens was in a car crash over the weekend and would not be able to make it this week. Mr. Stephens is doing good. So once mommy came back from laundry she took over and woked on spanish words with Nicholas to get some spanish he lost while in the hospital for a month when he got diagnosed. For the whole day Nicholas was full of energy and asking why he didn't go to see Ms. Angelie today. We explained to him and how much his health and wanted to get him good to go to class with Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassaman on Wednesday and therapy with Tasha on Friday. Later on in the afternoon he took his prednisone medication and went back on playing with his train set. After dinner he took another medication, watched some television and went to bed. 

January 31st: The month of January came and went. Today Nicholas felt a little stronger, better and laughing and smiling. He ate some pancakes for breakfast and then took his medication. We wanted to see his reaction this morning after eating breakfast and taking the medication before he started watching some television and then playing with his train set. He didn't vomit and was ready to watch some television. After watching some television of WordWorld and Super Y he played with his trains. Once finishing playing with his trains, he did some coloring, practiced speaking spanish words with mommy, practiced saying his first and last name and later on ate a good dinner. After dinner he took another medication and went to sleep. Later on at night he got to take his usual late night medication and went back sleep. Tomorrow morning we will see how Nicholas is he feeling. If he is feeling good he go to physical therapy with Ms. Angelie, if not we will cancel until next week. He felt good today and had a good day of moving around and diving mommy and daddy up the wall. The cough is still there a little, but later on we will see to cancel Mr. Stephens.

January 30th: Another recovery day for Nicholas. Today he was more upbeat and wanted to throw the football around with daddy. He also wanted to go for a walk outside, but is was just bitter cold and we just stayed in. After eating a good breakfast of eggs and hot dogs and a bowl of oatmeal he was ready to do some activities. We started off by doing some matching of numbers to objects then went on to writing his first name and tracing his last name. He took his 1030am after 48hrs spinal tap pill and later took a little afternoon nap and during that time mommy did some chores and daddy did some job hunting on the computer. After taking sometime off from job hunting during the time Nicholas couldn't walk, daddy is having it tough time of getting back a full-time job during these economic crisis and just continues to dig deep and hope for the best of finding a full-time job. Once Nicholas woke up he ate some soup, but later in the evening he vomitted big again and this time all over himself and on his playmat while walking. He got cleaned up good and washed down to take the smell out of him. Later on at night at 1030pm he took the 60hrs after spinal rap pill and several hours later took his usual late night medication. This time around he had a good night sleep with just a little cough.

January 29th: Recovery day for Nicholas. After a tough week of battling a fever and a cough that is taking a slow time go away, Nicholas rested today after having a spinal tap and a dosage of vincritine yesterday. His appetite was low for most of day that he just ate a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, soup for lunch and more soup for dinner. During the day he was alos taking several chemotherapy medication in which sometimes he vommitted and we had to take it again in which styed in his system. You could see in his face he wasn't himself and just wanted to sit back and watch his favorite television shows and play with his book of answers and questions. Later on at night while sleeping he vommitted again and we had to change everything on the bed and the clothes he had on. He drank some water and stayed up a little with daddy watching basketball until he was ready to go back to sleep. Mommy gave him his usually late night medication and he went to sleep.  

January 28th: We got up to a flurries of snow and Nicholas was all happy looking out of the window with the snow falling. All he kept saying " lets go outside and see the snow". Nicholas still had a little cough in the morning. He woke up early so he could eat some breakfast before 7am, because teh doctor wants a empty tommy later when she there is a spinal tap to be given. He ate a little breakfast before heading out the door to start his new cycle Maintenance III in which he due to get a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine chemotherapy medication. Even though his appetite was a little down from his fever, cough and runny nose, his energy and full of life energy was still there. While daddy went outside to clean the snow off the car, mommy got Nicholas ready to head to the hospital, after putting on the cream for mediport, he put his jacket on and was ready to go. Daddy dropped mommy and Nicholas off at the hospital, before heading back home to change to pick them up later afte his eye exam. Once Nicholas got to ARRIBA, he said hello to nurse Nelly who was going to take care of him today along with Dr. Freed. He went through the usual routine of getting weighed, height, blood pressure and temperature. His weight was the same at 55pds and he grew a 1/2 inch to 44 inches in height since his last checkup on New Year's Eve. Today Nicholas was the only kid to get a spinal tap in the pediatric oncology unit. So around 1030am, Nicholas was put to sleep and given a spinal tap. When he woke up in the rsting room, he watch his movie "Cars", got his dosage of vincristine and was ready to go home. Nicholas say his friend Kevin today, in which Kevin only had to get a dosage on chemotherapy, so they had a chance to sit back and talk and watch Thomas & Friends. So come 1030am on Saturday 1/30 he has to take his 48hrs after spinal tap pill and at 1030pm his 60hrs after spinal tap medication. For everytime somebody's beeper went off from there medical machine, Nicholas was shouting Nelly, someboby's machine is beeping. Mommy and Kevin's mothere were all smiles as Nicholas had a good day at the hospital. Dr. Freed explained to mommy how his counts were good and the white counts are expected to at the number he is at. She also explained to mommy do to some steriods in his system, he might be gaining some weight. The reason she told mommy, because somebody told mommy how Nicholas was getting a little big and Dr. Freed stepped in and explained how some medication and steriods make some kids puffy and with Nicholas who wasn't burning calories for about six months when he couldn't walk and run is now buring calories with his walking, running during physical therapy sessions and other activities in which he can move his body and exercising. Once we left the hospital, Nicholas was wide awake, but a little down once he started to walk out the hospital. When we got home he looked tired and once he took off his jacket, he vommitted once and then other one after mommy gave him some chemotherapy medication. After taking a spinal tap instead of taking his usual seven pills, he has to take prednisone for five straight days twice a day. Mommy gave him other dosage of prednisone. Before going to sleep, he played with the car he got from the hospital, read some books with mommy and daddy, ate some soup, took another chemotherapy medication and he was out like a light and went to sleep. Dr. Freed is happy with Nicholas' condition and likes his upbeat attitude of facing his cancer. She is happy with his walking and the strength he giot back with all the therapy and hard work. Dr. Sadanandan told us to start looking into getting Nicholas a bicycle once it start to get warm outside and getting him back into the swimming pool. With our low budget for now, we had plan once it starts to get warm to get Nicholas into swimming classes with daddy like we had before he got diagnosed with leukemia at the local Y. We would like to get a bicycle, but we have to find one that straps his foot down on the pedal so his legs would not bend in and just stay straight to pedal. There is still a lot of treatment left for Nicholas to beat his cancer, but everyday is a good day when Nichoals is smiling in which is a blessing and thank god fro protecting our son. Nicholas is walking fine with his new orthapedic shoes and even though they're a little heavy, you can see is getting adjusted to it when he has to lift his legs while climbing up the steps. The next appointment with the oncologist is on February 25th in which he is scheduled to get another spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine.

January 27th: After having two days of antibiotics, Nicholas gets up in the morning with a little bit more energy. He eats agood amount of his eggs and sasauge for breakfast. Since his nose was still a little stuffy with a little cough, he knew he couldn't go to Ms. Brown for occupational therapy, Ms. Yassaman for Speech and no Mr. Stephens for the rest of the week on doctor's order. So today we did a lot of talking practicing his first, last name and age, coloring, playing with his book of questions and answers and coloring. He felt a little tired, but how much can you hold back a kid at 3 who just wants to be creative and do things. Couple times we had to slow him down so he can catch his breath and take a good pace burning getting to tired. Later on in the afternoon he ate a bowl of chiken noodle soup, took some tylenol to fight off the cough, did some more coloring and practice on some words in spanish, took his chemotherapy medication and went to sleep. The doctor's and nurses say Nicholas has been very lucky for fighting off the viruses during this time of the year and I thank god for proctecting and keeping his system clean. He is a strong, determined kid who knows there is still a long road ahead of us of beating this cancer, but everyday is a challenge of staying healthy, taking big steps to walk and run again and enjoying life as a 3 years old kid. 

January 26th: After spending couple hours getting antibiotics, Nicholas still has a runny nose and a little cough. He eats a little oatmeal before getting ready to head to the hospital to get more antibiotics. First we made a stop to get his orthapedic shoes to give his foot more support and strength while walking. The shoes is a like a high top sneakers. He use it for the rest of the day and walked in it good for the first day. We got to the hospital and right away he ask nurse Lynda to take his temperature, weight and height before getting his antibiotics. He is getting to know the routine once he goes ARRIBA when it comes to either getting a spinal tap and chemotherapy or just a blood test. Today he got his antibiotics in the playroom since he was playing a matching game of patterns. He was there for a hour and then left to go home. Doctor Freed said if the fever comes back to call her, but the antibiotics should be cleaning out this system and to come back on Thursday to start his new cycle called Maintenance III. Once we got home his nose was running from the antibiotics and his cough was little. No fever so was a good thing. Dr. Freed told us to let Nicholas rest for the rest of the week and cancel whatever activities we had in hand to give him some rest. So no Mr. Stephens, Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassaman for the rest of the week. After eating some soup, he took his chemotherapy medication and went to sleep. One thing that we know Nicholas is not feeling good is that he not callingf out to play with his train set as he battles this runny nose and cough. He just wants to play with his book of questions and answers and watch some television before falling asleep. 

January 25th: Once morning came after a long Sunday night, his fever came back and went up to 101 and then we called the doctor. We called the doctor and they told us to bring Nicholas in for a checkup and antibiotics. Nicholas was fighting a fever and stuffy nose. We got to the oncology department and right away they took out his blood to get sime results to see if he got any infections. His heart rate was a little fast because Nicholas was forcing his coughs and the doctor said his heart will slow down. After getting his checkup from Dr. Freed, he sat down and got some antibiotics. During the time of getting antibiotics his friend Kevin was also getting chemotherapy treament. Kevin was watching Transformers II and Nicholas joined in to watch the movie of robots. After watching Transformers II, they watched Thomas and Friends. During movie watching, Nicholas' nose was running a little as the antibiotics started working to clean out his system. Dr. Freed came back with the results and said all his numbers were good, platelets were good, red blood cells were good and white blood cells are at a good number for the stage of cancer of Nicholas. The doctor playing it safe told us to come back tomorrow in the afternoon to get some more antibiotics to clean out his body and kill any type of infections. When we got home, he ate a little soup, took his chemotherapy medication after dinner and went to sleep. His fever went down a little and he had a good night sleep. He got up couple times to clean up his nose and later on to take his nightly chemotherapy medication.

January 24th: We went to mommy's church to start out the Sunday. For the first time in a longtime, Nicholas went to sleep as soon as we walked into church. He finally got up when the priest was walking out after finishing mass. After mass we did some chores and went home. When we got home he sat down and watched football. Later on at night while sleeping, Nicholas got a fever 99.9 first when daddy checked him. We gave him tylenol and he went back to sleep about a hour, but again he got up and this time his fever dropped to 98, but he was coughing in which wasn't a good sign. When he was up he had to take his late night chemotherapy medication in which he took it without coughing it out. We though things were good with Nicholas when he went back to sleep, but this time when he got up, he started vommitting. He vommitted about two times, once all over the pillow he was sleeping on and the next one in a little pail. So he had to get changed and a little cleaning up to get the smell out. Since he could not sleep, he watch some late night television till he went to sleep while mommy and daddy were cleaning up.

January 23rd: Today was day full of doing all activities. After daddy spent a couple hours job hunting over the computer. Nicholas was ready to start throwing the football with daddy. He first threw the football, then went to kicking the soccer ball. Nicholas still kicking most with his right foot, so today we worked on using the left more. After throwing and kicking, we used the educational laptop in which he worked on his numbers, letters, music and learning to use the keys better. We took a break so he could eat some lunch. When lunch was over we did some homework given to him by Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassaman. Most of the homework was tracing and writing shapes, numbers and practicing of his names. After finishing the homework, we built his trains and tracks so he could play with his train set. Once he finished playing with his train set, he played with his book of questions and answers before going to sleep.

January 22nd: Nicholas started out his day working out with Tasha at the hospital with physical therapy. Tasha said Nicholas is improving a lot with his walking and just needs to work on endurance, stability of walking with strong balance and getting adjusted of running. She had start the session walking up and down the stairs several times, next he walked front and back of the even bars of climbing up and over mats of different heights so he could lift his legs at different levels. Once he finished with the even bars, she had work rolling the medicine. He first walked pushing the ball, a little speed walking and then he ran a little at a pace without falling down. After the moving around with the medicine ball, she had him throw little balls with weights against a trampoline so he could work on his throwing motion and catching the ball in return. To finish out the workout Tasha worked with cones. The first exercise was have him line up the cones in a straight line. After lining uo the cones by colors in which he wanted, she had walked between the cones of crossing his legs. The first couple times he stumbled crossing his legs, but after he walked it good. The next exercise she had him step over the cones, in which he knocked down couple cones after stepping over, because his back feet with kick backwards instead of going forward. With all the workout, Nicholas was not tired and was ready to go home. He cleaned up the cones with Tasha and said his goodbye before walking to ARRIBA. He walked all the way to ARRIBA to give nurse Lynda her happy birthday card. We stayed awhile talking and wishing Lynda happy birthday, while Nicholas went to the playroom. While in the playroom, Nicholas met Liam who was waiting for a blood transfusion. After eating pizza with his father, Liam and Nicholas started coloring together in a book of animals in which both had there own page to color. Once he finished coloring we left. Later on in the afternoon after eating a good lunch, he was ready for his class with Mr. Stephens. Today Mr. Stephens had Nicholas working and in a groove of paying attention and concentrating on the activities given to him. They started out working on ordinary numbers, counting in which he counted by himself to 49, +&- by two in which he worked on 2+2, 3+3 by using objects and circles to let Nicholas get a answer. Mr. Stephens next moved on to shapes and patterns, direction words of using objects around the living room so Nicholas could understand the direction and the word he is using. To finish off class, he wrote his first name and traced the last name and worked on getting to know to use the telephone and dialing the home phone numbers. Today's class was a productive class and Mr. Stephens was smiling. After class as we do on Friday's we built his train set with the tracks and he played with his trains until he was tired and went to sleep.  

January 21st: During the day Nicholas was driving mommy up the wall with so much energy that he wanted to do a lot of activities. He started out with playing his with trains right after eating breakfast, after the trains he wanted to play with his book of questions and answers, took a break to watch some television shows and came back to play with more trains. Mommy seeing Nicholas full of energy, took him outside to do some chores and to also give his legs some exercise. When mommy and Nicholas came back from doing a little food shopping, Nicholas slept for a hour before class with Mr. Stephens. He wasn't eating good today and didn't have a big appetite, but at least he was eating some cookies and fruits. Today's class was a productive class for Mr. Stephens. Nicholas was introduced today of saying his last name Modestin. Mr. Stephens had him practiced saying his last name and then his first name. For most of the class it was learning his full name. Nicholas wrote his first name alone and traced the last name by learning the letters and pronunciation. Couple times he said he full name backwards of saying Modestin first, but after awahile he said it together. There is still practice left of saying the full name with clarity. Once the full name session was over, they did some more new word families, letter recognition and finished off class coloring trains from Thomas and Friends. After class Nicholas still didn't have a full appetite and just ate cookies and fruits. He took his daily Thursday seven chemotherap medication and went to sleep. We expected days like these in which he was full of energy, but low in appetite.

January 20th: Nicholas started out his day at the rehab center with occupational and speech therapy with Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassaman. Ms. Brown was running a little late so Nicholas played with so toys until she arrived. Once he went through the practice of putting and taking off his clothes and shoes, he walked to gym first to do some leg exercise and then walked to a classroom to start his occupational session with Ms. Brown. Today they worked on motor skills and writing. She had him trace his name, shapes, letters, numbers and objects. After taking a little break and give his hand a rest, his finished off class by writing by himself with no lines of tracing. He wrote his name, shapes, objects and colored some animals. When occupational was over he walked over to speech with Ms. Yassaman. Ms. Yassaman worked on language arts, action words, letter recognition and conversation. Later on in class she had talked by using the words she said - he said by having him answer the missing words by using the pictures of the story. Played a game of conversation in which she had him use the words the words that he has difficulties pronuncing to work on clearing it up and clarity in his speech and finished off class coloring. After leaving the rehab, Nicholas walked a block and 1/2 stiil he got tired and jumped in the strolle for the rest of the walk home. Later after eating lunch, his class with Mr. Stephens was cancelled. So with no class, he played with his trains, played with his book of questions and answers and practiced of spanish words with mommy. After eating dinner he took his chemotherapy medication. Did some homework left by Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassaman and went to sleep.

January 19th: Today was fun day for Nicholas. With no therapy and class in the morning, he played with his trains, played with his book of finding questions and answers and watched some television. During the break from playing and reading, he did some leg exercise and jumping off his two legs. Later in the afternoon, his class with Mr. Stephens was cancelled, so he got a chance to watch Bob The Builder and Thomas & Friends. After watching his two shows, practicing talking spanish with mommy, eating dinner and taking his chemotherapy medication he went to sleep. Funny thing today, he slept for about two hours and got up around 9pm and was wide awake. So we read and played with his book of questions and answers for about a hour till he went back to sleep until his late night chemotherapy medication had to be taken around 1130pm. Nicholas' health is getting better dad-by-day, his energy and confidence is building up to beat this cancer and overall he is knowing what is going more and more as the days come and go.  

January 18th: Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Nicholas started out his day with class with Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens gave Nicholas a hour class today to make up days that his missed with Nicholas. The class wa productive and Mr. Stephens was happy with Nicholas concentrating and attention. Today they worked on counting in which he counted to 49 by himself, skip counting, double addition of using 1+1, 2+2, 3+3 but using objects and circles to let Nicholas get a answer and writing his name. Mr. Stephens made Nicholas write his name three time by himself, but just using dots to start off with the letter N. To finish off class, they worked on days of the week and having Nicholas understand how to read a calendar by using the days of the week and numbers on the day. After class he read a book using a pencil to answer questions, played with his trains, watched some television and did some walking exercise around the apartment.

January 17th: Relaxing day for Nicholas and the family . Most of day he played with his trains, watched some television, read some books, practice speaking some words in spanish, finished up the homework left by Mr. Stephens and watched football with mommy and daddy.  

January 16th: We got a beautiful day in the city today that wasn't to cold that Nicholas was able to do some walking exercise outside. At first we wanted to use the walker, but he wanted to walk alone to work on how he can walk without getting tired. He did a good job walking up and down the block until his body said enough and lets take a rest. Now that he can express himself, he will tell us when he tired and ready to walk agin to continue his exercise. Before all the walking exercise we went mommy's church to celebrate a mass for the Saint  Padre de Jesus de Chinantla. The mass was special and had a special blessing that we could use right now for taking care of Nicholas, looking over us and giving us strength and keeping us positive and strong during these difficult times we were going through. We got to mass early, but the torch run from the city into Brooklyn ran behind time, so we had a chance to visit the saint before mass and give a little prayer. Nicholas was wide awake for the majority of the mass, but went to sleep right before the first collection. After mass we did some chores, built a new design for his tracks, watched some football and relaxed.

January 15th: For the first time in the week, Nicholas doesn't get around sunrise. He slept a little more and got up around a good time. Mommy had some chores to do and during that time did some checking around for a job. Nicholas was left with daddy during most of the early part of the day. After eating breakfast, he watch some of his favorite television shows like Super Why, Dinosour Train, Bob The Builder, WorldWord and Thomas The Train. While watching television, daddy was doing some job hunting on the computer. When daddy was done, we did some exercise, counting in both english and spanish and played with his train before class with Mr. Stephens. Class with Mr. Stephens started out funny today, as Nicholas told him sorry about what happen yesterday for not paying attention. The apology caught the teacher off guard, but was happy to see that Nicholas knew what he did yesterday. When class started, they worked on word families, letter sound recognition, constant blends, writing his name and finished off class with a little of black history. Mr. Stephens taught Nicholas a little about Martin Luther King Jr. and use pictures of showing who he is what he meant and had Nicholas color a picture of MLK. He did a good job on staying in the boundaries of MLK face and shirt. After Mr. Stephens left, we build the tracks and had fun palying with his trains.

January 14th: The day started out early again as Nicholas woke up around sunrise. Thursday's are like Tuesday for Nicholas, he is looking for something new to do when he not playing with his Thomas & Friends train set. Today he sat down and read some stories in spanish from classic stories with mommy as daddy went to do some job hunting. Once daddy came back, Nicholas did some walking exercise, jumping off two legs and counting in both english and spanish. When that activities were over, he sat down and ate a late lunch and got ready for Mr. Stephens. At the start of class Nicholas was not cooperating and once he started cooperating with Mr. Stephens class started. He just didn't want to start with the lesson plan Mr. Stephens had. They started off by counting numbers in which Nicholas counted to 49 by himself. Next they did number writing, counted by two using pattern and matching shapes and sizes, +&- by have Nicholas just give the answer today and finished off with name writing. When class was over, Nicholas knew he was in trouble for not paying for not giving Mr. Stephens his full attention, so no trains. Once he took is sevcen daily pills on Thursday's he was tired and went to sleep and then got up at night to take his late night daily chemotherapy medication.  

January 13th: Nicholas gets up early around sunrise, but goes back to sleep as he took a peek out the window and didn't see the sun come up yet. Once he got up he knew today was the longest day of rehab and class of all teh days during the week. After eating a bowl of oatmeal and eggs, he was full of energy and ready for occupational and speech therapy at the rehab center before having class with Mr. Stephens late in the afternoon. Since it wasn't that cold outside today he walked and jumped into the stroller to the rehab center. Once he got to the rehab center, he took off his jacket, sweater and shoes before starting his occupational tehrapy with Ms. Brown. Today she focused on letter recognition, connecting part, present and future words by having Nicholas use a 60 piece puzzle to connect words. She was happy with his letter recognition and pronunciation of the letter. Ms. Brown likes Nicholas' work ethics and he is always willing to learn to new things and work hard at it. She is very discipline with Nicholas and has very focus during therapy. After connecting words in the puzzle, Nicholas traced some letters in the alphabet, traced his name and then wrote his name. He is getting better in staying in a straight line when he is writing his name. When therapy was over with Ms. Brown, Nicholas walked over to Ms. Yassaman for speech therapy. Ms. Yassaman spent most of the class with conversation and clearing up words with Nicholas and working on the letter F in which continues to give him a little problem. Next she did action words, up and down exercise of using words and syllables to help Nicholas with clarity. When class was over, he didn't want to leave and wanted to spend time with either Ms. Brown or Ms. Yassaman, but they had other students waiting for therapy when Nicholas was done. Once he saw the other kids he knew it was time to go home. On the way home, he asked to eat macaroni and cheese for lunch. When he got home, he ate his lunch while watching Bob The Builder and Thomas The Train on television while daddy was job hunting on the computer. Mommy went to the hospital to drop off some food and give support to Kevin's mother. Kevin is boy who Nicholas met several weeks ago in the playroom while watching Thomas and after that day, Kevin was diagnosed with leukemia. Mommy and Kevin's mother have bonded since he got diagnosed. Kevin is 3yrs old and is a fighter and a strong kid. Nicholas went to visit Kevin couple times to say hello after having physical therapy at the hospital. After watching couple of his favorite shows, it was time for class with Mr. Stephens. One thing we can say, Nicholas has very discipline and focused therapist and teachers who bonded a friendship and trust with Nicholas. He sometimes gives Mr. Stephens a little problems on wanting his own lesson plan, but he knows Mr. Stephens stays on the plan even it means going to something else to get Nicholas' attention back and getting back to the lesson plan. Today they worked a lot on literacy. He had Nicholas read off objects on bound books on learning how to read, reading, connecting words, language arts, letter writing, writing his name and finishing off class with activity called what is not right in the picture and what does not belong in the story that you're listening to. Mr. Stephens is happy with Nicholas' consistency with his preparation and focus in class and his work. After class was over, he ate his dinner took his chemotharpy medication and was off to bed as he dosed while playing with his trains. This is first week in a longtime since he got diagnosed, that he is going to bed right after taking his medication. He sleeps straight through the night except for when he has to get up and take his late night chemotherapy medication. Nicholas is eating good in which is a good thing with all the medications he is taking at home and is losing weight since he is burning calories now with all the therapy. He walking is getting better and the strength is coming back day-by-day.  

January 12th: Tuesday is a day in which mommy becomes creative with Nicholas since he has nothing during the day till his afternoon class with Mr. Stephens. Today was different because the family had a interview with a foundation that has helped during these difficult times we're going through. The Frances Pope Memorial Foundation wanted to meet the family and interview us on Nicholas is doing since he got diagnosed in September 2008 and what the foundation has meant to the family. The foundation has meant a lot to the family not only for the financial help, but for the support, caring and love in which they have giving us. Mr. Mary has always called once or twice a month to check up on Nicholas and to see how the family is doing. Her calls always brings a smile to the family and brings up our spirits on down days. Nicholas is always smiling and fun loving attitude, but days he is just tired and his body is saying lets rest for the day. The interview went good as mommy and daddy spoke about Nicholas, the foundation and life of handling a kid with cancer and how hard it was when Nicholas could not walk and going through intensive chemotherapy at the start and physical therapy to get his strength back into his legs to learn to walk again. We were finally happy to meet the people of foundation who we have spoken on the phone and chatted on the internet. Later on after the interview we met the founder of the foundation Ms. Mary. Later on in the afternoon, Nicholas class was cancelled as Mr. Stephens had a family emergency to attend. The good thing was that Nicholas sleeping since he woke up early again and by the time he woke up we did some reading, playing of a small piano, played with his tool set and watched some television. He took his chemotherapy medication after dinner, watched a little more television and went to bed.

January 11th: Since he went to bed early on Sunday night, Nicholas was up by sunrise and wanting breakfast. He just wanted to eat a bowl of oatmeal and pancakes before getting ready for his physical therapy session with Ms. Angelie. Nicholas was full of energy and ready for class. As soon as he walked through the door at the rehab center he jumped into the arms of Ms. Angelie. She started the session of making Nicholas do 14-to-15 reps of walking, speed walking and running without losing his balance to loosen up his body and legs. After the reps she had Nicholas stand on a nalance beam and do some writing to work on his coordination, motor skills, balance and concentration on what he was doing. He did a good job at the start, but lost his balance couple times, but Ms. Angelie was happy with his work and effort of trying and not giving up. Next up she work on him standing on one leg for balance and see the strength in both legs, jumping off the ground with both feet, obstacle course. throwing and catching a ball and to finish off class he dove into the pool of balls. When therapy was over, Nicholas was still feeling strong, so he decided to walk home instead of the stroller. He walked a blocked and half before getting tired Jaand jumped into the stroller for the rest of the way home. He ate a slice of pizza for lunch before getting ready for Mr. Stephens. You could see in his eyes that Nicholas was a little tired, but was ready for class with Mr. Stephens. Today they worked on several materials. They skip counted with blocks, grouping, patterns, counting in which Nicholas counted to 49 by himself and biggest to smallest with nots.They went on to work on +&- in which Nicholas had to make up the questions by using circles and give the answer, name writing in which he improving day-by-day and memory activities to finish off class. Right after Mr. Stephens left, Nicholas was out like a light after taking his chemotherapy medication right after dinner.  

January 10th: We went to mommy's church in spanish for Three Kings Day in which Nicholas had a chance to celebrate the day with the family and other kids. After mass Nicholas did some homework left over by Mr. Stephens, help mommy and daddy take down christmas decorations, watched some television, played with his train set and read some books before going to bed early. He was in bed by 730pm tonight one of the earliest in awhile since he usally goes between 8/830pm.

January 9th: Relaxing day for Nicholas and the family. Nicholas watched some television in the morning, did some leg exercise and walking around the apartment and watch football with daddy later on in the afternoon. Daddy spent most of day job hunting on the computer and mommy just relaxed after a long week.  

January 8th: Nicholas continues to get up around sunrise since he is sleeping through the night after going to bed between 8&830 at night. This is putting a hurt on mommy and daddy, but the bodies have adjusted to his early waking. He usually goes to wake up mommy first and squezzing or tickling her nose and daddy later by just pushing him. Once everybody was up, it started to snow. The snow was just flurries, so it was alright to take him to physical with Tasha at the hospital. His therapy started off with a laughter with Tasha today. Tasha came down from another floor with the doctor's white coat and Nicholas told her can you please take it off because he doesn't like the white coats. We think it just brings back memories of the time when he was in the hospital for a month. After taking off her coat, Tasha introduced Monica who will be helping her during the therapy with Nicholas. At first Nicholas wasn't feeling Monica, but after he was all friends with with her. During the therapy they worked on even bars, but this time Tasha put the bars a little up so his arms can be stretched out and he can worked on his balance. At first he lost a step, caught his balance and walked over his blocks back and forth. After walking out the even bars, they worked on building cones and had Nicholas stand up and reach out with hands only to build a mountain of cones. Once he finished with the cones, he worked on connecting the little comet balls in colors. To finish off his therapy, she had him work with the medicine ball that he had to use whole body to push around, a lighter ball to through and another ball to kick around with Monica. He continues to be all right foot, but he used he left foot several times today. Later on after therapy, we went upstairs to give Kevin a visit and see how is doing. After leaving Kevin we went ARRIBA to get his results from his blood tst from New Year's Eve. The numbers are good. Red blood and platelets are good. The white blood cells are good for his condition in which is expected to be low. After getting the results from nurse Lynda, she told us that Nicholas will be getting a spinal tap and a dosage of chemotherapy medication when he starts his new cycle Maintenance III on January 28th.  Once we left the hospital, he took his first afternoon nap in weeks. Tasha always gives Nicholas a good workout that makes him use every part of his body. Mr. Stephens called while Nicholas was sleeping that he was stuck in a meeting and there would not be no class today. When Nicholas got up he was looking out for Mr. Stephens and finally realized no class. With no class, he built his tracks of Thomas & Friends with daddy and played with his train set until he got tired.

January 7th: We started off the day with food shooping. At the start of the shopping Nicholas was a little to walk so he was sitting in the cart. Once he got his energy back he wanted out the cart to walk and talk about what mommy was buying. Funny about things in life for kids today. While picking out the meat, vegetables and fruits mommy was telling Nicholas the names of the food she was picking out so he can understand what she was buying and what he will be eating at home. Vegetables and fruits is a place that Nicholas knows a good amount of food. He likes his uvas(grapes), apples, bananas, carrots, oranges and his ham and cheese. Later on during the shopping he got tired a little and jumped back in the cart. Right before checking out, he wanted to walk and see all the stuff we bought. Once we were done he said bye to the cashier and we went home. When we got home, he had to get ready for Mr. Stephens in a couple hours, while daddy did some job hunting and mommy put up the stuff we brought. Things continue to be struggle for the family, but we're keeping positive and hoping for the best. With no class yesterday, Mr. Stephens started off class with a puzzle to see test Nicholas of matching shapes and coordinating the puzzle. The puzzle was about matching shapes and finding the missing shape to match the pattern. After playing the puzzle, he worked on word families, letter recognition and name writing. He wrote his name three times and everyday he continues to get better and neater in his writing. Mr. Stephens still sees improvement, but his happy with the work Nicholas is doing. To finish off class, they worked on bigger and smaller, counting up to 60 in which Nicholas counted up to 30 by himself, counted by 2 and worked on +&-. During the +&-, Nicholas worked on using circles to make up the question and get the answer to complete the activity. After class was over, he ate a good dinner and took his seven pills with fruit punch that he does on Thursday's and went to sleep.

January 6th: All Kings Day!!! Nicholas was happy to listen to mommy tell him about All Kings Day in spanish and what it meant and also knowing there was a gift for him at the end of the day after all his therapy. Nicholas started off the day with Ms. Brown in occupational therapy. They started off therapy with Nicholas working on taking off his jacket and putting it back on, taking off and putting on his gloves and other independent exercise. When that activity was done, they focused on motor skills. He started tracing each and every letter of the alphabet, dot-to-dot writing, coloring and staying inside the lines and boundaries.Ms. Bown was happy with his coloring and knows he can do better. They did more writing and wrote his name while conversating. The finished off class by cutting and pasting objects. She had him cut animals, objects and shapes and then paste it into the right box. After therapy with Ms. Brown, he walked over to Ms. Yassaman. During therapy they worked on language arts, connecting words, syllables, clearing up words in his speech, conversation and some writing of letters to show which ones are giving home problems in pronunciation. Later on during the day after therapy, class with Mr. Stephens was cancelled. Nicholas sat down and watch some television, read some books with mommy and went to sleep.

January 5th: One thing about Nicholas when he doesn't have therapy before class with Mr. Stephens, he gets up with energy and just wants to try everything around the apartment. Today he just wanted to read most of the Thomas & Friends book that we have, do some coloring and watch some television. With no therapy, he likes to sit down and watch Bob The Builder and Thomas and Friends. Once those shows are over, he get a leg massage from mommy, do some leg and walking exercise and get ready for Mr. Stephens. Today Mr. Stephens introduced Nicholas to money. They went over the value of cents in which Mr. Stephens had him count in different number to get a total of how cents he put in a row. He worked of letter recognition and sounds, family letters, coloring and matching and finished off with writing his name. With all the energy he used all day, Nicholas went to bed right after dinner and taking his medications. Nicholas smile and brightness is keeping the family strong and positive during these tough times we're going through and we're thankful of him knowing that no sad faces are allowed in the house. His fighting courage and spirit shows the world even though he is only 3 years old and battling leukemia and getting back to walk and run again, his smile and cheerfulness brights up the day.

January 4th: Nicholas was ready to see to Ms. Angelie who he has not seen in two weeks. Once Nicholas got to the rehab center he jumped into the arms of Ms. Angelie full of joy and happiness. Ms. Angelie gave him a good long hard working therapy today. They started doing some running and walking around the gym. There was a couple times that he stumbled to the mat, but got right back up. She played kicked the ball with him, but he still is not using the left a lot like she would to see him use it. For the couple times he kicked with his left, it sometimes came from the knee instead of his foot. After the kicking the ball, they took a little break. Once the break was over, they did some stretching exercise, ups and downs to strengthen up the waist, throwing the ball with both hands and then one hand at a time and finished off class with a obstacle course and Nicholas jumping into a pool of plastic balls. Ms. Angelie was happy with Nicholas' workout, but see more improvement out of Nicholas. His balance has gotten much better, his built back the majority of his strength back of what he lost during the early part of his chemotherapy and his endurance is getting better. Much work ahead to get him back strong and healthy again. Now that Nicholas is not taking a afternoon nap, he was ready for Mr. Stephens' class. he ate a good lunch, watch some television and was ready. To start off the first class of the new year, Nicholas did a puzzle in which had him coordinate by colors and shapes and then build up the puzzle the right away. When he finished with the puzzle, they went over new letters of family letter and connecting letters. Mr. Stephens wanted to see if Nicholas recognized some words while reading a book and letting read a sentence if he understood what he was reading by connecting letters. They also did bigger/smaller, animals recognition and first letter of animal during pronunciation and finished off writing his name. Later on after dinner he played with his trains, watch some television and went to bed.

January 3rd: We wanted to go to mass together as a family for the first Sunday of the year, but it was bitter and windy cold outside to take out Nicholas, so daddy went to mass close to house in walking distance. Today was full of activities day for Nicholas. With no work on Sunday's for now, daddy is home while looking for a job. Nicholas was up by sunrise and it was painful for mommy and daddy who were looking for a little extra sleep since mass is at 11am. Right away he wanted to do stuff, but he had to eat breakfast first. Once he knew he wasn't going to mass, he just wanted to play. We fist played with his train set and made his tracks, once he was tired of his trains, we played with the computer given to him by Mr. Stephens. We went over letter recognition, finding the missing letter, bigger/smaller, numbers, finding missing numbers and getting him adjusted to the keys with a concentration in which you have to find the right key before the number or letter go off the screen. We took a little break and came back with him doing some coloring of matching a pattern, tracing and writing some numbers. Next activity was playing with his tool set, then reading some stories from a Blues Clues book given to him by his Angel Betty and finished off the day with conversation with answers and questions. After eating dinner and taking his medications, Nicholas was knockout with all the activities and the walking exercise he did around the apartment. Once he was sleeping, mommy and daddy did chores around the apartment and getting his clothes ready for physical therapy on Monday and checking out his schedule for the week. Nicholas had a good weekend in which he did a good amount of walking and his endurance is getting better and activities in which he is enjoys doing. He ate good and we're happy especially after having a dosage of vincristine chemotherapy medication on New Year's Eve. Usually the vincristine takes away some appetite after three-to-four days, but for now he is eating everything and this weekend he ate a lot of fruits.

January 2nd: Today we spent the day shopping for some clothes that Nicholas needs. Thank god for the gift certificates he got for christmas. He is growing to much during his battle with cancer. He needed a pair of slippers in which we found, several sweatpants for his daily physical therapy workouts and some nice tops in which he needed since he grew out of the old ones. The slippers was most important since we have wooden floors and the days are getting colder we have to keep his foot warm since he is walking a little better now. Once we got back home, he watched some television, ate some pork fried rice and ate some fruits. With all the walking he did while shopping, his legs got a good workout and his body was tired.

January 1st: HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!!! We brought in the new year quiet. Mommy and daddy stayed up till the ball dropped in Times Square and Nicholas was sleeping right after taking his seven pills on Thursday's after dinner. Most of the day Nicholas spent the day playing with his train set, reading some books with mommy and doing some practice of writing his name and numbers.  

December 31st: Nicholas got this morning and rushed straight to window, because he wanted to see the snow falling from the sky. We were expecting some snow, but later in the day than right away in the morning before taking Nicholas to chemotherapy. Mommy and daddy split up with mommy going to do laundry and daddy took Nicholas to get a dosage of vincristine chemotherapy medication today. We drove slow during the snow dropping off mommy and driving to the hospital. Today was a lucky day in parking as we got one close to the hospital. Nicholas was all smiles walking into the oncology department and jumped right into Nurse Nelly's arms as she was going to do the check up, take out his blood for the blood test and give him the vincristine. He was all into Nelly while getting his temperature, heart rate and getting his height and weight. Since his last trip to the oncologist on December 3rd, Nicholas gained one pound and grew one inch. He went from 54pds to 55 pds and grew from 42 to 43 1/2 inches. Now that he is burning calories with all the physical therapy he is getting and also he can walk and run more a little he is getting back in shaoe day-by-day. Later on Nelly took he blood in which tears started coming down his eyes once he saw the needles, but everything was quick and easy that he didn't realized he was done and almost ready to go home. He got checked out by Dr. Freed and hse gave him a good bill of health. Nicholas continues to fight his cancer head on and everyday he is taking bigger steps to walk alone and run like all the kids. Before leaving he wanted to color and trace some letters. While writing daddy spoke with the Kevin's mother and father, before leaving. Kevin was diagnosed with the same cancer as Nicholas last week and the parents just wanted to get some info about the treatment and what to expect. I told them take it day-by-day no rush and listen and pay attention to the doctors, nurses and make sure he takes all his medications at home. The next chemotherapy session for Nicholas is January 28th, 2010 in which he is going to start a new cycle. We left the hospital to get mommy, but got lucky again as mommy's brother Hermilo job sent him early, so he picked up mommy at that laundry to save daddy a drive and we could go straight home from the hospital. Once we got home Nicholas had to take his medication after taking a dosage of vincristine, seven pills of Thursday and later on at night before the new year kicks in he usually late night chemotherapy medication. We thank god that our Nicholas is with us going into the New Year 2010, that he is walking and realizing that his hard waork is getting back strong in both mind and body, that he 1 year and several months into his cancer treatment and on the road of beating his cancer, to see him smile with joy and happiness even though he is fighting hard and knowing what he going through and to thank all the doctors and nurses for taking care of Nicholas, family and friends for the support. Even though we're struggling financially, we have to stay positive and hope 2010 can bring us joy of daddy getting a full-time job, getting out of this financial mess we're in right now and look at a brighter future ahead with hard work and fight. Thank you god for looking over us and keeping us strong as we fight for the best to make sure Nicholas beats his cancer and that 2010 brings us the best. We want to thank everybody for the support, caring, love and bringing a smile to our son Nicholas and the family as Nicholas continues his battle to beat his cancer. .

December 30th: With New York City schools on christmas vacation, Mr. Stephens is coming in the moring to do class. The start of class was not good for Nicholas, as he was not cooperating with Mr. Stephens for the first 10 minutes of the 1 1/2 class. After getting Nicholas' attention back into class, they worked on 1-on-1 correspondence, +&- by 2, word identification, character-complex-regular shapes, word families, penmanship and finish class with conversation. Right after Mr. Stephens was gone, Nicholas had to get ready for occupational and speech therapy. Today Ms. Brown focused on doing finger and hand exercise of using dough and other objects to some strength back into Nicholas' fingers and hands. After relaxing his hands, Nicholas did some coloring and writing. When he finished with Ms. Brown, he walked into Ms. Yassaman for speech therapy. She started with 1-on-1 conversation, working on the letter F and working on clarity of word while tallking to each other. When that activity was done, she had paste objects on a paper in which she tested him on locations and objects around the house and what they're used for. He did a good job. After four hours of working with Mr. Stephens, Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassamam, Nicholas did a good job of working four straight hours with his teacher and therapist.

NICHOLAS' WORK OF ART OF CONNECTING COMETS DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY WITH TASHA.

December 29th: Nicholas started out his day at physical therapy with Tasha. Before leaving the aprtment with daddy, mommy warned Nicholas to behave good with Tasha, because the last two therapy with Tasha, Nicholas didn't give his full cooperation for the full hour. He started slow at first, but for the rest of the session, Tasha said he behaved good as he was left alone, as daddy had to go to oncology to order some medications. Today Tasha was working on Nicholas walking and lifting up his foot to walk over a rope and a block in the even bars, worked of his throwing motion and give a full length, kicking a ball to work on improving the reflexing of his left foot more, ups and downs. To finish off class Nicholas made molecule comet connecting set standing up with no support from Tasha. After leaving Tasha, Nicholas had to get redy for Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens had Nicholas continue to work on + & -. He had Nicholas work on making up a +&- question by using objects and animals and finding the answer. After finding a answer to 3+4=7, Nicholas had to write the three numbers to complete the activitity. Next up they did more word families, language arts, letter recognition and finished off class with writing his name. Later on after taking his medications, daddy and Nicholas made up his train with the new tracks and trains in which covered most of the living room floor mat.

THE 2009 MODESTIN FAMILY CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATED BY MOMMY AND NICHOLAS.   

December 28th: With no physical therapy with Ms. Angelie, we made Mr. Stephens come in the morning to make up the time. Nicholas is a different student in the morning than the afternoon. He is a little more active in class and bouncing of energy. Today the started off class with a puzzle in which Nicholas had to coordinate the puzzle by color, size and mount it by size of circle. Next he did some writing of his name in which today was one of his best writing, letter recognition, language arts, and letter sounds. Next activity Nicholas ask was word families in which he did a solid job today of pronunciation. To finish of class they did some +&- and numbers. Mr. Stephens left with a smile after having a good class with Nicholas. For the rest of day he played with his train set and tool set before heading to bed.

NICHOLAS FULL OF JOY AND HAPPINESS AFTER OPENING UP HIS CHRISTMAS GIFTS OF NEW TRAINS. 

December 27th: The family went to mass at mommy's church for the last Sunday of the year. Nicholas was asking questions in church of what is going on and during the time mommy and daddy was explaining the activities during mass. After mass, we did some chores, went home, watch football and sat down and watched a movie before heading to bed.

NICHOLAS, MOMMY AND THE HOST LIDIA (FAMOUS ITALIAN CHEF & OWNER OF BECCO RESTURANT) DURING THE CHRISTMAS DINNER FEAST 2009 AT BECCO RESTURANT FOR CANCER.   

December 26th: The family spent day relaxing and playing with Nicholas' new toys and trains. The day was ugly as it just rained and rained and it was cold.

NICHOLAS, MOMMY, ANDRES, JESUS, MARIBEL AND DADDY AT THE TABLE DURING THE CHRISTMAS DINNER FEAST 2009 AT BECCO RESTURANT FOR CANCER.  

NICHOLAS FINALLY EATING HIS SPAGHETTI PLATE DURING THE CHRISTMAS DINNER FEAST 2009 AT BECCO RESTURANT FOR CANCER.  

NICHOLAS MAKING A GINGER BREAD HOUSE DURING THE CHRISTMAS DINNER FEAST 2009 AT BECCO RESTURANT FOR CANCER. 

December 25th: After coming back from dinner from aunt Michele's house the night got colder so we decided to keep Nicholas inside and daddy went to midnight mass alone. The mass was great and music was splendid, a little chilly inside but no complaints. Once christmas came, we decided to let Nicholas open up all his christmas gift after dinner instead of before. The reason is is because we knew Santa dropped several gifts of trains and tracks from Thomas and Friends and if Nicholas opened those gift, he wasn't going to move and wasn't going nowhere. He got up full of energy, ate a good bowl of oatmeal and was ready for dinner at Becco Resturant. From the morning all Nicholas wanted to eat was spaghetti and that was his only taste bud and going to a italian resturant today was out lucky day. We got to the resturant and were greeted by Lidia and her grandmother at the door. The resturant staff walked us to our table. We thought we were going to be on the same table with the Gomez family, but we were alone. We asked to be connected with the Gomez family and it was very nice of the staff to connect us with the Gomez family. Nicholas has a connection with the Gomez family since Andres was diagnosed a week later after Nicholas back in September 2008 with leukemia. The staff got us to the Gomez and the rest of the dinner was beautiful. During the dinner, Nicholas made a ginger bread house, did some coloring while waiting for his dinner and got a gift from Santa. Santa and Becco gave Nicholas a Yo Gabba Gabba computer with games, numbers, letters and music. Before the main meal came, Candlelighters had each family put a ribbon to fight cancer on a christmas tree and to also take a family portrait with Lidia. After taking the picture this is were the fun begins with Nicholas. Today the resturant had all the sweet good italian food and three different kind of pasta for the main course meal, but not one course had long spaghetti. The staff tried everything to make Nicholas happy with all different style, pasta, but his only taste at 3- years old for the day was long spaghetti. The staff was smiling and several minutes later a big plate of long spaghetti was made for Nicholas. He ate half the spaghetti and mommy and daddy were happy to see Nicholas smiling and eating good. Couple staff members came over to ask Nicholas of his spaghetti and he said it was good with a smile. Later on dessert came and daddy was all smiles to eat all the sweet food. They brought out ice cream, chocolate cake and moose, pudding, cheese cake and coffee which mommy loved. Lidia came by to see how the family was doing and we took another picture with her. Ms. Barbara of Candlelighters came over to see how the family was doing. Ms. Barbara is one woman who cares, supports and brings a smile to kids and families battling cancer and we Thank her a lot for she has done for the Modestin Family and Nicholas. After dinner was over we said goodbye to everybody, Nicholas gave Lidia her christmas card. On the way out the resturant, mommy got a autographed cooking book by Lidia and Nicholas got a bag of cookies and chocolates. Everybody was stuffed but the best part of the day was to come. Once we got home Nicholas started opened up his christmas gift. We first decided to let him open up the gifts from his chemo angels. Angel Kathy gave him a book on African Jungle animals and a pair of binaculars, Angel Betty to finish off her 25 gifts of christmas a little people town gift, a blanket and picture frame, Angel Monika gave his a book to read. After smiling and saying amazing for each gift, he opened up his gift given by his cousins Chanel and Christiaan. The box by his cousins had several trains from Thomas and Friends, but one was Henry and his eyes lit of joy knowing a the train he always wanted was in his hands. Next was a gift by daddy in which was more trains and tracks to join Nicholas' Thomas and Friend train set collection. Mommy gave him a tool set in which he liked, but the gift that was going to make Nicholas jumo around was last to open by mommy. Mommy gave him a Lighting McQueen car that makes noise and says "I'm Lighting McQueen" he was loving that toy. He hugged it, kissed it and just wanted to play with it all night. After seeing his new trains and tracks, Nicholas and daddy built his new train set with new tracks and trains and it was big as it expanded. Nicholas still has some gifts left from his uncles and cousins from upstate who are coming later to visit. His aunt Michele and Yvette gave him gift certificates, aunt Dahlia gave him some clothes and uncle Hermilo and family gave him gift certificate. THANK YOU LIDIA AND BECCO RESTURANT - THANK YOU BARBARA AND CANDLELIGHTERS FOR THE GREAT CHRISTMAS DINNER AND DAY.

BECCO vs CANCER CHRISTMAS FEAST 2009 AT BECCO RESTURANT.

December 24th Christmas Eve: Today mommy is going to the hair stylist, while Nicholas will be at his cousins Chanel and Christiaan playing till mommy is finished. When mommy is finished Nicholas is going to cut his hair and we go bakc home. During that time daddy is going to run toysrus and changed one of Nicholas' Thomas and Friends train that we have a double, because he got two Billy's. Later on at night we going to dinner at daddy's sister Michele for dinner and after dinner we're going to midnight mass. Aunt Yvette came in ffrom Boston for christmas dinner.

December 23rd: The usual long Wednesday's full of therapy and class for Nicholas turned into a fun day for Nicholas. His occupational therapy with Brown at the rehab center turned into a day of arts and crafts with conversation during class. She helped Nicholas make a christmas card for christmas dinner. We got invited to for dinner by Candlelighters at Becco Resturant . The resturant is owned by the famous italian chef Lidia and son Joseph who are hosting the dinner for families who battling cancer. Nicholas made a beautiful card using his foot and hand. Next up he walked into speech therapy for the second hour of therapy in which he made another christmas card. While making a snowman card, Ms. Yassaman went over letter pronunciations and conversation with Nicholas. Overall he had a fun day in therapy. The therapist say, he has improved with his speech, but still work ahead of getting out of his shyness and speaking more in public. He does good one-on-one once he gets to know you, but a new person he feels wne wants to know before speaking. When class was over Nicholas was full of energy that he was all smiles and jumpy. He gave out his christmas card to Ms. Brown, Ms. Yassaman, Ms. Rochelle the rehab manager and Mr. Stefan the administrator. With all the energy in him, Nicholas was wide awake with no intention to sleep. So when Mr. Stephens came later in the afternoon, he was ready for class. Mr. Stephens just came by to leave gifts and give Nicholas a short class. He gave daddy a bottle of wine, mommy a candle and Nicholas a little laptop full of educational activities for a kid his age. Mr. Stephens showed Nicholas how to use the game and showed mommy and daddy the activities that will help and improved Nicholas in different areas. To finish off class, Nicholas played with the laptop until his body and miond got tired and went to sleep.

NICHOLAS WORKING OUT HIS NEW LAPTOP GIVEN TO HIM BY MR. STEPHENS(INSET) 

December 22nd: Nicholas starts off his day with physical therapy with Tasha at the hospital. He didn't cooperate with Tasha's instructions today and just wanted to do his own lesson. He started the therapy good going through the even bars and a balance bean in the even bars to see how he walks crossing his feet while walking the balance beam. He did a good job, walking both forward and backwards. After the balance beam the fun started of Nicholas not listening to Tasha. She tried several exercise and he wasn't cooperating and then she finally got him to work with a medicine ball. He worked the ball the length of the room and then toosed the ball every other step and to finish off he kicked the ball. Tasha stopped the therapy couple times to get his attention so he could do a exercise. She had him walked between cones, ups and downs and to finish off class a speed walking drill to see his endurance and balance. When therapy was over, Nicholas gave Tasha a big hug, her christmas card and held her for awhile knowing he had a bad day in therapy. After leaving Tasha, he went over to Ms. Barbara and gave her a christmas card for the physical therapy and rehab department. Nicholas later went up stairs to say hello and wish Merry Christmas and give out his christmas cards to his oncologist, nurses and other doctors on the pediatric floor. With no class with Mr. Stephens today, Nicholas just relaxed and slept for the rest of the day.

NICHOLAS WALKING THE RED LINE BEFORE HIS OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY CLASS AT THE REHAB CENTER.

December 21st: Relaxing day for Nicholas today. His physical therapy at the rehab center with Ms. Angelie was cancelled, because she had a family emergency to attend. So before heading to the hospital later in afternoon to measure his foot for his orthapedic shoes, he did some coloring, number writing and played with his trains. During the time waiting we got a call from nurse Lynda about a family at the hospital. Funny how life works sometimes. Last Friday after physical therapy with Tasha and while mommy and daddy was speaking to the oncologist about needing insoles, Nicholas met a little boy in the playroom and they connected right away, because both of them were big fans of Thomas & Friends trains. While the boys were watching Thomas, mommy was talking to the boy mother about Nicholas' leukemia and his battle of getting his strength back to walk again. Come to find out from Lynda's call, the boy was diagnosed with leukemia after several test and a spinal tap this morning. She ask us if we could see the boy tomorrow while Nicholas is with Tasha in physical therapy and talk to the parents. With Christmas right around the corner we know how the parents feel right now and especially spending time in the hospital around the holidays. Nicholas wasn't in the hospital around the holidays when he got diagnosed back in September 2008 and spending a month in the hospital. The intense chemotherapy he was getting around the holidays took a toll on the family. Mommy will go talk and support the parents and when Nicholas is done with physical therapy will stop by and say hello. We go to the hospital to see the foot doctor for Nicholas' measurement. Nicholas was all smiles walking through the tunnel to another building connected with The Brooklyn Hospital Center and once he got to the office he was a little shy at first, but after relaxed. He got his foot measured in a foam, laughed and smiled with the podiatrist and we left. On the home after getting out the taxi, Nicholas jumped around in the snow a little before heading upstairs. Now that the christmas tree is up, all Nicholas wants to do once it gets dark outside is put the tree on and look at the blinking lights before going to sleep.

December 20th: We got up to see the city covered up in snow. Nicholas wanted to go outside and play in the snow, but it was cold and slippery outside. Instead of going outside, he stayed inside and helped his mommy decorate the christmas tree. Mommy set up a navity scene and spoke to Nichola of the meaning. He wanted a christmas tree and he got it as he happpy to see the lights on later on at night.

NICHOLAS PLAYING IN THE SNOW AFTER THE SNOWSTORM. 

December 19th. During the week after making a snowman, santa and a christmas tree in therapy, Nicholas aks mommy is we were getting a tree and she said yes. Even though the family is struggling right now as daddy continues to look for a full-time job, we decided to have a simple Christmas this year. We will get a tree and get Nicholas one gift that he really wants from Santa.We went to toy shopping first in which mommy got him a Home Depot Tool Set and a Lighting McQueen car and daddy got him couple trains and tracks to add to his Thomas and Friends train set. After leaving the store, mommy went shopping for a small tree and ornaments. While mommy was in the store, it started snowing a little and by the time we got home, teh snow was coming down. Nicholas spent most of his time looking out the window at the snow falling. Later at night we sat down as a family watch a movie and Nicholas read a book and went to sleep.Nicholas will be happy on Christmas see his new trains, Lighting McQueen car and his tool set as Mr. Stephens introduced him to tools one day during class and he enjoyed that time with his tools in class. Last week Nicholas had a slow appetite after taking his seven pills last week Thursday, this weekend he is eating good, as he ate his arrow con pollo, spaghetti and a oatmeal.

NICHOLAS OPENING UP ONE OF DAILY CHRISTMAS GIFTS SENT BY HIS ANGEL BETTY - HE GOT A SPIDERMAN WATCH)   

December 18th: Nicholas' day started out early this morning as he had a appoitment with the podiatrist. Last week Tasha told us Nicholas needed insoles to get more balance on his feet, well today after seeing the podiatrist, Nicholas is going to be getting insoles and also will be getting pediatric orthopedic shoes to get his left foot back straight. The podiatris made Nicholas walk with his shoes and socks and couls see his left foot twisting in a little and his right foot straight and right away picked up the problem and ordered Nicholas to come back Monday 12/21 to get fitted for his shoes. After the podiatrist, Nicholas walked to physical therapy with Tasha. During his workout with Tasha today, they worked on cones and having Nicholas kicked the cones with both feet, but again working on getting more mobility of his left foot. Today he use the left more than last week. After the kicking of the cones she worked on hand coordination in which she use big clips to hang up clothes to see the strength in Nicholas hand as he squeezes the clip. Tasha had him coordinate the clips by colors and lines. He did a good job and showed strength in his fingers. Later on in the session Tasha spreaded out the cones again for Nicholas to work on bending down and doing ups and downs to clean up before ending his therapy. When therapy was over we went ARRIBA to visit his oncologist to let her know what happen with the podiatrist. Dr. Sadanandan was happy to see Nicholas get the insoles and his shoes since he has made progress of getting back his strength into his legs to walk and run again. She also ordered Nicholas to get some knee pads so he he falls sometimes his knees would not feel the impact. After leaving hospital we went home to get ready for Mr. Stephens. Nicholas was tired from physical therapy so he took a nap before getting ready for sleep. Once he got up Mr. Stephens called that he was on his way. Today during class they focused on +&- in which he had Nicholas fill in the blanks by reading the problems and seeing the number of objects to get the question and answer. After doing +&-, they counted up 70. Nicholas counted up to the mid 30 by himself and then got help by Mr. Stephens up to 70. They later went on to work on letter families, lettr recognition and word combination and finished off class with Nicholas writing his name twice alone. Mr. Stephens is only using two dots in Nicholas full name. He is putting one so Nicholas to start the letter N and on the letter O so he can get a full circle. After class was done, he played with Thomas and Friends train set opened up his daily 25 days of Christmas gift by his
ngel Betty. Today's gift was coloring book of Mickey Mouse and friends Christmas. Nicholas colored for a while the face of Mickey, before calling it a day. He was tired and he went to sleep.

NICHOLAS COLORING HIS MICKEY MOUSE CHRISTMAS COLORING BOOK GIVEN TO HIM BY HIS CHEMO ANGEL BETTY DURING HER 1-25 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS GIFTS. 

December 17th: Nice and relaxing day for Nicholas until class in the afternoon with Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens was suppose to give Nicholas a hour class today, but they went a extra when Nicholas wanted to continue doing more work. Today they focued on literary. They went over word families, letter recognization, matching words and matching words to objects. Mr. Stephens says Nicholas is improving recognizing the word first instead of the object first. They finished off class counting up to 40. Later on after after Mr. Stephens left Nicholas open up his daily gift from his Angel Betty in which he got a coloring Christmas book of Mickey and Friends in which he colored all night. Angel Betty gave Nicholas a box of toys in which everyday he had to open up one gift all the way till Christmas Day. 

NICHOLAS GETTING HIS CHRISTMAS GIFT FROM SANTA DURING THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER PEDIATRIC CHRISTMAS PARTY.    

December 16th: Nicholas' start of at the rehab center was moved up a hour, because Ms. Brown was stuck meetings all morning so his occupational therapy went from 12-1pm followed by speech therapy 1-2pm. During the first hour with Ms. Brown, Nicholas spent most of the therapy doing arts and crafts. He did a snowman and a christmas tree and finished off the class doing more coloring. For the last several weeks, Ms. Brown has been happy with Nicholas attention and focus in therapy and understing the work in front of him. Ms. Yassaman work on letters E, F, V in which is giving Nicholas some trouble pronuncing. She spent most of the class focusing on these letters and making sure Nicholas understands what he is saying. She finished off the class with Nicholas following directions of in and out and answering a question by posting the objects on paper to the right subject. Later on in the afternoon with no sleep in mind, he was ready for Mr. Stephens. Right of the bat, Mr. Stephens had Nicholas playing with colors and shapes. He gave Nicholas a minute to separate the shapes by colors in order of size and name of shape when he started the clock. When the game was over, Mr. Stephens went over the 100 word families and word combinations he has taught Nicholas. Out the 100, Nicholas got 81 words right. After working on words, they did letter sounds and finished off class with +&- in which everyday Nicholas is understanding how to read and get the answer. This time around he just had objects in which Nicholas had to count the objects and fill in the missing numbers to complete the +&- question.

NICHOLAS WITH MOMMY AND NURSE LYNDA DURING THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER PEDIATRIC CHRISTMAS PARTY.   

NICHOLAS WITH MOMMY AND NURSE NELLY DURING THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER PEDIATRIC CHRISTMAS PARTY.  

December 15th: After having no class with Mr. Stephens because Mr. Stephens got stuck at work, Nicholas wanted to try everything around the apartment. We first started with leg exercise, then starting throwing around the football, then we started kicking the soccer ball and making sure he kicks the ball mostly with is left foot and to finish off we did some writing of his name and did some +&-. 

NICHOLAS WITH MOMMY, DR. SEDRAK (L) & DR. SADANANDAN DURING THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER PEDIATRIC CHRISTMAS PARTY. 

December 14th: Nicholas started off his day working out with Ms. Angelie at the rehab center for physical therapy. She started off the class working on building up the middle strength of his body. Nicholas first pushed a barrell, then did some running around the gym, kicked and pushed a medicine ball and to finished off class she had him stand on a balancing board and practice writing his name to work on his balance. Ms. Angelie also picked up that Nicholas needs to build the left side of his body. One thing about the workouts with Ms. Angelie, Nicholas comes out tired but happy with his therapy. Later on in the afternoon, he had class with Mr. Stephens. He worked on writing his name, working on word families and connecting words, numbers, sounds of letters and objects. To finishoff class they had conversation.

(NICHOLAS KICKING THE BALLOON DURING THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER PEDIATRIC CHRISTMAS PARTY)

December13th: Nicholas rested and relaxed. During the afternoon he did some homework, ate and good dinner and wemnt to sleep.

(NICHOLAS WALKING ALONE DURING CONE MOUNATIN EXERCISE DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY WITH TASHA AT THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER)    

December 12th: Today was the Christmas party at The Brooklyn Hospital Center for the kids in the pediatric department. Nicholas was full of energy and ready to head to the fiesta. Once he got to the party he jumped into the arms of nurse Lynda, then gave his oncologist Dr. S a hug while the the doctor took a picture with mommy. After a seat and putting down our jackets, Nicholas was ready to party. He first got himself a made balllon, then went over to make mommy a Merry Christmas card and then went on to the dance floor to play with other kids. He was running up and down, kicking the ballons and throwing ballons all over the place. He sat down for awhile to eat a piece of cake and when he was done, he want back to the arts and crafts to make a snowman. After making a snowman and getting glue all over himself, Santa finally came out to greet the kids. Nicholas sat down to hear his name to get his gift from Santa. When he name was called he ran to Santa with mommy and he got a beautiful gift. He got a lego style Pirate Ship in which he has to build. We had a great time at the party and it was time to go home and get some rest before going to mass to celebrate The Virgin of Guadalupe. We got to mass super early to get a good seat and during that time daddy ask the priesst who baptisez Nicholas, to give Nicholas a blessing during his battle to beat his cancer. Mass started a little late, because the mariachi band was running late, but once they showed up, mass started. The mariachis sounded great and for every song, Nicholas was asking what is the name of the song to mommy and daddy. When mass was over, the priest called the family to the altar and gave Nicholas a full blessing. We went downstairs to eat some food and get a Virgin of Guadalupe and went home.

(NICHOLAS WORKING OUT THE EVEN BARS WALKING UP AND DOWN BLOCKS DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY WITH TASHA AT THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER)   

December 11th: Funny things and chemotherapy medication. Everytime Nicholas has a spinal tap, his gets a big appetite and eats good for about couple weeks and then when he takes his seven pills on Thursday, his appetite sometimes takes a dip. Since his spinal tap last week on the 3rd, he is eating good, but after taking his seven pills yesterday, he wasn't feeling a big appetite today. After eating a bowl of cereal he was ready for physical therapy with Tasha. Today Tasha focused on building up the strength in Nicholas' foot. She had walk the even bars several times back and forth. Next up she got cones to have Nicholas walk around it and kick down one by one. During the exercise Tasha picked up how Nicholas was kicking good with his right foot, but the left foot was not flowing good with the kick. He took a break to slow down and then continued doing lots of ups and downs picking up the cones. When the therapy was over, Tasha walked up with Nicholas to the oncology department, to let them know to find a foot doctor to get Nicholas some insoles to balance his feet. Later on in the afternoon he had class with Mr. Stephens. Today he only had class for a hour, so they did a lot of writing of his name both tracing and alone and finished off class with reading + & - questions with Nicholas given the answer. 

(NICHOLAS OPENING UP ONE OF DAILY CHRISTMAS GIFTS SENT BY HIS ANGEL BETTY)   

December 10th: With no class and rehab during the day for Nicholas, he spent his day doing some walking exercise and writing his name and numbers. For the last couple days since he writing and tracing his name and numbers, Nicholas when he has nothing to do, just wants to write and do numbers. After takeing a afternoon nap since he got up early around 6am, he was ready for class with Mr. Stephens. Today Mr. Stephens started out class with arts and crafts in which Nicholas made a snowman and after the snowman he went into word families, word combinations, reading words before objects, connecting words with objects and to finish off class they did some writing and tracing of his name.

(THE CANDLELIGHTERS GROUP PICTURE WITH SANTA DURING CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION FOR CANCER KIDS AT BLOMMINGDALES)   

December 9th: Long Wednesday as we call this day with Nicholas. This day is he longest day for him since he has occupational, speech and class in the afternoon. The day was ugly as it rained most of the day and it was also cold, so we drove Nicholas to the rehab center instead of walking. His day started out with Ms. Brown with occupational therapy. Today they focused on word combinations. motor skills and finished off class with writing. Next up was Ms. Yassaman in which she based her class of following instructions walking around the street and following the instructions of street signs. Later on in the afternoon he had class with Mr. Stephens. Most of the week Mr. Stephens is concentrating on making learn how to read a word before objects, word combinations, word families and understanding what he is reading. They went over +&- and added numbers by 2 up to 10. They finished up class writing his name.

(THE CANDLELIGHTERS GROUP PICTURE WITH CBS EARLY SHOW HOST CHRIS WRAGGE DURING CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION FOR CANCER KIDS AT FAO SCHWARZ)  

December 8th: With nothing to do during the day, Nicholas spent his morning doing leg exercise and watching some television before having class in the afternoon with Mr. Stephens. This week Mr. Stephens is focusing on consent blends and word families in which is teaching Nicholas how to read sentences and part of books. Today "ing: was the word families and after going through the alphabet with "ing" they switch over to a book in which Nicholas recognized words using the word familes he has practiced with. Before educational part of class started, Nicholas did some arts and crafts in which he built a Christmas tree. When the word families was done, Mr. Stephens taught more + & - to Nicholas and got him more understanding how to read a +&- problems with a answer at the end. Nicholas is recognizing how to read the problem and counting the objects to get the answer to the problem. After math they finished off class with writing his name. Nicholas traced three lines and wrote two lines alone. For everyday he writing has improved that he is going in a straight line.

                  NICHOLAS ENJOYING WATCHING THE TRAIN SET DURING THE CANDLELIGHTERS CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION FOR CANCER KIDS AT FAO SCHWARZ)  

December 7th: Nicholas gets up bright and early at sunrise and decided just to wake up mommy and leave daddy sleeping. After about a hour he turned around and woke up daddy to read a book. Nicholas had a long day today that started with Ms. Angelie at the rehab center and later in the afternoon class with Mr. Stephens. Ms. Angelie who has given Nicholas strong workouts when they get together, started out the class doing dancing steps to work on leg coordination and to make Nicholas use most of the strength in his waist to move his whole body. Next up after the dancing, he did some zig zag through cones and tires, the obstacle course and finished off jumping into the pool of rubber balls. To finish off class she had throwing a rubber baseball back and forth with her. Nicholas continues to improve in his physical therapy classes with Ms. Angelie and she says his body is getting used to the workout and the structure of the therapy session. Once he goy home from therapy he ate a bowl of macaroni and cheeses and went to sleep before getting ready for Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens got a good focused class out of Nicholas today and was happy with his listening and participation. They started out with writing his name by tracing first and then writing it out alone. The next activity was + & - symbols and Nicholas is starting to recognized how to read to the question and look at the answer of how many objects equal 1+2=3, he later went on to do read the 2 tables of 2,4,6,8,10 by using blocks of two and while doing numbers he got introduced to the clock and learning how to use the hands of the clocks and the numbers. To finish off class they did pre reading of combining the word families he has learned to read of the sentence. When Mr. Stephens was over, he played with his Thomas & Friends until his eyes and body was tired and went to sleep.

(NICHOLAS WALKING AROUND DURING THE CANDLELIGHTERS CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION FOR CANCER KIDS AT FAO SCHWARZ)  

December 6th: Today was a relaxing and hanging out day at home.

(NICHOLAS TAKING A BREAK AS HE REST ON DADDY'S SHOULDERS DURING THE CANDLELIGHTERS CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION FOR CANCER KIDS AT FAO SCHWARZ)  

December 5th: The day started out very early in the morning, because we were invited to the CBS Morning Early Show at FAO Schwarz. The show was broadcast from the store and after we were invited to Bloomindale's to spend coupld hours with Santa. We left the apartment early and had a tough time finding parking in the city. After finding parking we headed to FAO Schwarz in which we saw the show and Nicholas walked around the store checking out toys and stopping at every toy that had a train which he could see the working and that he could push the start buttom to make train going around the tracks. We went back to the big piano were the show had a segment and then after the segment the Candlelighters took a picture with Chris Wragge. When the festivities were done at FAO, we went over to Bloomindale's to finish off the day with Santa. Nicholas was a little timid getting close to Santa, but he took a picture with mommy and Santa and even got to give Santa his Christmas wish list. Nicholas asked Santa for a Henry a railway train from Thomas & Friends and Lighting MacQueen from the movie "Cars". He got a nice gift from Bloomy's and a nice teddy bear. We had a great time. Nicholas full of energy when we got home, played with his Thomas & Friends train set until he was tired and went to sleep. Once we got home he took his 48hrs after spinal tap medication and later on at night he took the 60hrs medication and his daily midnight mediction.

(NICHOLAS AND MOMMY TOGETHER DURING THE CANDLELIGHTERS CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION FOR CANCER KIDS AT FAO SCHWARZ)  

December 4th: The day after having a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine was different this time around. He was full of energy. We usually cancel all activities after he has a spinal tap and vincristine, but after seeing him jump around and wanting to do stuff, we spent most of the day doing educational work. Nicholas wanted to do some number and letter writing. So we traced numbers 1-10 with both pencil and a crayon. Most of the work was done in pencil. Every number was traced first twiced and then written alone. After all the writing activities, we did some word families and read some books. Later on in the afternoon, he was suppose to have class with Mr. Stephens, but Mr. Stephens was stuck at work with a emergency so class was cancelled till Monday. With no class, we went to do some chores and get Nicholas out the apartment to do some walking exercise. When we cam back we ate dinner, gave Nicholas his medication, watch the movie "Cars" again and went to bed. 

(NICHOLAS OPENING UP ONE OF DAILY CHRISTMAS GIFTS SENT BY HIS ANGEL BETTY - IN BACKGROUND SNOWMAN MADE BY NICHOLAS DURING ARTS AND CRAFTS TIME WITH MR. STEPHENS) 

(NICHOLAS WALKING THE EVEN BARS OVER BLOCKS DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY WITH TASHA AT THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER)  

November 28th: Nicholas spends the day playing and relaxing. He wanted to go outside and do some walking exercise, but it was cold and windy so mommy kept him indoors. During the day, mommy spends a little time with Nicholas taking in Spanish. Funny thing is that Nicholas understand mostly everything that mommy is saying and sometimes he answer back in Spanish, but for now he is talking back to her in English. After all the bilingual talk, Nicholas did some walking exercise and stretched out his legs before heading to bed.

November 27th: After having a beautiful Thanksgiving, Nicholas wasn't having a big appetite the day after. Usually when he takes his seven chemotherapy on Thursday, that is when his appetite is low and takes him a while to get back the taste of eating a good meal. He wasn't feeling good in the morning so we cancelled his physical therapy with Tasha. Later on in the afternoon when he was feeling better, he had class with Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens gave Nicholas a hour today instead of the usual two hour class. Today they spent the hour tracing his name, sounds of letters, word families, conversation on how Nicholas spent his Thanksgiving and then finished off class playing Bingo.

(NICHOLAS' TURKEY MADE DURING ARTS AND CRAFTS TIME WITH MS. YASSAMAN AT THE REHAB CENTER DURING SPEECH THERAPY)  

November 26th: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! We want to wish each and everyone of you and your families all the blessing of joy, happiness, love and health this beaustiful day we call Thanksgiving. We're thankful that Nicholas is with us today. We're thankful that his health has improved. We're thankful that everyday he has taken a big step to get back walking and running again. We're thankful that everyday we get us he is smiling during his battle to beat and conquer his cancer. We're thankful for all the support, kindness, caring and love we have gotten from each and everyone of you and your families. THANK YOU. Today we will got to mass, eat a nice meal, watch the Macy's Day Parade and watch football. 

 

(NICHOLAS' TURKEY MADE DURING ARTS AND CRAFTS TIME WITH MR. STEPHENS) 

(NICHOLAS SLIPS AND LAUGHS A LITTLE DURING HIS CLIMB UP THE MOUNTAIN BEFORE JUMPING INTO POOL BALLS  AFTER GOING THROUGH OBSTACLE COURSE DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY WITH MS. ANGELIE)       

(NICHOLAS BUILDING BLOCKS AFTER CLIMBING STEPS UP AND DOWN DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY WITH MS. ANGELIE)      

(NICHOLAS AT HOME SPENDING TIME WITH HIS GRANDMOTHER)     

(NICHOLAS AT HOME SPENDING TIME WITH HIS GRANDMOTHER AND COUSIN KARINA)    

(FAO SCHWARZ TOY SOLDIER, MOMMY, NICHOLAS AND NURSE LYNDA DURING THE HALLOWEEN PARTY HOSTED BY CANDLELIGHTERS)  

(NICHOLAS DRESSED AS SUPERMAN WITH HIS FRIEND SPIDERMAN WHILE PLAYING MUSIC ON THE BIG PIANO DURING THE HALLOWEEN PARTY HOSTED BY CANDLELIGHTERS) 

(NICHOLAS HOLDING HANDS WITH MOMMY AT FIRST WEARING HIS SUPERMAN OUTFIT WHILE PLAYING MUSIC ON THE BIG PIANO DURING THE HALLOWEEN PARTY HOSTED BY CANDLELIGHTERS)                        

(FAO SCHWARZ DANCERS DANCING AND PLAYING MUSIC ON THE BIG PIANO DURING THE HALLOWEEN PARTY HOSTED BY CANDLELIGHTERS) 

(NICHOLAS DRESSED AS SUPERMAN WALKING BACK DOWN STEPS ALONE DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY WITH TASHA)       

(NICHOLAS DRESSED AS SUPERMAN PLAYING CATCH WITH LITTLE MEDICINE BALL AGAINST THE TRAMPOLINE DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY WITH TASHA) 

(NICHOLAS DANCING AND CLAPPING TO THE BEAT OF THE MUSIC ON THE FLOOR DURING THE SUNRISE DAY CAMP FAMILY DAY)

(NICHOLAS PAINTING HIS PUMPKIN DURING THE SUNRISE DAY CAMP FAMILY DAY)

(NICHOLAS AND MOMMY WITH GRANDMA BEFORE CUTTING HER BIRTHDAY CAKE)

(NICHOLAS PLAYING WITH CARS AND TRUCKS WITH HIS COUSIN MANNY DURING A VISIT TO CELEBRATE HIS GRANDMOTHER'S BIRTHDAY)

(NICHOLAS SMILES OFF HIS LOOK AFTER GETTING A HAIRCUT AT HOME PLAYING WITH HIS TRAIN SET)

(NICHOLAS GLUEING HIS WORK TO A PAPER DURING CLASS WITH MR. STEPHENS)

(NICHOLAS WALKING DOWN RED LINE ALONE BEFORE STARTING OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY WITH MS. BROWN)

(NICHOLAS COLORING AND TRACING A OBJECT DURING CLASS WITH MR. STEPHENS)

                                                                                                              

 

September 28th: Today was the day to see if Nicholas was going to connect with Mr. Stephens. Since Nicholas didn't cooperating last week, he had a two hour session today to make up the time lost. Nicholas was back into listening, focusing and paying attention to Mr. Stephens. Overall they had a good class in they worked on the letter W and went over watches and learning how to read a watch, surrounding objects, sounds of letters, read books in which Nicholas had to identify the answer by object or pointing to it in the book and build blocks by colors and shapes. Mr. Stephens was happy with Nicholas today and his concentration. Later on after class right before heading to the playground, it started to rain, so another day with no playground. Every he continues in getting back his potty training and using the toilet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                               

 

September 27th: Nicholas wanted to go to the playground, but it rained all day in the city. With no playground, Nicholas works with mommy on walking exercise, finishes up coloring the homework from yesterday and spends the whole afternoon playing around with his uncle Hermilo who came over for a visit.      

 

 

                                                                                                                

 

 

 

 

 

 

(NICHOLAS DOING SOME WEEKEND HOMEWORK LEFT BY MR. STEPHENS TO DO)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                

 

September 26th: Nicholas catches up with the homework left by Mr. Stephens. Reads a couple books with mommy in both english and spanish, plays with his Thomas and Friends train set and watches television.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                               

 

September 25th: With no class and therapy today, Nicholas spent most of the day sleeping and resting. He went to the playground late afternoon to get a workout in his legs and arms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                               

 

September 24th: Another day of Nicholas not cooperating with Mr. Stephens. After doing the letter of the day V and some numbers, Nicholas just sits in front of Mr. Stephens and shuts down. This is the first time in all the classes and therapy Nicholas is taking that he just shut down and not cooperating. We stopped class and wondered what was going on. We just decided to make Nicholas rest and relax.                       

 

 

                                                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

(NICHOLAS PICKING OUT THREE ACTIVITIES TO DO BEFORE STARTING OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY CLASS WITH MS. BROWN)

 

                                                                                                              

 

September 23rd: Wednesday is what we call a full day for Nicholas. First he has speech and occupational therapy during the day and afternoon class with Mr. Stephens. He had Ms. Brown for the first hour with occupational therapy. He wasn't listening to Ms. Brown for the first couple minutes and wanted to plan his own lesson plan, but after talking it over, he listen and had a good session. Nicholas and Ms. Brown worked on tracing objects and to see how Nicholas will trace alone on a blank page, building up his left side of body in which gets a little weak sometimes and finished off working on coordination building a train with blocks. For the next hour he work with Ms. Yassaman who continues to build his clarity in his speech during questions and answers and 1-on-1 conversation. They played a object game to see how Nicholas will handle on what the object is used for. When therapy was over, he ate a pizza on the way home and went to sleep before having class in the afternoon. Today Nicholas was not cooperating with Mr. Stephens after going through the letter of day the letter V and talking about volcanoes and violins, Nicholas just wanted to do things his own way. Mr. Stephens tried to get his attention back into class by changing up his lesson plan, but Nicholas wasn't listening, so class was cut short. After Mr. Stephens left, he gave us homework and things to do with Nicholas. Later on at night, Nicholas did his homework of tracing the letter of the day and numbers.                 

 

 

                                                                               

 

 

 

 

 

 

(NICHOLAS WITH MS. YASSAMAN DURING SPEECH THERAPY CLASS IN WHICH THEY TALKED ABOUT DIFFERENT PLACES AND OBJECTS AROUND A HOUSE)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                               

 

September 22nd: Nicholas spends the early part of day getting his legs massage by his mommy before starting to do some legs exercise and walking around the apartment. Later on during the day he had classes with Mr. Stephens in which the letter of the day was letter U in which they worked on parts of the universe. They went over connecting dots and working on Nicholas right way of holding a crayon, utilizing sentences and reading books and identifying the answer to a question.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                            

 

September 21st: With no class today with Mr. Stephens, Nicholas catches up on finishing up the homework left by Mr. Stephens and continues to practice of writing overs letters and numbers. During the afternoon, he walkes and run a little to the playground with his walker. For everyday he goes to the playground, he gets better of walking alone with no support. He falls down on the mat and right away gets back up to walk around the playground. The one thing Nicholas has to work on while running in his walker he has to keep his head to look were he is going.

 

  

 

 

(NICHOLAS AT HOME EATING SOME MCDONALD'S FRENCH FRIES AFTER HAVING A WORKOUT AT THE PLAYGROUND)

                                                                                                              

 

September 20th: Nicholas spends the day relaxing. He worked on practicing on writing over the letters he has learned from Mr. Stephens. Colored some trains in his Thomas & Friends coloring book and played on building a castle and built a make shift train with leggo.  

 

                                                                                                           

September 19th: Most of the day he spent potty training with mommy in which he went to the toilet twice. During his time from walking back and forth to the toilet, he played with his train set, colored, did some homework left by Mr. Stepehens in which he worked on writing numbers. At night mommy and Nicholas sat down and watch Madagascar 2 Escape to Africa, in which he enjoyed a lot.

 

                                                                                                                          

September 18th: We went out food shopping today, since he had no class and no physical therapy. While food shopping he wanted to walk the whole store pusshing the cart. During the walk he was also learning what mommy was buying and the names of the fruits, vegetables and other stuff she was buying. He was all smiles and joy when we got into the cereal isle in which he just wanted to get his Toucan Sam cereal (Fruit Loops), we got the cereal and kept on shopping until he reminded his mother to get some icy popsicles. We were happy to see his communication getting better while shopping, but the walking was a good workout as his legs are getting stronger and he his balancing himself better. When it was over, he was tired, but smiling. The physical therapist told even though he might not have PT class, always find something for him to work on his legs, but also give him a chance to express himself while walking. Once we got home, he played a little with his trains and was out like a light after dinner and watching some television.             

 

 

                                                                              

 

 

 

 

 

 

(NICHOLAS WALKING HOME IN THE PEDIATRIC WALKER AFTER SPENDING A DAY AT THE PLAYGROUND)

     

 

September 17th: After having a long day yesterday, Nicholas spent the early part of the day resting and sleeping. Later in the afternoon, he had class with Mr. Stephens. Today was Mr. Stephens birthday, so the start of class was more about games and fun before the educational part. The letter of the day was letter T in which Nicholas picked out his friend Thomas The Train. They worked on english composition, adding and substraction using building blocks, did some coloring in Thomas & Friends Train coloring book and work on answers and questions. Nicholas is getting better in clarity and expressing himself, but still shy in public when asked a question. He is coming around and getting back to the daily activities of been around people. The potty training continues to improve as he is starting to walk to the toilet and saying he wants to use the toilet. 

 

 

                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

(NICHOLAS GIVING THE WORLD A BIG SMILE BEFORE MAKING HIS SLIDE DOWN  ALONE AT THE PLAYGROUND) 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                           September 16th: Today was going to be a long day for Nicholas. First he had two hours at the rehab center and later in the afternoon he had class with Mr. Stephens. He had Ms. Brown first with occupational therapy. Nicholas built a 30 piece puzzle by himself, colored in which he worked on staying between the picture he was coloring. Worked on balanced and standing up alone without help of a human, wall or walker. He is still leaning a little, but stronger of standing for a longer period of time. Next up came Ms. Yassaman with speech therapy in which the had lots of 1-on-1 conversation, things around the house. They worked on grammar and clarity to see how far Nicholas has come since he started back in July. Overall Ms. Yassaman is happy with his progress and knows he knows more words and knows how to express himself. Once rehab was over we walked home. He ate a slice of pizza, got some sleep and later go up for class with Mr. Stephens. Today class was for two hours since Mr. Stephens didn't show up on Tuesday. They started the class by working on colors and different variations from dark to light. Nicholas picked out letter blue, so built a block set of different blue colors and also from smallest to biggest. They worked on the letter S. This time around when Mr. Stephens brought out the tool box, they worked on every tool. He spent time of letting Nicholas knowing each tool and what is used for and different size of nails and screws. Today He has Nicholas start practicing on writing numbers. 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

(NICHOLAS MAKING A BIG STEP UP ALONE TO GET TO THE SLIDE AT THE PLAYGROUND) 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                               

September 15th: With no class today, after Mr. Stephens was stuck at work, Nicholas did his homework and made another trip to the playground to work on getting back the strength in his legs.          

                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

(NICHOLAS WALKING UP THE PLAYGROUND TO GET TO THE SLIDE) 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                           September 14th: Mr. Stephens started his class on a different note as he caught Nicholas' attention by bringing out a tool box. He made Nicholas play with the tool box to warm him up before starting the educational part of the class. Today the went over the letter R and numbers. The read couple books to work on Nicholas listening coordination and seeing the way he will response to a question and the answer he will give. During all this time, Mr. Stephens has been given Ncholas homework to practice on writing the letters of the day. Later in class he brought out animals but in sizes and shapes to work on smallest to biggest. To finish of class they played dominoes in which Nicholas is starting to like more and more since he started playing with the dominoes. After class was over we went to the playground with Nicholas. He walked with the walker from the apartment to the palyground. Once he got to the playground, he walked with the walker for couple more minutes and then wanted out to walked the playground alone without daddy's help or the walker. Nicholas walked the whole playground set in which he walked pole to pole until he got to the slide and slid down. When he was done he walked back with his walker to the apartment.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                              September 13th: The day started early as we had to give Nicholas his 60hrs after spinal tap pill at 130am. We went back to sleep in which was tough on mommy and daddy, Nicholas went back to sleep like nothing after taking his medication. Today was another fun and joyous day for Nicholas. He was going to Sunrise Day Camp for the one Sunday a month for fun and games. There wasn't no school bus from the Brooklyn Hospital to drive us to camp, because Nicholas was the only kid going from Brooklyn. So with the car in the shop getting fixed by his uncle Rafael, his uncle Andre gave us a ride to Long Island and we will come back by bus to Sloan Memorial and take a taxi home from the city. Once we got to camp, Nicholas was all happy to get to camp, but the faces he had over the summer of six days were gone, so he had to get adjusted to the new faces. At first he struggled for the first several minuted, but after seeing and hugging Ms. Cindy(Nicholas counselor of ACORN class) took over he was good as daddy walked away. The counselors said Nicholas had a great day today in which he met a couple new friends and invinted there own game at the plagrounds, made a tie die T-shirt, danced and sang. The counselors are impress with the ambition and determination to see how much Nicholas wants to walk and run again. Most of the day he walked without his walker and just walked with a volunteer. Once the day was over he was out like a light once we got on the bus.  

September 12th: Today was fun and joyous day for Nicholas. He got a visit from his grandmother, cousin Karina and uncle Hermilo. The spent most of the day with him, giving mommy a day of rest as Nicholas and Karina, played, sang, danced, read books, built blocks, played with Thomas and Friends Train Set and finally ate after both bodies were tired. After the family left, Nicholas slept like a champ. At 130pm we had to give him his 40hrs after spinal tap pill.   

Sepetember 11th: We spent the morning watching the news with Nicholas today, to teach him the meaning of this day and what is stands for. Later on during the day he had class with Mr. Stephens in which today the had a good session. The letter of the day was the letter Q in which Nicholas found a picture of a queen in one of his books he likes to read. During class they went over the alphabet in which Nicholas knows alphabet and is recognizing all the letters. The letter F is still giving him a little problems with pronunciation. The played dominoes to see how Nicholas does connecting dots and to also work a little on addition and substraction. Mr. Stephens says Nicholas is getting better in 1-on-1 conversation of asking a question and following up on a answer. 

 (NICHOLAS PLAYING AROUND IN THE PLAYROOM AT THE HOSPITAL WAITING FOR SPINAL TAP AND A DOSAGE OF VINCRISTINE CHEMOTHERAPY MEDICATION - NICHOLAS "CANCER SUX" T-SHIRT THAT HE IS WEARING WAS GIVEN TO HIM BY HIS CHEMO ANGEL KATHI) 

September 10th: Today was ARRIBA time for Nicholas. He had a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine chemotherapy medication. Nicholas went up one pound to 46pds and grew 1 inch to 42 inches. Nicholas and mommy got to the oncology unit early in the morning and went through the normal process of checking his vital and taking some blood. His blood results were good. His platelets are normal, red blood cells are normal, protein went up from a month ago and white cells are little low as expected for a kid battling to conquer his cancer. The anasteleologist was running late today, because he had a emergency to attend downstairs in the pediatric unit. During the wait, Nicholas walked the hospital halls, played with blocks and shapes in the playroom and watched some TV. Once the anasteleologist came, Nicholas got his spinal tap and dosage of vincristine at 130pm. This means, Nicholas 48hrs after spinal pill will be given at 130pm Saturday 9/12 and at Sunday morning 130am.

(NICHOLAS WALKING AND PLAYING AROUND IN THE PLAYROOM AT THE HOSPITAL WAITING FOR SPINAL TAP AND A DOSAGE OF VINCRISTINE CHEMOTHERAPY MEDICATION - NICHOLAS "CANCER SUX" T-SHIRT THAT HE IS WEARING WAS GIVEN TO HIM BY HIS CHEMO ANGEL KATHI )

September 9th: After three weeks off from the rehab center, Nicholas was back at the rehab center with a class of occupational and speech therapy. First up he had Ms. Brown with occupational therapy. Ms. Brown warmed him up with a train set in which he had to set up and bubbles. After the warm up, they did some walking and balancing exercise to build up the strength in his legs. Later on in the hour they did some coloring and played with shapes to finish off the class. For the second hour, Nicholas walked into class with Ms. Yassaman for speech therapy class in which he had a good day. At the start of class Nicholas played with toys while having 1-one-1 conversation with Ms. Yassaman. For the majority of the class, she had Nicholas work on places around a house inside and outside, while working on his speech. Both teachers were happy with Nicholas' progress in which he is more open and diverse since going to camp and leaving back in early August. 

September 8th: Nicholas' class with Mr. Stephens was cancelled today, because Mr. Stephens was stuck in a meeting at work. With no classes, Nicholas did come coloring and practiced staying inside the lines of shapes. He did some numbers and his alphabets. Finally to end the day of educational stuff, he read two books. His potty training is still a work in progress, but getting better each day. Also his walking is getting stronger as his legs are getting more adjusted of walking without support.  

September 7th Labor Day: With no classes, rehab and physical therapy today, Nicholas spends most of the day playing with his train and working on his alphabet and numbers while doing some coloring.  

Sepetember 5th & 6th: Nicholas spent the weekend relaxing. He went outside to do some walking without the walker up and down the block and walked a couple steps. Practice more on his potty training. Read, colored, played some connecting dots puzzles and played with his train set.  

September 4th: Nicholas goes to physical therapy at the hospital and have a solid day with Tasha. He hasn't worked out with Tasha in several weeks and she was up to working him hard today. We left the pediatric walker home, so he can get a full hour workout on just using himself and learning more to balance himself. Today they jumped on the trampoline in which they both jumped first and then Tasha left Nicholas alone to jump while holding a bar. At first he hesitated and then just started jumping till his legs said enough. After getting off the trampoline, he walked over to the even bars, then walked up and down the stairs by himself. He still has some problems coming down, but if he goes sideways he comes down good. Nicholas was in a groove so Tasha kept working him. She walked him over to the medicine ball and see how far he would walk rolling the ball and wathcing his balance while walking. He is still leaning a little to the left, but overall he did a good job. With all the walking, Nicholas and Tasha started tossing a sponge ball to work on his upper body and hand motion. Once class was over, Nicholas was all smiles and talk with Tasha. With Tasha going away for a month vacation, she gave us some home exercise to do and to make sure Nicholas gets some workout using the walker. We later went to say hello to the folks on the 10th floor and then went home. Later on during the day, Nicholas wanted to play some educational games with letters and numbers in which he getting good day-by-day. We played dots using numbers to connects and when it was all done, he did a shape of a cow.

September 3rd: A day off for Nicholas from class, so he just rested and watched his favorite TV shows.  Worked some more on getting back his potty training in which is going good, but still a work in progress.

September 2nd: Nicholas woke up early around 630am and this time around mommy and daddy was to tired to wake up and just wanted to sleep a couple more hours. Lucky for mommy and daddy, Nicholas went back to sleep and everybody slept for couple more hours. Once he got up, he ate a good breakfast and went out with mommy and daddy. When he came back, Nicholas was full of energy and didn't sleep during the afternoon, so he was all ready for class with Mr. Stephens. Today they went over pronounciation of two lettter and identifying letter with photo. Nicholas did a good job with two letters like CH, PR. LL, and FR. Today the letter was letter P in which Nicholas picked out a picture of penguins. Later on in class, they did some writing as Nicholas practiced his shaping of letters and numbers. Mr. Stephens caught Nicholas off guard today. Instead of starting with number 1 like he does everyday, he started with number 0 in which Nicholas was like Mr. Stephens help me here. They went over food groups in which Nicholas did good as he learned most of the food groups while food shopping with mommy and daddy. Some food he says in spanish more than english. To finish off the class, they went over more math stuff and 1-one-1 conversation. Mr. Stephens gave Nicholas homework for the weekend, since he would not be having class till Tuesday after Labor Day. The one Nicholas has be consistence is his way of starting class. Once class was over he went staright to sleep until he had to get up to take his daily nightly chemotherapy medication.    

September 1st: Nicholas was looking forward for Mr. Stephens in the morning, but today it was back to afternoon classes. After several minutes of Nicholas not focusing at the start of class, he was ready for his lesson of learning with Mr. Stephens. Right away they tackled the alphabet in which he was racing through the letters in which he got 25/26 right in which he even pronounce the letter F right. The letter of the day was O in which Nicholas picked out a picture of oranges to color. Today his class was only a hour, so Mr. Stephens did as much activities in a hour. After the letters, they went into counting objects and connecting it with a number, played dominoes in which Nicholas is getting better of understanding of matching the dominoes together and they finished with reading a book in which Nicholas had to identify the letters and numbers in the story. Mr. Stephens left Nicholas homework to do of coloring a octopus, connecting objects with numbers and reading.

August 31st: Nicholas was not cooperating with Mr. Stephens in class today when the subject matter had to do with pronouncing the F letter. The F letter has been given Nicholas some problems in which sometimes comes out of his mouth sounding like the letter S. Funny today while Nicholas was counting, he counted 1236 and again 1236 just not say the letter F numbers. Mr. Stephens caught on what Nicholas was doing and after a little encouragement, Nicholas counted all up to number 16. They continued to work on language arts and numbers. Mr. Stephens had a little of physical therapy in his session as he put all the letters on the floor in the living room in which Nicholas had to walk and bend while pronouncing the letter and saying a object connecting to the letter. He did a good job. Today was also Nicholas' last class for the summer. We thought along with Mr. Stephens that Nicholas will start class next week at the start of the NYC school year, but come to find out he will start tomorrow. He accomplished a lot during his summer with Mr. Stephens and connected a good bond and communication with him. Now with classes going back to the afternoon instead of the morning in which he had the last couple weeks, Nicholas will go back of getting adjusted of rehab in the morning and class in the afternoon.   

August 30th: Another weekend day of having fun and just doing things his way. Nicholas is getting better in his potty training and once he gets to walk better, he get to the toilet faster instead of giving mommy and daddy a heads up. During part of the day he went over his numbers, letters and did some writing of letters.  

(NICHOLAS SHOWING OFF HIS COOL SUNGLASSES WHILE RELAXING AT HOME) 

August 29th: Relaxing day for Nicholas as he spent most of day potty training, walking without support and having fun.  

August 28th: Mr. Stephens is catching on with Nicholas and how to start his class and catching Nicholas' attention and having him to focus. Somedays he starts with letters and somedays he starts with numbers, but today he started with color patterns and working on big and small objects in which caught Nicholas off guard. He usually expects Mr. Stephens to start off with numbers or letters, but today was different. They went into letters in which the letter of the day was letter M, in which Nicholas picked out a picture of milk. Later on the did numbers in which Nicholas counted up to 15 and then Mr. Stephens had him read the missing number after a present number. Nicholas did some good and other he jumped the number. They also did a little adding and subtraction of taking away a object and putting back a object. Mr. Stephens had a good week with Nicholas and says his writing of letters is getting better each day, but can get better and his focus and determination of learning the lesson plan is good. To finish off the class they sang Hokey Pokey with Mr. Stephens working on body parts of Nicholas. Another song he sang all day in which he had daddy dancing later on after class. For the last several days Nicholas is getting more confident of walking alone without support, but he makes sure he walks on the mat to soften up his fall.  

(NICHOLAS POSING WITH HIS COUSINS CHANEL AND CHRISTIAAN AND HIS GRANDFATHER)

August 27th: Today Nicholas went up tow more letters of recognizing in the alphabet. He is now up to 22/26 in letters. Mr. Stephens will focus on language arts, math, conversation and learning of different objects, patterns and style of for three remaining classes till he starts again in September. The bond between Nicholas and Mr. Stephens has grown into a good teacher/student relationship. Today the letter of the day was the letter L in which picked out a picture of luggages. They worked on patterns of colors, blocks, numbers and objects. Part of the class Nicholas and Mr. Stephens starting singing classic children songs in which Nicholas was in rythm with the words. After class Nicholas went over to spend sometime with his grandfather and his cousins Chanel and Christiaan. For the rest of the day after class, Nicholas had mommy and daddy singing all the songs straight up till bedtime.     

August 26th: Nicholas continues to recognized the letters in the alphabet. Today he added two more letters to his knowledge and now is up to 20/26 letters.  Today Mr. Stephens brought his laptop, so Nicholas xcan play and learn from a leap frog cd. The cd was learning and having fun reading letters and matching letters. Nicholas was enjoying himself pushing buttons and matching the the letter to the object and word. After using the laptop, Nicholas went through the alphabet in which he did a good job today. The letter of the day was the letter K, in which Nicholas had a picture of a set of keys. They went to work on more matching letters, colors and numbers. Once that was over, Mr. Stephens worked on body part of icholas of knowing his left and right and finished off class with small and big objects in which Nicholas built a small bridge and small bridge with blocks in which he had to build by colors.  

August 25th: After a day of fun and games with the family, Nicholas was back in class with Mr. Stephens. Everyday Nicholas is recognizing more of the alphabet and right now he is up knowing 18/26 letters. He can tell you the whole alphabet, but now he is working on recognizing letters. They started the class working on dominoes and matching numbers. Mr. Stephens continued to work on numbers with Nicholas. Next up Nicholas had to connect a object of animals with the number amount by using a crayon to connect object and number. Later after the matching, Mr. Stephens was teaching Nicholas how to read a clock with the little and big hand. After the numbers session of the class, they spent the rest of the class with letters and reading a book. Nicholas improved on his alphabet today by recognized 5 extra letters in which he is getting close of the full 26. The letter of the day was letter J in which Nicholas picked out Jelly Beans to match withe letter. No coloring of a Thomas and Friends train for the letter J, Mr. Stephens had Nicholas color the inside of a letter J and work on Nicholas following the dots of a letter J shape and staying as close of making a letter J. He did a good job. Before class was over, Nicholas and Mr. Stephens had the usual 1-and-1 conversation working on Nicholas' strong and weak points and then finished off with Mr. Stephens reading a book in which Nichols had to identify the letter and how it was used.  

August 24th: Nicholas had a fun day full of joy, happiness, love and hanging out with his cousins and grandfather. Nicholas spent all day with his grandfather who is up for the summer. The one thing mommy, daddy, Nicholas and grandpa couldn't do this year was go to our annual baseball game at the new Yankee Stadium. Nicholas' first baseball game was a blast with mommy, daddy and grandpa that he yelled score when somebody scored a run. During the morning, Nicholas spent time with his cousins Christiaan and Antonio and uncle Andre. Andre read a Thomas & Friends book to Nicholas and Christiaan. Once the reading session was over, Nicholas and Christiaan played with trains, cars, numbers and threw sponge balls back and forth with grandfather. After Christiaan left with his father Andre and Antonio went sightseeing with daddy, Nicholas spent the rest of the day with his grandfather. They had a blast together. They went over ABC's, numbers, names and pronounciation of Thomas & Friends train set, threw sponge balls back and forth and watched some television. His grandfather was excited to see how Nicholas knows all the pieces and names to this train set and the knowledge of numbers, letters and songs to his favorite television shows. Later during the day after some morning fun, they both had a afternoon nap. When both of them got up to eat lunch, Nicholas was back playing around with his grandfather. Nicholas had lots of energy today and when his cousins Chanel and Christiaan and uncle Andre came back to pick up grandfather, he was happy. Before dinner was serve, Chanel read a Thomas & Friends book to Nicholas and Christiaan and after the reading Nicholas and Christiaan went back to playing and tumbling in which there grandfather had to tell them top slow down and protect each other. Grandpa was happy to spend time with Nicholas and to see the progress of Nicholas battle to conquer his fight against cancer.

August 23rd: Another relaxing day for Nicholas. Spent most of the day sleeping and when he was not sleeping, he was watching some of his favorite TV shows.  

August 22nd: Today was relaxing day for Nicholas. He got a visit from his uncle Rafael who came over to fix the brakes and his aunt Patricia. During the day Nicholas tried walking by himself with no support in which sometimes he fell the right way to catch his fall and other he fell hard in which he felt a little pain. He is determined and fighting hard to walk again.

(NICHOLAS AND NATALIE AT SUNRISE DAY CAMP - NATALIE PLAYED, HAD FUN AND TOOK GOOD CARE OF NICHOLAS WHILE HE ENJOYED HIS DAYS AT SUNRISE)

August 21st: We had to cancelled physical therapy today with Tasha, because the car brakes broke down and we couldn't drive at the last minute in the morning. For most of the day, Nicholas did some walking exercise, reading and coloring. Everyday he is getting better of holding the crayon the right way. This day also gave more chance to potty train Nicholas.  

(NICHOLAS SAYING GOODBYE TO SUNRISE DAY CAMP COUNSELOR BLAKE ON LAST DAY OF CAMP)

August 20th: After several days of camp and missing classes with Mr. Stephens, Nicholas was back with Mr. Stephens for a morning two hour session. Mr. Stephens worked with Nicholas is improving day-by-day. He is starting to recognized more letters in the alphabet, his pronounciation is getting more clearer and overall he is doing good job. Mr. Stephens changed things around with the letters on Nicholas, as he placed letters around the apartment. He wanted to give Nicholas a exercise by walking to recognized letter and to get a far view of how the letter is shape instead of the sitting down and seeing the letter up close. After going through the alphabet and working on the letter of the day - letter I - they worked of letter patterns. Once the letter pattern session was over, he colored the letter I in his Thomas & Friends colring books. After coloring they worked on numbers with flashcards and objects in which Nicholas first had to recognized the object and then count the number. While working with numbers, Mr. Stephens brought out dominoes in which he had Nicholas connecting the dots of the dominoes, in which he did a good job. With about a half hour left with Mr. Stephens, Nicholas said during the 1-on-1 session of conversating and working on Nicholas' speech "It's time to go home" and Mr. Stephens asked who is going home Nicholas? Nicholas' repsonse was 'It's time for you to go home Mr. Stephens and he said with such a serious look in him that daddy came to the living room laughing along with Mr. Stephens and couldn't believe what Nicholas said. After the little laugh, they continued class working on conversation and speaking. Later on during the day, Nicholas just wanted to read his Thomas & Train books until mommy and daddy put him to sleep.

(NICHOLAS WITH BUS MATES AND SUNRISE DAY CAMP BUS MONITOR/COUNSELOR DEAN(R) POSING ON LAST DAY OF CAMP BEFORE LEAVING TBHC)

August 19th: Today was Nicholas' last day at Sunrise Day Camp and it was just a day of having fun and enjoying himself with his new friends, counselors and volunteers. He had a blast at the camp for the five days. On the last day he played and did everything he wanted to do, from the playground, finger painting, throwing sponge balls around, sang, spoke a lot, walking without the walker, and at the end of the camp he ate at popsicle that he enjoyed in which he T-shirt also enjoyed. Lets pray and hope by next year, Nicholas is feeling stronger and better that he can walk on his own to attend Sunrise Day Camp next summer.

(NICHOLAS WITH SUNRISE DAY CAMP COUNSELOR PATRICK DURING SNACK TIME)

August 18th: Nicholas got a surprise visit from his cousin Erika and aunt Patricia who were in town to do something inthe city. They spent the morning playing, reading and running around the apartment with Nicholas. He was enjoying life having Erika read his new Thomas & Friens book about three times in which Nicholas has to push buttons and follow instructions while Erika read the book. Later in the afternoon, Nicholas had a hour class with Mr. Stephens who he hasn't seen in a week. Today they bonded and Nicholas gave Mr. Stephens his full concentration and focus, that for every assignment he did, Mr. Stephens came away with a smile. They first colored in which Nicholas stayed within the lines of coloring the Letter H train in Thomas & Friends coloring book. He colored Henry good, not the whole train but a good part of the train. After coloring they went over ABC's in which he did a good job of pronounciation and his F sound was good today, they played with flashcards, numbers from 1-to-10 and 10-to-1 and did some adding and subtraction with objects on flashcards. To finish off class, Nicholas built a bridge with blocks in which Mr. Stephens made a patter for him to follow and he did a good job.

(NICHOLAS PLAYING WITH TRAIN AFTER MAKING TRAIN OUT OF LEGGO AT SUNRISE DAY CAMP) 

August 17th: Nicholas was back at Sunrise Day Camp. Today he walked out of the care wearing his backpack on his back as he walked to the bus. He got some help from Marquis walking into the bus and then from Dean to strap him into his seat. Once he got to Day Camp, he walked to his house with Natalie without the walker. During the morning Nicholas had Natalie running all over the playground as he wanted to go up-and-down the slide, walking over the bridge and running around with and without his walker. After leaving the playground, Nicholas did some finger painting, coloring, played with sponge balls as he threw it around with his classmates. Later on in the afternoon, Nicholas had his last day of music class in which he had another good day with the music teacher. He might speak the words clear of the songs he knows, but he knows and stay to the beat of the song.The counselors and directors at the camp are happy of what Nicholas has accomplished since day one. He got adjusted to his new friends and opened up with smiles, laughter and talking. Overall he is doing good for a kid who was away from other kids and the atmosphere of meeting new people, fun, games and educational stuff for eight months.  

August 16th: Nicholas relaxed most of the day. He did some coloring, worked on going from dot-to-dot with a crayon and ABC's. 

August 15th: Today was a rest day for Nicholas. One thing we have are doing with Nicholas on his off days is getting him back into potty training. Since he lost his muscles in his lower body last September in the early stages of chemotherapy, he also lost his potty training that he learned at home and at Hanover Daycare. Right now he is saying toilet when he feels like using the bathroom and for the last several weeks while at home, he has been saying toilet and then we carry him or walk with him to make him use the bathroom. He is getting adjusted day-to-day of getting back his potty training skills of how to use the bathroom. The one bad thing about Nicholas that we're also working on, is when he uses the toilet, he also has to urinate while usuing the bathroom instead of sometimes after in which he has urinated on mommy and daddy a couple times. He took his 48hrs and 60hrs after spinal tap medication today along with his daily nightly chemotherapy medication. Nicholas took seven big steps of walking alone with no help.   

(NICHOLAS CLEANING UP AFTER PLAYING WITH TRAIN SET AT SUNRISE DAY CAMP) 

August 14th: We thought after having a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine for chemotherapy, we thought Nicholas will be a little tired and his body might not want to go to camp after the treatment, but he got up in the morning and was ready to catch the school bus to take him to camp. He was a bundle of joy smiling as he got on th bus with help from Marquis and Dean walking into the bus. Once he got to camp he jumped into the arms of his counselor Natalie who is taking care of Nicholas since day one. Natalie and Nicholas are having fun with each other and after the first day he got adjusted to camp and everybody. Nicholas is having fun at camp. After having fun in the playground and watching the circus, Nicholas did some finger painting and arts and crafts in class. Once the painting was over, the kids had music class. The music teacher had good things to say about Nicholas. She said he was one of the few students while dancing, was going to the beat of the music playing, he sang and knew the words to Thomas & Friends songs and after the music session was over, he wanted to play with the keyboards with the music teacher. Later on in the day the class sat down for storytime and games. Nicholas said goodbye to Mr. Deam and his fellow bus mates as he drove back home with mommy and daddy. The one thing the camp counselors and camp directors are saying is that Nicholas is one determined and ambitious kid to walk and run again.  

(NICHOLAS PLAYING WITH TRAIN SET AT SUNRISE DAY CAMP) 

August 13th: Nicholas had a visit to ARRIBA today to start the Maintenance II cycle. He knew today was chemotherapy and was ready to see the doctor. Once he got to the 10th floor, he first had a full body check up in which he was did good with no battling with the doctor. Nicholas gained one pound (42pds) since July 16th and had same height. After the full check up he went back to the playroom to play with some blocks and shapes before getting called for teh blood test. His blood results came back good, as the platelets and red blood cells had were up with good numbers, but the white cells was low in which was expected. During his time while waiting for his spinal tap, Nicholas was walking around the floor with the doctor and other staff members just to show them how much he can walk without the support of the walker and with the use of holding another hand or help by the walls on the floor. Once the doctor got the results, Nicholas went to get a spinal tap and then later when he got up from the spinal tap, he got a dosage of vincristine chemotherapy medication. Today he got his spinal tap at 1145am in which he gets his 48hrs after spinal tap pill on Saturday morning 1145am and 60hrs pill at night. After leaving the hospital Nicholas ate some pizza and got a good day's rest. Nicholas next time visiting ARRIBA is on September 10th.

(NICHOLAS GETTING READY TO LEAVE HOME FOR HIS SECOND DAY AT SUNRISE DAY CAMP)

August 12th: Second day for Nicholas at Sunrise Day Camp and today he had a good day at the camp. He took the bus with mommy and once he got to the camp, the counselor took over and mommy left. Nicholas walked a lot today with and without his walker around the camp grounds. Today he went to the playground, did lots of arts and crafts, reading and signing and finsihed off the day playing with Thomas & Friends Train set.

(NICHOLAS SAYING GOODBYE TO DADDY FROM THE SCHOOL BUS WITH MOMMY FOR THE RIDE TO HIS FIRST DAY AT SUNRISE DAY CAMP

 (NICHOLAS GETTING ON THE SCHOOL BUS WITH MOMMY FOR THE RIDE TO HIS FIRST DAY AT SUNRISE DAY CAMP) 

August 11th: Today was Nicholas last day at the rehab center for the summer until the school year starts in September. He spent his final day with Ms. Brown in physical therapy. Most of the session, Nicholas walked without any support, did a lot of twisting and turning both ways and finished off the day with much joy and happiness after having a good connection with Ms. Brown and Ms. Yassaman during the six weeks of physical, speech and occupational therapy. He only had several classes with Ms. Samantha, but the last two was good session on both working out and getting along. Later on in the afternoon after his nap, Nicholas' class with Mr. Stephens was cancelled, because Mr. Stephens was stuck in a meeting. For the rest of the day, he practiced ABC's and numbers with mommy and did some dot writing.  

(NICHOLAS WAITING TO GET ON SCHOOL BUS FOR THE RIDE TO HIS FIRST DAY AT SUNRISE DAY CAMP)

August 10th: Today was Nicholas' first day at Sunrise Day Camp in Long Island. Nicholas and mommy took the bus from The Brooklyn Hospital Center while daddy drove behind the bus. Once the bus got to the camp, Nicholas was greeted by the counselors and volunteers. Once he got off the bus, he jumped into his walker and walked to the building holding the ACORNS. The ACORNS are kids of Nicholas' age. The counselors were happy to see Nicholas walk so strong to the building, knowing the battle that he is going through to beat his cancer. During the walk to the building Nicholas met his counselor who is going to be working with him, since his going to be needing help with the walker and to also help with potty training. The first thing Nicholas saw once he walked into the room was a Thomas & Friends train set on a table that his eyes lit up with joy. He played with the train set for a while, before he had to go outside to see the morning circus. After the circus mommy and daddy left the camp grounds and Nicholas went to the playground. Later in the afternoon before closing time mommy went to pick up Nicholas and it was good day for Nicholas. He spent the day at the playground in which he used his walker and after the playground he walked the rest of the day with his counselor without using the walker. He painted, sang and read with his new friends and played more with the train set. The only problem he had all day was during lunch hour in which he didn't want to eat and wanted to keep playing. Once he relaxed he ate his lunch and continued to have a good day. When the day was over, Nicholas and mommy walked to the bus area to meet Dean. Dean is the bus monitor. The drive back to Brooklyn, Nicholas slept most of the way.  

August 9th. Today was total relaxing day for Nicholas. He just relaxed, read a Thomas & Friends book, did some numbers, played with his train set and watch some television.   

(PORTRAIT OF NICHOLAS WITH HIS COUSINS CHANEL, CHRISTIAAN, ANTONIO AND HIS GRANDFATHER)

August 8th: Nicholas was full of energy today knowing his cousin Christiaan was coming over to visit. His aunt Yvette came in from Boston for the weekend early in the morning while Nicholas was asleep. After eating breakfast and going over some ABC's and numbers with his aunt, daddy and aunt Yvette went to the playground for a workout with Nicholas and his walker. Today he had a good workout with his walker and the only thing that he is getting adjusted to is his running in the walker. Somtimes when he starts to run, he sometimes drags his left foot and has to stop before bending his ankle to much. He wants to run like any normal 3-years old kid, but for now is just walking and light speed walking. Later on in the afternoon after his workout, lunch and a good afternoon nap, Nicholas was greeted by grandpa, uncle Antonio, aunts Michele & Yvette and cousins Chanel & Christiaan. Right away Nicholas and Christiaan went at it tumbling and playing around that we had to tell them to slow down. They had fun and Christiaan made Nicholas walk alot around the apartment as they played "you chase me around" and walked around throwing and kicking a small soccer ball. Later on grandpa played catch with Nicholas in which was good to worked on Nicholas' throwing ability. Chanel read him his Thomas & Train books. Once the whole family left, Nicholas was lights out after a day filled with fun and family. 

August 7th: The last day of the hard working week was a good day for Nicholas. First he had physical therapy at the hospital with Tasha, but when we got to the hospital they told us Tasha was sick and was not in today. Nicholas had to worked with Tasha's supervisor. He let Nicholas walk for the first couple minutes while getting adjusted to him. After walking alone, they worked on bending his knees by getting small medical balls in which Nicholas could toss with him. Nicholas picked out two balls in which the therapist thought was heavy for Nicholas, but he picked it up off the rack and carried it about six steps. Nicholas wanted to do more tossing than kicking today, so he tossed the balls about five times with both hands under and over until it was time to go. After therapy was over, we bought a kids meal at McDonald's of french fries and chicken nuggets in which he wanted to eat today. Once he ate some of his meal, Nicholas went to visit his grandfather who is here for several weeks on vacation, who he has not seen since summer 2007. They connected right away and grandfather was enjoying his time with his grandson. He saw all the marks from the surgery and ask all the question of what is going on with Nicholas. He was happy to see Nicholas and happy to see his grandson fighting hard to beat his cancer.    

 (NICHOLAS BLOWING BUBBLES DURING THE ENDING OF HIS PHYSICAL THERAPY CLASS WITH MS. SAMANTHA) 

August 6th: After having a long day yesterday and sleeping good thru the night, Nicholas was ready for his activities today. Today his physical therapy session at the rehab center was with Ms. Samantha for 1 hour and 15 minutes a session and a makeup session. Ms. Samantha set up the gym in a triangle shape with train tracks, cars, trucks and a school house. Nicholas was a little tense around Ms. Samantha the last time they worked together and today he was a little tense around her for the first several minutes, but after walking into the gym he was all smiles. He saw the triangle shape filled with trains, cars, puzzles and tracks that he knew he had to walk around using all his strength. The first mission was to collect all the train track pieces to build a track and then collect the train to complete the whole train set. While walking around the triangle shape, Nicholas was in a groove and started walking a little fast in which he got a little excited and tumbled a couple times. After completing his mission, he walked about 40feet front and back in the straight red line. They took a break and had a cup of water. Once the break was over, Ms. Samantha spreaded out cars all over the hallway so Nicholas could practice walking alone with the use of the wall and work on bending his knees while collecting the cars. When Nicholas was done with his physical therapy session you could see he had a good session with Ms. Samantha in which he worked out his legs a lot and he got adjusted and worked a good session with Ms. Samantha. Next up in the afternoon, was a class with Mr. Stephens. Today Nicholas had a okay session with Mr. Stephens and spent about the first 5-to-10 minutes with tears in his eyes out of nowhere in which Mr. Stephens just waited till Nicholas calmed down. After the tears were gone, Nicholas played with  LeapFrog letter and numbers game on Mr. Stephens laptop in which Nicholas recognized several letters today. The letter of the day was the letter G in which Nicholas had to color Gordon from Thomas & Friends coloring book. When he finished coloring, Mr. Stephens concentrated on numbers past 10. After working with numbers, they work on 1-on-1 converation and finished off with the laptop as Nicholas enjoyed the word games and numbers during the listening and pointing part of the game.

August 5th: Today was going to be the longerst day of the week for Nicholas. First he had speech and occupational therapy at the rehab and then later on he had his class. For thr first time in awhile, Nicholas slept late into the morning and got up around 830am instead of his usual 7/730 wake up. He ate a good breakfast, got dressed and was strolled down to the rehab center. He spent the first hour with Ms. Yassaman in speech therapy. They played with matching cards puzzles, puzzles using objects in which Nicholas had to identify what the object is used for. For most of the second part of speech, Ms. Yassaman had Nicholas present everything in a I want and please question to get him start asking instead of just nodding his head, in which he is getting out of. Next up for occupational therapy in which Ms. Brown had Nicholas drawing shapes in shaving cream. After cleaning off his hands with cream, Nicholas used a crayon to follow the lines of a circle, triangle and square in which he did a good just of staying in a straight line. Next up they played matching card games in which Nicholas was talking and letting Ms. Brown know the card he was matching. After spending the first part of occupational in a classroom, they headed into the gym. Once they got into the gym, Ms. Brown had Nicholas sit on the peanut ball to work on his balance while rocking side to side and picking up sponge balls with both hands. Today Nicholas also showed signs of taking bigger steps of walking alone as he took about 7-to-10 steps by himself. We left the the rehab center after a long day of hard work for Nicholas. Once he got home, he ate some "arrow con pollo" and went to sleep to be up for Mr. Stephens. Today was the letter that is giving Nicholas problems of pronouncing in which he pronounces like a S in which the letter was letter F. Several times he said it correctly by using the word fish, but other times he aid sish. After couple times of practicing and Mr. Stephens working on Nicholas' bottom lip, he said correct and came out smoothly. Next up Mr. Stephens pulled out his laptop to work on numbers in which he had Nicholas push the number buttons when the computer was making addition and subtraction for kids his age. Nicholas did a good job of counting and substracting 1-thru-6 and counting 1-thru-15 with the help of computer working on his pronounciation of numbers. Later on Nicholas colorer the letter F as in Frieght Trains in the Thomas & Friends coloring book. He later had Nicholas drawing lines up and down and side to side to work on coordination and ability to write in a straight line.  Once that was done, they went into building patterns using blocks and counting. After a long day we thought Nicholas wanted to relax, he ask daddy lets go for a walk outside. So we took him for a walk up and down the blocks just to work and his legs and build up his confidence of walking without support.     

August 4th: For the second day in a row Nicholas had a long day of therapy and class. First he had physical therapy with Ms. Brown at the rehab center. Today they worked on balancing. Ms. Brown had Nicholas stand up with no support and him working and learning how to balance himself without falling down right away with no support. Next they worked on twisting and turning and finally had him walked up and down the hill of mats. Later in the afternoon, without taking his afternoon nap, Nicholas was ready for Mr. Stephens. The letter of the day was the letter E in which Nicholas had no problems pronouncing. After going through the alphabet, thye played with numbers from ed the 1-thru-15 in which Nicholas self corrected himself several times when he skipped a number. Nicholas color the Edward train from Thomas & Friends coloring book. Once the coloring was done, they went over 1-on-1 interacting conversation of making Nicholas ask questions.

August 3rd: This week is going to be a full week for Nicholas as he has a activity everyday. Today he had physical therapy with Tasha and then later on in the afternoon he has his class with Mr. Stephens. Tasha first had him walk the even bars with steps in between, used the medicine ball and walked the steps. Nicholas still has some problems with the steps he walks up the steps real good, but coming down he is still trying to figure out to walk front or sideways coming down. After a 1/2 hour of walking around and then walking alone taking about six steps, he spent the last 1/2 hour using the walker. Tasha played hide and seek with Nicholas using Thomas & Friends play cards around the physical therapy department. She made him work today and while searching for the missing cards to match with the cards, she made him speak and count when he got closer of finding a a card. This is one game Nicholas enjoys playing because he can talk about his trains and at the same time walk around and sometimes running in the walker to build up his lower part of his body. We could see Nicholas was tired and for the first time on the way in the car he told us, I'm hungry and I would like chicken and rice, instead of telling us when he got home what he wanted to eat. After having a good lunch and taking his afternoon nap, it was time for class with Mr. Stephens. Today they started out with the alphabet in which he had Nicholas take his time pronouncing every letter in the correct way. He did a good job except for the letter F in which it sounds a little like the letter S sometimes. Today the letter of the was the letter D in which the picture was dog. After going through the alphabet, Nicholas colored the letter D train in Mr. Stephens Thomas & Friends coloring book. Train of the day was Duck. After coloring with his new bigger and better to grip crayons, Nicholas decided he wanted his own way and just didn't want to listen to Mr. Stephens he wanted to continue to color. He stood in silence and not wanting to work for couple minutes, Nicholas got back on track and went on with Mr. Stephens lesson plan. Next up was numbers in which Nicholas did good, then engaging in 1-on-1 conversation on listening to a book story and pointing to the subject matter. After the reading they finished off class with patterns and blocks in which he had Nicholas build a bridge by opposite colors. Once class was over, Nicholas was punished a little for not listening to Mr. Stephens in which his trains were taken away and no TV for about couple hours. So during that time, he just picked up a coloring book and colored.

(MARIELY, NICHOLAS AND MOMMY AT THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER PEDIATRIC 2008 CHRISTMAS PARTY) 

August 2nd: Today was a nice and relaxing day for the whole family. After eating a good breakfast, we got a phone call from nurse Lynda who gave us the sad news that Mariely died last night after a long battle with cancer. We just spent time with Mariely last week Sunday as Nicholas watch Shrek 2 with her. Mommy spent most of day with Mariely's mother while daddy and Nicholas found lots of things to do at home on a rainy day in Brooklyn. Mariely was 5-years old, who Nicholas first met on his third day in the hospital back in September after he got diagnosed with leukemia just to say hello with her mother Ana. She was a beautiful girl full of life and a bundle of joy as she connected with Nicholas. She fought hard till the end. May god bless her and take good care of her. We will miss you Mariely.

(L-R NICHOLAS, MARIELY'S COUSIN AND MARIELY AT THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER PEDIATRIC CANCER UNIT FUNCTION BACK IN APRIL 2009) 

August 1st: Now that Nicholas doesn't have weekend physical therapy no more, his Saturday workout will be about 15 minutes to 1/2 hour walking around the playground with his walker to build up his lower body. Nicholas was pumped knowing it was playground and walker early in the morning. We spent about 1/2 hour today at the playground, because Nicholas was feeling good and wanted to walk for a couple extra minutes even when I told no more just not to get tired and over work himself. Once the workout was done, we walked home and spent the rest of the day reading, playing with flashcards, playing with his train set and watch some of his favorite TV shows.  

July 31st: Since Nicholas had no therapy at the rehab center o hospital today, Mr. Stephens decided to give Nicholas his class in the morning. The letter of the day was the letter C, after going through the alphabet. The letter that continues to give Nicholas problems of pronounciation is the letter F. They cut out the letter C and Nicholas picked out a car to got with the letter C. They worked on numbers today and Mr. Stephens worked up to number 14 with Nicholas. They later played a little addition and subtraction with Nicholas' Thomas & Friends Trains in which Mr. Stephens played front and back and then first and last with Nicholas. Once the numbers was over, they worked on patterns of connecting shapes and then to finish off, Mr. Stephens had Nicholas build blocks by colors and also count the numbers of blocks while building a tunnel. The first week with Mr. Stephens went good. We're happy of the lesson plan and the way Mr. Stephens worked with Nicholas and the discipline and teaching style of approaching Nicholas.  

July 30th: Nicholas physical therapy class at the rehab center was cancelled, so he spent his morning working out some walking exercise in the apartment he learned from the hospital and rehab center. Later in the afternoon Nicholas was in class with Mr. Stephens in which they went over the letter B, patterns of colors, 1-and-1 conversation to see how Nicholas reacts to questions. Everyday from now on they will go through the alphabet first and then concentrate on the letter of the day.The letter was B in which the cut out the letter B and pick out a object which stands out with the letter B. During class, Mr. Stephens worked on Nicholas' coordination on marking a line and drawing a straight line from dot-to-do and corner-to-corner. Nicholas did a good job, but stiil has a lot of wark ahead.  

July 29th: Nicholas got up a little to early today and was wide awake by 630am and we had to make sure he didn't wake both of us up at the same time. Mommy wake up with Nicholas to keep him company and watching him just go through some books and play with his train before he headed out to rehab in couple hours. First up for Nicholas today was Ms. Yassaman with speech therapy. They had a picnic today in which she had Nicholas talking about food and vegetables. After the picnic was over the played with flashcards in which Nicholas practiced his pronounciation. During the hour speech therapy class, Ms. Yassaman was happy with Nicholas' approach of saying please when he wanted something instead of the I want this and I want that when asking a question. Once speech was over, he walked into the gym for occupational therapy with Ms. Brown. Today Ms. Brown and Nicholas spent most of the session working on balance and walking alone in which Nicholas continues to take a extra step each day. After all the walking and ups and downs of bending his knees, Ms. Brown gave Nicholas a treat before class was over. The treat was he got to color a Thomas Train sheet before heading home. Now that Nicholas has a busy schedule during the week, his afternoon's will be spending a hour with Mr. Stephens in which will be working on him on pre-K educational stuff.  Today Mr. Stephens first worked on clarity and pronounciation by using flashcards of letters of the alphabet and object to watch Nicholas' deliverance and to see which letters he has pronouncing right. The lettes F,P & L ars some letters Nicholas had a little problems with pronounciation. After the flashcards then went over numbers, patterns, coloring and cutting out letter shapes.   

July 28th: Nicholas got up full of joy and energy knowing today was a visit with Ms. Brown for physical therapy at the rehab center. He bounced right out the stroller once he got to rehab and Ms Brown took over. She is getting a lot out of Nicholas into talking and asking for stuff during therapy. Today he did a lot of hill climbing on the mats in which Ms Brown let him go as he took about four steps by himself, before losing his balance. Later on she left him alone again and he took a good four steps alone. After walking around and building up his legs, she made Nicholas build a train track to work on coordination, pattern and also had work on bending his knees as he got part of tracks out of a box. Once the track was built and class almost over, Ms. Brown gave Nicholas a treat of coloring Percy one of Thomas' Train Friends in which he worked on holding a crayon, coloring between lines and sitting in a chair firmly without leaning to one side. Later on in the afternoon after lunch and a his nap, he had class with Mr. Stephens. Mr. Stephens tested out Nicholas in several things to see how much does Nicholas know and how much he can get out of him. One thing for sure he knows Nicholas knows a lot of more words than we know and just has to work on him on expression and clarity. First he tested him on numbers and Nicholas counted up to 15 with no problems, next was letters in which Nicholas did good, but could have done better if he just concentrated on the cards, animals was next in which he named 20 out of 24 animals, shapes was next in which he named the five basics shapes, next was patterns in which he followed a pattern of blocks to build like one built like Mr. Stephens, coordination and finally did some coloring and cutting out patterns using a scissors. Nicholas still getting adjusted of using a scissor, but with practice he will get it. Overall Mr. Stephens knows what he has to work on with Nicholas and knows what he has to do to bring out the best in Nicholas.   

(NICHOLAS WORKING ON BUILDING COLOR PATTERNS WITH BLOCKS WITH MR STEPHENS)

July 27th: No hospital visit or therapy sessions, Nicholas spent most of the day playing with his train set, ABC's, numbers and doing some walking exercise around the apartment. Later on in the afternoon, we met Nicholas' teacher Mr. Stephens from SEIT. Mr. Stephens went over the lesson plan, short and long goals of what he wants to get out of Nicholas. He will be with Nicholas over the summer till end of August and then start the 2009-2010 school year in September, a hour a day and five hours a week.

(NICHOLAS WALKING AROUND PLAYGROUND WITH WALKER ON A NICE SATURDAY MORNING)   

July 26th: A nice relaxing Sunday for the family. Now that we can take out Nicholas a little out more, but still careful, we went to visit a fellow cancer patient Mariely. Mariely has a tumor and wasn't feeling good the last several days and we just wanted to visit her to bring up her spirits. When Nicholas got diagnosed back in September, Mariely and her mother Ana was the first cancer family we met while in the hospital when Mariely was having chemotherapy in the hospital. Since then Adriana and Ana have bonded and become friends. Mariely and Nicholas sat down and watched Shrek 2 the movie and when the movie was over we went home. When we got home, Nicholas sat down with mommy to watch the final of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer tournament game in which Mexico won 5-0 over USA. Once the game was over, Nicholas did some coloring, read some books and went to sleep.

(NICHOLAS WALKING AROUND PLAYGROUND WITH WALKER ON A NICE SATURDAY MORNING)

July 25th: Nicholas got up full of energy today and we wanted to take him for a workout outside in the park using the walker before the crowd of kids arrive. After eating a bowl of oatmeal and sausages for breakfast, Nicholas was full and ready to head to the park with the walker. The day was nice and sunny with a cool breeze in the morning. We got to the park and first Nicholas stretched out his ankles and legs before getting into his walker. Once inside the walker, he walked around the playground three times, twice under a bridge and then walked to the stroller and then went home. Today we went shopping for a new pair of sneakers for Nicholas to use during phyiscal and occupational therapy, since he grew out of two pair of sneakers. After getting his sneakers, we bought some chicken nuggets and french fries for Nicholas from McDonald's in which he hasn't eaten on of his favorite meals in a longtime. Later on in the afternoon after taking his nap, we went to Queens of All Saints evening mass. Nicholas behaved good in church. The only time that confused him during mass that when he wanted to stand up, mommy and daddy were sitting or kneeling for a prayer and he would say" stand up mommy, stand up daddy. After the explanation he sat down. Later on in mass Nicholas walked with daddy to get communion. Once mass was over we walked out of the church as we got greeted by the priest. We walked home and once inside, Nicholas played with his train set, read some book and did some coloring.

(NICHOLAS AT HOME OPENING HIS CARE PACKAGE FILLED WITH TOYS, COLORING BOOK, MP3 PLAYER, A PAJAMA AND TARGET GIFT CERTIFICATE GIVEN TO HIM BY THE CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA SOCIETY)          

July 24th: Nicholas has another day of physical therapy, but this time around his session is at the hospital with Tasha. Today Nicholas was not feeling of using his pediatric walker, so instead of pushing him, Tasha had a several games to work with hom for a hour. First she had him fetching sponge balls around the room then after getting the balls, she had Nicholas shooting baskets with both hands to work on coordinations. After working out with the balls, they played with Thomas & Friends matching cards and Nicholas eyes lit up knowing he was going to play a game with his favorite train and friends. Tasha made it tough for Nicholas in which she put the cards all over the physical therapy department and had Nicholas doing a lot of walking in which he liked knowing he was collecting Thomas & Friends cards. The hide and seek made sure Nicholas use every part of body in which his upper body and waist got a good workout. After finding most of cards outside the room, Nicholas went back into the room to find the Thomas card to finish his mission. Once he found the Thomas card his therapy session was done. After the session we walked upstairs to oncology to drop off some paperwork and a surprise was waiting for Nicholas. The Childhood Leukemia Society gave Nicholas a care package full of fun stuff, educational stuff, pajama and a gift certificate to Target. We got home and Nicholas went straight to sleep and later got up to get something to eat.

(NICHOLAS WALKING HOME WITH WALKER AFTER A DAY AT THE REHAB CENTER FOR ONE BLOCK UNTIL HE LEGS GOT TIRED AND JUMPS INTO THE STROLLER FOR THE FINAL THREE BLOCKS HOME)

July 23rd: Nicholas had physical therapy at the rehab center today. Today's session he had with Ms. Samantha and Ms. Brown. The reason for both therapist, was because Nicholas and Ms. Samantha didn't see eye-to-eye on the first session. During day one back on July 7th, Nicholas wasn't feeling Ms. Samantha and this time around he had both Ms. Brown and Samantha in the gym. With Samantha doing all the teaching and Ms Brown watching, Nicholas still a little tense around Samantha, was doing all the workout exercise during the session and following instructions. Samantha had him lay down and stand up without help, standing alone to see how long he could stand alone, walking backwards using the medicine ball to work on balance and to finish off jumping into the pool of balls. Nicholas is determine to walk again and even though he was tensed around Samantha, we will have to wait and see when they meet again for the third time. Nicholas has worked out with all kinds of therapist, speech, occupational and physical. Some of the therapist he has jumped into there arms after several sessions and some he took longer getting adjusted to, but when the day is over, he will work with them, smile and have fun. After class was over he walk about a block with his walker and then strolled the rest home. Once he got home he dosed off and when he got up he ate, read his Thomas & Friends book and watch the Gold Cup Soccer Tournamnet semifinals with mommy.

(NICHOLAS PLAYING WITH DIEGO'S JUNGLE HOUSE AND HAVING 1-ON-1 CONVERSATION WITH MS. YASSAMAN DURING SPEECH THERAPY)

July 22nd: Today Nicholas had double duty at the rehab center. First he had occupational therapy with Ms. Brown for the first hour and then for the second hour he had Ms. Yassaman with speech therapy. Nicholas is connecting with Ms. Brown and today they went over some writing to see the hand coordination of Nicholas of practicing writing in a straight with a marker and he did a good job. They workout on sitting and laying down from a peanut ball with no support with Nicholas throwing about five-to-six bean bags. After the peanut ball, they workout on alternating hands between throwing a object. Once he finished with Ms. Brown, he walked over to Ms. Yassman for speech therapy. During speech therapy, they played with a diego toy while talking and conversating with each other. Then after they played yes and no questions in which Ms. Yassaman made Nicholas make a choice of what he wanted by asking a question. After two full hours of therapy in which both session were good, the therapist gave us exercise and a sheet to let Nicholas continue to work on his coordination and writing.   

(NICHOLAS WALKING OUT OF THE REHAB CENTER WITH WALKER AFTER SPENDING A DAY WITH MS. YASSAMAN AND MS. BROWN)

July 21st: Nicholas had physical therapy today at the rehab center and it was a good session with Ms. Brown. They spent the hour session working out on walking up and down a steep hill of mats and walking straight down instead of sideways. Worked on his left side of his body to build up his strength. Did some walking exercise with walker of having him walk up and down the hallway and doing some ups and down picking up a objects while walking around. After the session was over, Nicholas walked a block with his walker until his body got tired and we strolled the rest till we got home. Once we got home he ate a good lunch, went to sleep and later got up to do some coloring and reading books with mommy.  

July 20th: After a playful and spending some fun time with the family yesterday, Nicholas was a litlle tired but wanted to do stuff. He wanted to do some walking exercise or puzzles. So we decided to do some shopping at Target and instead of driving, we walked to Atlantic Terminal. During the walk Nicholas was going between walking and stroller, but in Target he walked most of the time as mommy was shopping around for stuff. Once the shopping was over, we strolled all the way home with no walking to get ready for his speech therapy class. The therapist warned us let him walk around and make him feel comfortable, but don't strain him, because it could be bad for his recovery. He got home ate some lunch, took a hour nap, before speech therapist. Today was the last day for Mr. Porte and Nicholas for speech therapy. Mr. Porte did a good job with Nicholas before he got diagnosed and after he got diagnosed of bringing back his vocabulary, clarity, engaging of asking and getting something that he wants, realizing terms and words and overall his confidence build up. Before class was over, Mr. Porte gave Nicholas a Thomas Train set in which Nicholas has to turn a key on Thomas The Engine to make the train go around the tracks. The gift brought smiles to Nicholas. After Mr. Porte left, it was hard to get Nicholas away from his new train set until he had to take his daily chemotherapy medications and dinner.   

July 19th: Nicholas had a playful day as family come over from upstate. His cousins Karina & Erika, uncle Hermilo and grandma came for a visit. He was full of joy when he saw Karina as they played, read and colored during the time they spent together. Grandma was happy to see Nicholas, Erika home from school saw a totally different Nicholas since memorial day weekend and Hermilo the same. Nicholas walked in the walker a little to the family his new walker, did some walking exercise to loosen up his legs to walk around the apartment with Erika and Karina. Finally everybody sat down to eat some tamales including Nicholas who took several bites. The good thing even though he takes bites here and there during the day, he is eating something. When the family left later in the afternoon, he went to sleep and when he got up he ate some rice and chicken sausage. After eating he played with train set, read some books and played with shapes.    

July 18th: Nicholas had a good physical therapy session with his instructor today. The therapist worked on the upper body of Nicholas during the hour session. He had Nicholas crossing over his body from the left to right, had him sitting down on a blue rubber mat and balancing himself and doing some front and back exercise.The therapist said Nicholas legs are getting stronger as he tested Nicholas on how long he could stand up alone without help, but stills needs some work. His waist is close of getting back strong and upper body has to be worked on. They did not use the walker today, but the therapist told us to at least give Nicholas about 20 minutes a day of walking with the walker, but pay attention to his ankles and don't over due his workout and get him tired. Later after the therapy, Nicholas ate a good lunch, watch some Thomas & Friends television show, slept and later watch some soccer games with mommy and daddy.

July 17th: Nicholas spent most of the day relaxing. We cancelled his speech therapy class today, because his body was tired after going four straight days of activies. The first couple weeks of July has Nicholas getting his body adjusted to the activities of going to the rehab center, physical therapy and to get his blood tested and chemotherapy. The good thing about all these activities or visit to the hospital they all come in the morning when Nicholas is full of energy. Once his body and mind get adjusted to his new schedule, he will realize the challenge of conquering and beating his cancer and getting back into the daily schedule like when he had in daycare. He just played with his trains and watch television. Nicholas ate good today, but the test of his appetite is always the third or fourth day after getting a dosage of vincristine chemotherapy medication.

(NICHOLAS TAKING SEVERAL STEPS  ALONE MS. BROWN DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY) 

July 16th: Today was Arriba day for Nicholas, with a visit to his oncologist to get a check up and a dosage of Vincristine to finish off the first part Maintenance I Cycle. Nicholas brought a lot of smiles to the doctors and to nurse Lynda who was seeing Nicholas for the first time walking in his walker. She was all happy with joy watching Nicholas expression while walking in his walker. After getting out his walker, he got weighed at 44 pounds, height at 42 inches and his blood pressure and temperature was good. Later on nurse Lynda took some blood to get his count of his red and white blood cells and platelets before giving him the vincristine. The one thing bad about the vincristine, it makes Nicholas appetite low for several days. The next time Nicholas comes back to Arriba is August 13th to start the second part of the Maintenace I cycle in which he will get some chemotharpy medication and a spinal tap. After coule days of working on his body, Nicholas had a long afternoon nap. When he got up, he ate a chicken noodle soup and later on played with his train set and watched his favorite television shows. 

(NICHOLAS FALLING OFF HILL ON WAY DOWN WITH MS. BROWN DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY)

July 15th: The rehab center changed Nicholas' schedule and wanted to see his reaction. Instead of having speech therapy class first, he had occupational therapy first with Ms. Brown for the first hour and then the second hour with Ms. Yassaman for speech therapy. Ms. Brown and Nicholas always start class with Nicholas picking out a activity off the wall to work on. She first had him build a train set standing up and walking around the table to pick out the train tracks to work on his side-to-side motion, ability to build train set alone, hand coordination, listening and conversating while going for train tracks. After building the train set, Ms. Brown set all the pieces to go with the train set around the gym for Nicholas to locate. The objective was to have him work on which object needed to go with the train set and to also work on his speech delivery while talking with Ms. Brown. After collecting and playing with the train set, Nicholas work with a sponge stretching out equipment to work on his arms and left side of his body. Once occupational was over, he walked over to be with Ms. Yassaman for speech therapy. Ms. Yassaman already had a diego toy set up to play with Nicholas to work on his speech, delivery and clarity. With mommy sitting outside, she could hear Nicholas conversating with Ms. Yassaman and talking with words that Ms. Yassman could understand. She also had him work on pronunciation on calling out all the characters on the dora and diego show since he knows the majority of them. Once class was over, Nicholas walked out with his walker and we went hone. He got home ate some lunch and got some sleep before his afternoon speech therapy class. Nicholas was full of energy today and he was ready for Mr. Porte as they went over numbers, read a book, built a lego train set while conversating with each other and working on clarity. Mr. Porte says, Nicholas is doing much better and talking more in words in which we can understand him. For the rest of the day, he built a building with his blocks, played with numbers, colors and abc's and finished off reading a elmo book.  

(NICHOLAS WALKING UP THE HILL WITH MS. BROWN DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY)

July 14th: After couple days with a low appetite, Nicholas finally started eating a little bit more hard food. Today he had physical therapy at the rehab center. This was the first day at that rehab center Nicholas came in walking with his walker. Ms. Brown already had a lesson and workout plan as soon as he walked through the door. They first played with animals, objects and conversation as Nicholas picked out a object out of a box and then walked over and put it into a inner tube and walked back to Ms. Brown. He did this several times until it was time to work on his upper body. They went into the gym as Nicholas walked up steps and worked on ups and downs of picking up rubbing balls all over the gym. After the walking and ups and downs, they played with bubbles as Nicholas sat down and reached out to poke out the bubbles. This exercise worked on Nicholas waist and upper level movement. Once his session was over, Nicholas walked out with his walker with Ms. Brown to meet daddy to go home. For the rest of the day, after getting a good afternoon nap, Nicholas played with ABC's, numbers, puzzles and read his Dora book.

July 13th: Nicholas had a nice and relaxing day today. With no visit to the hospital or rehab center and no therapy classes, he spent most of the day chilling. Nicholas spent the morning walking around the aprtment with his leg braces to buil up his ankles. After the walk, he went for drive to pick up mommy. Once we got back from the drive, we did some reading, coloring and playing with his train set. Even though Nicholas can't read word by word yet in which everyday he is learning, he has good memory of the pages and books he has read with either mommy o daddy. He ate good today in which was good to see his stomach took solid foods. After dinner we played with ABC's and numbers until his body was ready to go to sleep.  

July 12th: After a long night, Nicholas got up with no pain in his tummy and smiles. His appetite was low and he didn't want nothing to eat. With his appetite low for most of the day, he drank his pedialyte and some pedidure to easy up the tummy and get some vitamins into his body. Nicholas got a visit from his cousins Rachel and Manny and aunt Patty and uncle Juan. Nicholas and Manny played with the Thomas and Friends train set as daddy help Nicholas set up the track, before came over. The two boys played, tumbled on each other, battled over which toy or game thay wanted to play next when they wer not playing with the trains. Rachel joined in the fun, but stepped away when the tumbling started. After a while Nicholas stopped playing with Manny to get some rest and then went back to playing with his cousin until it was time for the family to drive back upstate. Always nice to see Nicholas around kids his age and having his cousins coming over to visit to make play, color, draw to make him forget he has cancer and have fun.   

July 11th: The day started out with Nicholas working out with his weekend physical therapist. The therapist usually gives Nicholas a full leg massage on both legs to loosen him up before doing exercise. First they worked on ups and downs, walking sideways, reaching for a object by using the walls and to finish off his session, he used his walker and just walked front and back in the living room after moving some chairs to make space. The therapist was happy with the walker that the hospital got for Nicholas and before he left he gave us some tips on using the walker to build up Nicholas' body. He also told us to try using the leg braces while walking with the walker to build up his ankle. After the therapist left Nicholas ate some rice and chicken before taking a nap. Once he got up from his nap, he got dressed as today we visited his cousin Christiaan for his birthday. Christiaan and Nicholas first played with Christiaan's transformer robot toys that he got for his birthday, played with cars and then both of them walked around the apartment. When Christiaan went to use the restroom, his sister Chanel played with Nicholas and gave him a ankle a massage as it was tighting up. She got it loose so he could continue to play. We left Christiaan all happy and once we got home, Nicholas just started throwing up anything he drank. He first drank some strawberry milk, threw that up, gave him some water and that brought everything in his system up. We though that was the end of it after going through several T-shirts, he threw up again in which made us call the oncologist after Nicholas was telling us about his tummy ache. We called Dr. Sedrak who was on call for the night. Dr. Sedrak told us to check his temperature first in which we already did and was at 97 degrees. She then told us to give him some tylenol to easy the pain on the tummy, give him some pedialyte or ginger ale after the tylenol and no solid food For the rest of the night Nicholas drank his fruit flavor pedialyte to help get through the night, as he slept outside with daddy in the living room. Mommy got some good sleep, as daddy watch over Nicholas while watching late night movies till wee hours of the morning. Nicholas did some twisting and turning, but after a hour, he went to sleep like a champ. Thank god he didn't throw up his daily nightly chemotherapy medication and the tylenol.  

(NICHOLAS WALKING AROUND DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY WITH TASHA (L) & ANOTHER THERAPIST AFTER GETTING FITTED INTO HIS PEDIATRIC WALKER) 

July 10th: Nicholas got up full of joy and smiles knowing today was with Tasha at physical therapy and also to get his body fitted into his walker. For once we found a parking right away close to the hospital. Nicholas now getting adjusted to his daily routine once he walks into physical therapy. First he helps or more like tells Tasha which blocks to put down to walk on during the even bars on the way to pick up the keys in Tasha's office to open up the physical therapy room for pediatric patients. Once in the room, Tasha went right into getting Nicholas into his walker. First she had him walking in the walker without wearing a seat belt to protect his body from falling down and going side-to-side. After watching him walk around the room without a belt, she decided to adjust the belt and body protecter to see the difference in walking. Nicholas was all business and once he was adjusted with the belt, he walked out the room and out of physical therapy to walk to the elevator. Tasha made Nicholas walk upstairs to visit his oncologist Dr. Sadanandan and nurse Nelly to show off his walker and also show them the look of the walker and how it is going to help Nicholas get his strength back in his legs and waist. We left the 10th floor full of smiles and joy watching Nicholas walk in his walker. Nicholas showing no signs of been tired, walked backed down to the second floor, said goodbye to Tasha and headed to the elevator. He pushed the elevator button to go home and once downstairs in the lobby, he finally said, no more and take me out. For the rest of the day after eating his chicken nuggets and french fries, Nicholas played with his trains, worked on conversation with mommy on asking for things and went to sleep.        

July 9th: Instead of having physical therapy today at Optimum Care Rehab, Nicholas had occupational therapy with Ms. Brown, just to get his confidence and trust back of going back into the gym and getting confidence and communication with Ms. Brown since they had a good day on day one when Nicholas walked into the rehab center last week July 1st. Today Nicholas was a little more loose, but a little tense. His session started as Ms. Brown used all his motor skills in which she found out that we have to start working on more on Nicholas' left side of his body, since that is the weaker side of both. So the majority of sessions she worked with Nicholas of using his left hand and left side of body for everything. We knew his left side was the weak side, but she gave us some home exercise to work on him at home to improve and get his left side stronger. We knew his left ankle was weak and she was suggesting going back to the braces to straighten out the ankle and getting it stronger. They worked on reaching across his body with his left hand, throwing the ball with his left hand and planting his foot straight up instead of sliding it on the floor when trying to stand up. The one good thing Nicholas did today, was he stood up alone for several seconds without losing his balance. After a long and good workout, Nicholas was tired. This is the first week during his battle to conquer cancer that Nicholas has a full week of activities. Tuesday he had physical therapy, Wednesday he had speech and occupational therapy, today he had occupational therapy and tomorrow Friday he has physical therapy with Tasha, in which he will be getting his pediatric walker adjusted to his body. Once Nicholas got home and ate a little, we went food shopping. On the way back from food shopping, Nicholas slept the whole way back driving and when he got upstairs he slept all the wat from later afternoon till 1230am when he got up, His body was worked on a lot this week and he just rested. We woke him up first to take his six pills on Thursday and late at night when he woke up his late night daily medication.

(NICHOLAS PLAYING AROUND IN THE GYM AFTER OCCUPATIONAL AND SPEECH THERAPY SESSIONS)

July 8th: Today was a big test at Optimum Care Rehab for Nicholas to see if yesterday will effect him today during speech and occupational therapy. First up was speech therapy with Ms. Yassaman in which he had a good hour session. They went over playing with tools, food, conversation and asking questions of what Nicholas wanted to ask for and worked on clarity. Next up was occupational therapy with Ms. Brown in the gym. At first Nicholas gave Ms. Brown a battle of not going with her into the gym. She decided to work with him on puzzles and counting numbers in a room before moving into the gym. He continued to be a little tense with her, but she got him into the gym in which he was listening, following orders, working out on walking exercise, taking off and putting on back sneakers do during his therapy. Nicholas is determine to always finish up on what he has to do during his therapy sessions. Ms. Brown found out today, some kids when they get scared and a little tense, they just want to run away and be alone or be with mommy or daddy, but Nicholas tense and everything kept fighting and working out during the session with her. Couple times he screamed out daddy, I came and then walked away as she slowly gained his confidence back of making him feel relaxed around her and in the gym. Once class was over in which Nicholas came smiling as he walked out with Ms. Brown, I bought him a icy on the way home. Later on in the afternoon, Nicholas had his speech therapy in which he was ready to see his instructor. He didn't sleep and was wide awake till it was time for speech therapy. No afternoon nap, two hours of therapy and he was ready and focus. Today he had a good session with Mr. Porte in which they went over reading a book, numbers/letters and finished off with Nicholas doing a puzzle. During the therapy he also went over of Nicholas asking a question instead of just nodding his head. That  is one area mommy, daddy, family and friends who talk and are around Nicholas, are always making sure he ask a question and not just nodding his head. We thought after all the therapy, he will be tired and ready to sleep, but the he was full of energy and just wanted to do more activities. We played with his train set and colored. He finally went to sleep and had a good night sleep.      

July 7th: Nicholas had his first session with the phyiscal therapist at Optimum Care Rehab. The session didn't go to well as Nicholas and Samantha the therapist didn't connect on the first day. I just thought she ask to much of Nicholas to do on the first day instead of playing around and getting him loose to get adjusted to her. They played with some puzzles and other stuff, but he just didn't feel her for today. He was off and on during the session, cried a little, but for now we have to see what happens when he goes back to physical therapy on Thursday. I don't thing the therapist realized that Nicholas is starting to come out the house more after eight months in which he just went from apartment to hospital and hospital to home during his eight months on intensive chemotherapy and physical therapy. After therapy, Nicholas walked and strolled home with mommy. Once they got home, Nicholas cleaned up the mess of cars he left on the floor, before taking out some puzzles and his games of shapes and colors. During this time, he also sat down with mommy and watched the Michael Jackson Memorial ceremony until he went to sleep. For the rest of the day, he read some books, played with his train set and watched some television until dinner and then bed time.   

July 6th: Blood test today, so Nicholas knew we had to visit arriba.  For the last several weeks we have had to visit arriba or oncology, Nicholas is taking the cream on his chest with a big smile. The only thing that makes him a little uneasy still is when he looks at the needles to connect to his mediport during chemo o  blood test. After getting all the checkup procedures, weighed and his height by nurse Nelly, in which he is at 42 inches in height and weighing 43 pounds, he met with Dr. Sadanandan. The doctor told us that Nicholas is good to go into the swimming pool to get his legs stronger, a bicycle for his legs, but after hearing what went on yesterday, she told us to talk to his physical therapist for special pedals so his ankles would not twist while pedaling. With nurse Nelly busy with another patient, the doctor took Nicholas' blood. Nelly later came to assist the doctor as they both enjoyed there time taking blood from Nicholas and looking at him stare at both of them during the blood test. Once the blood test was over, the picking of a band aid was to funny to believe. The doctor tried to hand Nicholas a band aid that wasn't Thomas, Diego o Dora in which he told her "no doctor that is not diego o dora, that is sponge bob". Finally after going through the box of band aids, she pulled a diego one. For the first time since getting diagnosed, Nicholas wanted to stay a little longer on the 10th floor, because he likes playing with some of the toys and puzzles they have, but his day was over and we could go home. He stomped a little and looked at mommy and daddy and realized okay lets go home and we went home. We got home and for the rest of the day, he played with puzzles, read some the bilingual Cat in Hat book, did some coloring and later he watch some television. The doctor told us to get off pedisure, now that his appetite is getting better and give him strawberry quick since he likes the taste of strawberry.

(NICHOLAS EATING A BOWL OF CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP AFTER WORKING OUT DURING WALKING EXERCISE) 

July 5th: After staying in doors most of day yesterday, Nicholas went outside today. Nicholas and daddy went out to ride his pedal go cart, but everytime he tried to pedal, his ankles will twist up on him. We tried again and again and his left ankle will twist on him. After trying several times with his pedal car, we decided to walk up and down the block several times until Nicholas gave his no more walking daddy line. He made daddy happy by walking up and down the block three times and to finish off his exercise, he first walked up the stairs to open up the door to the building and then walked up two flights of stairs in which he called out mommy to meet him at the stop of the steps.  Once he got inside he ate his sopes for lunch and took a good long afternoon nap. When he got up he watched some soccer with mommy and daddy and later did some puzzles until he got sleepy. This was one night, Nicholas slept like a champ till the sun came up next morning. He stood to take his daily nightly chemo medication and went right back to sleep.

July 4th: HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!! All day Nicholas wanted to walk and kick his blue ball around the apartment once he got up in the morning. he ate a good breakfast as mommy made him some pancakes. Most of the day, we walked around kicking the blue ball and did some ups and downs holding the blue ball over his head. After the walking was over, we played with his Thomas & Friends Train playing cards matching game, played with shapes, did some reading and finally ate a good dinner of chicken noodle soup. Once dinner was over he watched some television and went to sleep until mommy had to wake him to take his daily nightly chemotherapy medication.

July 3rd: Nicholas was full of energy yesterday that mommy and daddy took turns playing with Nicholas, since both were home all day today. Mommy gave him a leg massage, before doing some walking exercise around the apartment for a good 30 minutes, since he wants to walk more now. After the walk he did some coloring, had a good lunch of posole and chicken soup and had a good afternoon nap. Once he got up, daddy did more walking exercise with the help of a ball as Nicholas pushed the ball while walking. We thought Nicholas was tired, but he wanted to finish his day doing some ABC's & 123's until his body was tired and went to sleep.

(NICHOLAS' BACK OF T-SHIRT SIGNED BY ALL OF JOSEPH'S CLASSMATES FROM HIS 5TH GRADE CLASS) 

Nicholas has a new penpal named Joseph. Joseph is a 5th grader from Wisconsin in which he started writing Nicholas letters and sending pictures since Christmas after he learned about Nicholas's battle with cancer from a Chemo Angel who connected with Nicholas back in October when he came out the hospital. Joseph and his friends from his 5th grade class sent Nicholas a T-shirt in which was autographed by Joseph and his classmates.

(NICHOLAS WEARING T-SHIRT GIVING TO HIM BY HIS PENPAL AND BUDDY JOSEPH AND JOSEPH'S 5TH GRADE CLASSMATES. THE T-SHIRT READS " I GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIENDS")  

July 2nd: Nicholas was suppose to start his physical therapy class today at Optimum Care Rehab, but his new instructor had to cancel class and he will start the upcoming Tuesday in which physical therapy goes Tuesday's and Thursday's. So with no classes to attend, we just played, ran around, did some walking exercise, coloring and played with his trains and cars. Later on he had to take his six tablets on every Thursday after a spinal tap. Nicholas is a tough kid and I give him much respect of what he is going through and watching realize that this battle is day-by-day in which he will conquer and beat. We wanted to go out for a walk outside, but another late afternoon rain storm made stay inside and watch the rain outside the window. Good news his pediatric walker finally came in and with the walker it wil help and strengthen up his legs more.   

(NICHOLAS FIRST DAY AT OPTIMUM CARE REHAB CENTER IN GYM PLAYING WITH MS. YASSAMAN (R) & MS. BROWN (L)

July 1st: Nicholas started at his new rehab place today and he was full of life knowing he was going to school to learn more ABC's & 123's. Optimum Care Rehab is several blocks away from the apartment, so we decided to stroll and walk with him to his new school. His first day at school that on Wednesday's only, he will be getting a hour of speech therapy and a hour of occupational therapy. We first met Ms. Yassaman who will be Nicholas' speech therapist for about 15 minutes to talk over the lesson plan for the six weeks of summer classes. During the conversation she brought a train set to get Nicholas' attention and see how he reacts to her and she did a good job on communicating with him on day one. After speaking and finding out more of Ms. Yassaman and what Optimum will do to help our son, we left the room. Walking away we didn't hear no crying or mommy o daddy come back and we felt happy as parents. After finishing up with Ms. Yassaman, Nicholas went on to meet Ms. Brown for occupational therapy in which she had a battle with Nicholas at the start. At first Nicholas didn't want to listen and wanted his own way, but after Ms. Brown got his attention, they both connected and had a good session. Ms. Brown walked Nicholas to the front of the rehab center to meet us and to help Nicholas put his shoes on to go home. Once we got home, Nicholas ate some lunch and went to sleep before his afternoon speech therapy class. One thing about Nicholas on any afternoon activities he will focus if he gets his afternoon nap like he was doing in daycare, but sometimes going to hospital for chemotherapy or physical therapy, he doesn't sleep and sometimes he loses his focus when he has his afternoon speech therapy class. He had a good session today and was happy of seeing his instructor. Later on he ate a good dinner and happy to see his appetite is good and had a good night sleep. 

June 30th: Nicholas and mommy spent most of day organizing the apartment. Mommy spent time with Nicholas teaching him on organizing his toys and putting them in the right places when he done playing and singing his song "Clean Up". Later on in the day Nicholas did some walking exercise inside the apartment. Everyday his confidence is building and everyday he wants to walk by himself in which is a big step. Once the exercise was over, Nicholas had a good dinner, watch some television and went to sleep. Later on at night we had to wake him up for his late night chemotherapy medication.  

(NICHOLAS TAKING A NICE RELAXING AFTERNOON NAP DURING A OFF DAY FROM HOSPITAL AND THERAPY CLASSES) 

June 29th: Today was another nice and relaxing day for Nicholas. No visit to the hospital and no therapy classes. We just spent time at home coloring, playing with train and reading. Later in the afternoon we did some walking exercise outside in which he walked up several steps of the building that is showing everyday how much strength he is getting back into his legs.   

June 28th: Today was rest day for the whole family and we sure got some rest. Daddy had to do some chores while mommy and Nicholas kicked back and watched Nicholas' favorite TV shows and did some playing with Thomas & Friends matching card set in the morning. Later on in the afternoon we sat down along with mommy's uncle Miguel who came over for a visit and watched the soccer game of the Confederation Cup Final between Brazil versus United States of America. The game was good and exciting for the full 90 minutes. Nicholas was up for the first 45 minutes watching game as we explained to him who is who and all he kept saying was "soccer and kick the ball daddy" Once the first 45 minutes was over, USA took a 2-0 lead into the half. Nicholas dosed off for his afternoon nap and missed the second half and got up when the game was over in which Brazil scored three goals in the second half to win the game 3-2. He ate a good dinner of rice and chicken and then again wanted to play with his Thomas & Friends matching card set and numbers as he learning the meaning of taking away a card and counting again in adding and subtraction. He also did some walking exercise as he wanted to do some walking around the apartment. Later on at night he takes his late night chemotherapy medication and gets a good night sleep.

(NICHOLAS AND TASHA WORKING OUT DOING SOME UPS AND DOWNS DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY)   

June 27th: Nicholas gets up a little to early in the morning as he woke up around 630am and wanted both mommy and daddy to get up with him. Daddy got up and left mommy to sleep and catch up on the much rest she needs. After having a good day in both physical and speech yesterday, Nicholas was full of energy to workout with his weekend physical therapist. With his confidence building up and his willingness that he wants to walk more now, the therapist worked on Nicholas walking around the apartment for the full hour session. They took breaks so Nicholas could get his legs massaged, did some ups and downs and had some communication. The therapist told Nicholas will start doing much better once his walker comes in which will make him push himself more of walking alone again and to get more strength in his legs. The walker has been ordered, now we're just waiting for it to come. After the session was over, Nicholas did some coloring and played with his Thomas & Friends matching cards set. He ate a good lunch and took a long afternoon nap. Once he got up, he played with his trains, did some more coloring and finally read some books with mommy until he want to sleep at night.

(NICHOLAS AND TASHA WALKING AROUND ROOM WITH MEDICINE BALL DOWNS DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY)  

June 26th: Today was good day for Nicholas all around. First he had a good session with Tasha at physical therapy. He walked the even bars first from low to high blocks and then backwards, walked holding one hand of Tasha to get the room key, played up and down while sitting on a rocking step board, fetch cones around the room to match colors, walked alone using the big orange medicine ball, communicated good and had lots of words for Tasha and to finish it off, Nicholas told Tasha "good job Tasha". This made Tasha smile as whe walked Nicholas to the elevator. Once he got home, Nicholas ate some chicken and rice and took his afternoon nap. He got up later for his speech therapy class and he had a good session with his instructor. They went over scheduling as Nicholas paid attention on - First-Second-Last, animals with correct pronunciations, coloring, ABC's on identifying letters in subjects and numbers of see how he connects numbers after 10 and just simple communicating with mommy and instructor. After a day in physical and speech therapy, Nicholas played with Thomas Train matching cards and did some more coloring and watch some of his favorite shows on TV.  

June 25th: Today was a rest day for Nicholas. After going outdoors and wanting to do a lot of walking for the last several days, Nicholas took the day off from activities of going outside and just rested and relaxed for most of the day. Later on in the afternoon, while watching the news with mommy, breaking news broke out that Michael Jackson "King of Pop" died at 50-years old. One of the greatest singers and one of the greatest video producer of all time. So the rest of the day Nicholas sat with mommy looking at MJ videos until he went to sleep.  

June 24th: Nicholas got up a little tired, but in good spirits. He wanted to go out and walk, but it was raining outside so we did some walking exercise inside. Once he finished walking around, he wanted to color and later on in the afternoon, he had speech therapy class. Nicholas full of energy didn't get no sleep all day and with a hour before his speech therapy class, he decides to take a nap. So while he was sleeping and we didn't want to wake him, so we cancelled his speech therapy class and rescheduled for Friday. When he got up and ate, we played with numbers and ABC's and finished off playing Thomas Train Set playing matching cards. Later on at night he got up to take his chemotherapy medication and went right back to sleep.  

June 23rd: With no visits to the hospital and no therapy, we took Nicholas outside to do some walking exercise up and down the block, so he could stretch out his legs and also to get out of the apartment. After the walk we did some coloring, reading and finished off with his train set. He ate good today and now he only wants to eat chicken and rice in which is driving his mommy crazy. Nicholas took his late night chemotherapy medication without any tussle compared to the night before.  

June 22nd: Nicholas and daddy went outside to do some walking exercise up and down the block since the weather was good enough in the morning after dropping off mommy to do laundry. He even walked up the steps to the door of the building to finish off his walk. We did some more walking when we had to pick up mommy and he was more excited walking with mommy as I dropped them off a 1/2 block away from the apartment. Later on at night is when the adventure began with Nicholas to take his late night chemotherapy medication in which he didn't want to take. He gave mommy and daddy a fight and tussle for a good 10 minutes to take the medication, because he wanted milk or juice, but the medication can be only taken with water on a empty stomach. Nicholas finally took the medication and went to sleep on daddy's shoulder for the rest of the night as mommy went to bed.  

June 21st: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! I want to thank all the father's, grandfather's, uncles, godfather's, doctors and friends for all your support and kindness for Nicholas as he battles to conquer ALL cancer. Today was a nice and relaxing day for the family as we spent a quiet father's day with dinner and much playing with Thomas & Friends Train with tracks, playing cards and movies.   

June 20th: Nicholas has his weekend physical therapy and it was good session with his therapist. After getting his foot massage, Nicholas was ready for his workout. Today they worked on ups & downs, walking backwards, reaching out for a object while walking and walking around the apartment with either holding one or two hands of his therapist. For the rest of day, he played with his trains, did some coloring and was full of energy that he didn't even sleep after his  physical therapy. Nicholas went through another day of having a low appetite. He ate a little at breakfast, had a good lunch with a chicken soup and dinner was a struggle. Good thing we have Pedisure to help keep his body full of vitamins when his appetite is low due to the dailiy medication in which he takes twice a day for five days since having the vincristine chemotherapy medication last Thursday. Today he took his 48hrs after spinal tap pill at 1030am right before physical therapy and later on at night he took the 60hrs pill at 1030pm.

June 19th: Another day Nicholas gets up full of smiles knowing today was another hospital visit, but this time was to his favorite person during his battle to conquer cancer. Nicholas and his physical therapist Tasha have relationship and a communication that is something to see and watch. Once Nicholas got to physical therapy, he took his jacket off and wanted to stand up, so when Tasha comes, he was ready to walk to his exercise room. Today they worked on walking and pushing the medicine ball, ups and downs, bowling, walking to the ball after making throw and finally working on his favorite Thomas The Train Puzzle. When the session was over, we walked with Tasha to the elevator, walked out the elevator to the hospital lobby door and then jumped into the stroller for a ride to the car couple blocks away. Nicholas' appetite has been a struggle since having the vincristine medication yesterday and now with a new medication in which he has to take twice a day after having the vincristine for five days, is taking away his appetite. He ate some chicken, two popsicles and ate some soup for dinner. He made mommy make pancakes, hot dogs, sausage and eggs and a taco during the day and when it was time to eat, his appetite just wasn't there today. After physical therapy and during his time when he wasn't eating, we just played with his Thomas & Friends train set and rested until his evening medications and later on in the night his nightly chemotherapy medication.  

(MOMMY AND NICHOLAS WALKING INTO THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL PEDIATRIC HEMATOLOGY AND ONCOLOGY UNIT FOR A SPINAL TAP AND CHEMOTHERAPY TREATMENT)     

June 18th: The day was ugly and it just rained all day. Nicholas got up in good spirits knowing it was ARRIBA today for a trip to the oncology floor to get a spinal tap and a dosage of vincristine (VCR) chemotherapy medication. He was smiling when mommy put the cream on for the mediport to be installed, so we expected a good day from him. Once we got to the hospital, Nicholas was left with mommy, as daddy had to do some chores and pay some bills. Nicholas was still the same weight from his last check up and same height. Today he got a spinal tap early around 1030am and got his vincristine right after and by 1230pm Nicholas and mommy were ready to go home. He knew he was done and during his down time, he was telling nurse Nelly and mommy were is daddy and lets go home, because he knew his day was over once the mediport was taking out of his chest. This time around his 48hrs after spinal tap pill is at 1030am on Saturday June 20th and 60hrs pill is at 1030pm the same day. Once we got home we all just rested till Nicholas had to take some late evening chemotherapy medications and do some walking around exercise.  Nicholas has a blood test on Monday July 6th and chemotherapy on July 16th.

June 17th: Nicholas' speech therapy was cancelled today, because the landlord put new windows into the apartment, so we had to cancel his class. We took him out the apartment for a walk up and down the block and then finished off to a ride to McDonald's for his chicken nuggets and french fries. He ate good and rested for the rest of day after reading some books with mommy and doing some coloring.

(NICHOLAS GETTING A THOMAS TRAIN PAINTED ON HIS HAND AT NATIONAL CANCER SURVIVOR DAY AT THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER)

June 16th: After having a half a day of spending time with his cousin Christiaan yesterday, Nicholas spent most of day coloring, reading books with mommy and watching some television. We took him out for a ride, just to get him out the apartment and let him walk up the block. Once the walk was done, he rested until his night medication came calling to take.  

MOMMY, NICHOLAS' ONCOLOGIST DR. SADANANDAN AND NICHOLAS AT NATIONAL CANCER SURVIVOR DAY AT THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER)

June 15th: Nicholas was full of energy knowing he was going to spend his day with his cousin Christiaan today. Christiaan had a half as day of school today and daddy's sister needed a babysitter. We decided to babysit Christiaan and he had a blast with Nicholas playing with Transformer robots, cars and other games in which they invented and enjoyed playing with each other. Once Christiaan's father came to pick him up, Nicholas' body was tired and he went to sleep until later on in the evening in which he has to take his medications and later on at night to take the late night chemotherapy medication around 11pm. 

(DADDY AND NICHOLAS DOING SOME DANCING AT NATIONAL CANCER SURVIVOR DAY AT THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER)

June 14th: Last week Sunday, Nicholas could not attend the cancer walkathon, so this Sunday we went back to Sunrise Day Camp so mommy and Nicholas can get a tour of the camp in which Nicholas will be attending this summer. The tour was good and Nicholas was all smiles when he saw a big Thomas The Train Set in his classroom in which the kids his age will be attending and when he looked outside, a big playground right next door to his classroom. We were happy with the camp and happy to see Nicholas enjoying himself during the tour. The camp will be staffed with oncologists, nurses, teachers and volunteers. His camp will be two weeks, but kids his age can only attend three days a week in which will be M-W-F. Nicholas will be going by bus in which he will be picked up at The Brooklyn Hospital Center. Mommy o daddy will go the first day with him in case he gets a little home sick.  

(FAMILY PORTRAIT OF DADDY, NICHOLAS AND MOMMY AT NATIONAL CANCER SURVIVOR DAY AT THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER)

June13th: Happy Wedding Annivesary for mommy and daddy for 11 years. Today was a happy day for all of us. First we had to cancel Nicholas' weekend physical therapy, because we had a function to attend. Today was National Cancer Survivor Day at The Brooklyn Hospital Center in which we attended. Nicholas was all smiles and joy heading to the hospital not knowing if it was ARRIBA for chemotherapy or ABAJO for physical therapy, but after walking into the function, he was all smiles. Two cancer survivors spoke. The first one to speak was a male survivor who got the same cancer as Nicholas during his teen years. He conquered ALL cancer after several years of battling this deadly disease. The second speaker was a 21-years old woman who beat out a brain tumor during her teen years. She battled the brain tumor for several years, first she beat it and later on around 15-years old she went into a relapsed and the brain tumor came back. After fighting back and forth with the tumor, she won her battle with cancer. She was able to attend her senior prom and then she went to college in which she wants to be a writer. Once the speeches were done, the dancing, meeting fellow cancer survivors and patients, having fun and living life started. Nicholas was full of energy that he walked all over the place holding with one hand for the majority of the function. We first took a family picture together, then after was the highlight of the day, Nicholas went dancing with mommy, daddy and the nurses in which his doctor was all smiles watching the confidence of Nicholas walking around and dancing. He was having fun and to top it off, he got his hand painted in a train and gold stars. Nicholas is now 3-years old and still doesn't want to get his face painted. I hope one day to see I can see a artist painting his face. We had a great time at the function. For the rest of the day, Nicholas still full of energy came home and played with his train set until he want to sleep.    

June 12th: Another day of physical therapy. Today was a fun day at therapy. First Nicholas wanted to call shots, but Tasha was letting him have his way a little, but most of the session she was in charge. After making his walk to her office to get the keys to the room, Nicholas walked all the way back to the room with one hand holding onto Tasha which was a big step forward of walking without help and building up his confidence. For most of session, Tasha had Nicholas sit down on a block and practice standingup and sitting down in four counts of 10. Once that was done, he played with the play dough and with a car in which Tasha had the car roll off a mat so Nicholas can over and get it. This exercise was done about six times until Nicholas body was tired. After couple weeks of not working out with Tasha, Nicholas had two good days in physical therapy. Once Nicholas got home, he watched couple of his favorite TV shows until he went to sleep.   

June 11th: Nicholas goes to physical therapy. He has not seen Tasha for couple weeks and he was in good spirits meeting up with her. Nicholas was telling Tasha and daddy on what blocks to put down so he can walk and climb while working out on even bars. After working on even bars, he walked to Tasha's office to get the keys for his physical therapy room. Once inside he worked on walking sideways and backwards by going to different parts of room and picking up pieces of a puzzle to complete a puzzle. Tasha spreaded out nine pieces around the room. With no crawling allowed, Nicholas could only use chairs and walls in the room. He did a good job of completing the puzzle, even when he got tired he sat down, got up and finished what he started. For the rest day after a good workout, Nicholas rested until later during the day when he had to take six chemotherapy medication and his late night medication.   

June 10th: After couple days of getting some rest and having his body get back strong since coming out the hospital, Nicholas had speech therapy class today. Nicholas and his speech therapist have a good communication and for every class he always finishes with a train set. Today they went over verbs, pronunciation, ABC's and First-Then-Last to keep Nicholas focus on lesson plan. He is getting better on paying attention and seeing what it is front of him.

June 9th: Today Nicholas spent most of the day with daddy alone at home, as mommy went out to do stuff. Nicholas had lots of energy today. We colored, worked on puzzles in which Nicholas did one by himself without help, read books and watch some television. After all the fun and games was over, Nicholas had a good long nap. When he got up, he ate took his medications and just rested until he had to get up to take his night time medication of Mercaptopurine.  

June 8th: Nicholas was back in the hospital for a blood test to see how his counts were. He was all smiles and joy in the morning taking the cream on his chest for the mediport to be installed that caught mommy of guard, as she was waiting for he usual twist and turn to avoid the cream. While waiting to take the blood test, Nicholas gave out TEAM NICHOLAS badges to nurse Nelly & Lynda and to his doctor Sadanandan. They were all happy with the badges and when the saw the banner, they were just amazed with the creativity. Mommy took Nicholas into the room to take his blood test and once he was done, we went home and later will wait for the doctor to call us with the results. We usual wait, but daddy's body was tired. We got the results and all counts were good and white blood cells getting better. Now we just have to wait till June 18th, to get a spinal tap and Vincristine (VCR) chemotherapy medication. On the way home we stopped at the rehab center in which Nicholas will be starting on July 1st. He will have six weeks of rehab till mid August, take a break and start up again when the 2009-2010 school year starts in September. Nicholas will be having classes T-W-TH in which will include speech, occupational and physical therapy.

(TEAM NICHOLAS BANNER DESIGNED AND DONATED BY RIOS FAMILY. RIOS FAMILY (L-R) UNCLE MIGUEL, AUNT ROSA AND COUSIN DIANA)    

June 7th: Today was the big childhood cancer walkathon at Sunrise Day Camp to help bring funds so cancer kids can attend the camp free. Nicholas was not able to attend as his doctor told us to keep him home since he just came out of the hospital. So mommy and Nicholas stayed home. TEAM NICHOLAS was well represented as we brought the best looking banner of the whole walkathon. The day was beautiful to walk as it wasn't to hot, just cool enough to enjoy a beautiful day, bond with other families and show our spirit that one day we will find a cure for childhood cancer. TEAM NICHOLAS sign was donated and designed by Diana and Alberto Rios, daughter and son of mommy's uncle Miguel and aunt Rosa. There art work was amazing and Diana got much praise of her work while walking during the walkathon. TEAM NICHOLAS was represented by daddy, Diana, Miguel, Rosa, daddy's friend Omar, daddy's nephew Christiaan and daddy's sister Yvette from Boston. We walked the challenge course of 1.7 miles and during the walk we met several families and exchange stories of how cancer have effected our families and kids, but always the conversation ended up in Diana's work. Diana was all smile and it made her feel good and her parents happy of the recognition she was getting. Thanks to all the donators to TEAM NICHOLAS of friends, family, co-workers, strangers, chemo angels and help from Nicholas' aunt Dahlia, Michele and Yvette. TEAM NICHOLAS passed its goal of $2500 dollars. Once the numbers are tallied up we should find out by the end of the week how much we raised. THANK YOU ALL.

(NICHOLAS POSING WITH TEAM NICHOLAS BANNER. NICHOLAS DID NOT ATTEND THE WALKATHON ON DOCTOR'S ORDER TO STAY HOME AFTER COMING OUT THE HOSPITAL LAST WEEK WITH A FEVER)

June 6th: Nicholas still recovering from his fever/virus since coming out the hospital, so we played it safe and cancelled his weekend therapy with his physical therapist. Mommy and daddy took over the duties and worked with Nicholas for about 35 minutes We did all the walking exercise we learned from the therapist and massages to make Nicholas feel as comfortable as possible. He knew the therapist wasn't coming once we started woing on him.   

June 5th: Another day of not visiting the hospital. Today we took Nicholas out for a drive before the rain came down, so he can get some fresh air and get out the house for a bit. He enjoys his rides and calls for the music and songs he wants to hear like he was driving the car. Funny when he is in the back seat and wide awake.   

June 4th: Nicholas still has a little cough in his system, but still active and moving around. He is getting adjusted to his new oral medication he has to take since starting the fifth cycle of his chemotherapy treatment. Today was a relaxing day, with no visit to the hospital or physical therapy, we just played some educational games, played with his train set and colored some books. 

June 3rd: Nicholas gets up early even before the sun came up and it was a hurting day for mommy and daddy from getting up around 5am. He got up and wanted to play with his new Curious George puzzle given to him by a chemo angel. We fixed both puzzles twice, then we went on to reading a book and playing with his trains until his midday nap. After getting up he had speech therapy class in which was a good session. They worked on First, Then and Last project in which is teaching Nicholas discipline of focusing of what lesson is first, second and a reward for working hard and listening to his therapist during his lesson. Once class was over he rested for a while and wanted to do some coloring at night before going to sleep.  

June 2nd: Today was a rest day for Nicholas at home. With his defense mechanism low and just coming out of the hospital, we cancelled his physical therapy class.  

June 1st: After leaving the hospital yesterday, Nicholas had to see his oncologist today to take a blood test to see if they can restart the fifth cycle or postpone it for another week. He was full of spirits in the hospital. He played with trains and blocks in the playroom, walked around the floor doing some walking exercise since he missed couple physical therapy classes while in the hospital. The doctor came by and gave him a total checkup while waiting for the blood results to come back. The blood work came back and we got good news that his numbers of red blood and platelets were good and white blood were low but good enough to restart his fifth cycle. Nicholas has a little cough, but was expected after battling a fever. We left the hospital and once we got home, he was ready to continue taking all his mandatory oral medications at home.  

May 31st: Nicholas leaves the The Brooklyn Hospital Center Pediatric Unit after several days on antibiotics to fight off any bacteria or infection and to clean out his system of the fever. The fever is gone, but a little cough is there as the doctor said might happen. Right awaw as soon as he comes home he goes right to playing with his train set. Mommy gets some much needed rest as she stayed over night with Nicholas at the hospital.  

May 30th: Nicholas is still in the hospital full of spirits. He was eating good and movingf his bowels. We thought he was suppose to go home today, but the doctors played it safe and gave us another day in the hospital. Most of the day we spent reading his Nemo book and coloring.  

May 29th: Nicholas is still in the hospital. The fever has gone down and the doctors have given him one more day to see how the fever will be. He might get a chance to go home over the weekend. Nicholas was funny with the doctor during a checkup today as he told her "I want to go home" and she said if you get better I will let you go home.

May 28th: We got good news and bad news today. The good news was that Nicholas' results from the bone marrow came back remission and his red blood, white blood and platelets numbers went up. The bad news now is that all Nicholas' chemotherapy treatment has to be stopped until his fever is controlled and allowed to go home. His fever is going down with the antibiotics and medicine he is getting at the hospital, but once he is not on medications, his fever sometimes goes up. So the doctors are trying to figure out what is going on.  

(NICHOLAS IN THE HOSPITAL FOR SEVERAL DAYS AFTER HAVING A HIGH FEVER) 

May 27th: Nicholas gets up full of spirits today. Today he only had speech therapy. During the day Nicholas wanted to draw and color, so we brought out a coloring book to color . He is getting better of staying in the lines while coloring. Nicholas had a good speech session with his instructor as they worked on objects, following instructions and pronunciation. No train or toys today after doing some reading, it was all educational. Later on after his speech session, Nicholas developed a high fever of 101.7 in which was brought down by tylenol, but then couple hours later the fever went back up to 102 and we rushed him to The Brooklyn Hospital Center. With all the flu and virus going around, we don't know were and who came in contact with Nicholas. With his defense system so down and been a cancer patient, Nicholas was admitted to the hospital after his oncologist told us to be prepared for a couple days in the hospital. Even though it is a fever, the hospital is treating Nicholas as a flu patient.   

May 26th: With no hospital visits, Nicholas catches up on some rest after a playful weekend with family.   

May 25th Memorial Day: Nicholas gets a visit from his grandmother, uncle Hermilo and cousins Erika and Karina. He was full of joy as they spend the most of day with him. While Nicholas played numbers, abc's, building lego blocks, drawing, reading with his cousins and doing some walking exercise, it gave time for mommy and daddy to get some rest and kick back. For the first time since taking the strong Vincristine chemotherapy medication during his battle to conquer cancer, his appetite has not been effected on the usual two-to-three days after having a dosage. Nicholas is eating good since he got his bone marrow, spinal tap and having a dosage of Vincristine last Thursday.   

May 24th: Nicholas gets up in the middle up the night to take his 60hrs pill at 1am after his spinal tap. Aunt Yvette from Boston comes over to visit Nicholas and spends most of the morning and midday talking, drawing and reading books with Nicholas. After his aunt leaves, he just spends the rest of day doing some walking exercise and resting. While the family was resting and relaxing, Nicholas gets a surprise visit from his uncles Hermilo and Rafael.   

May 23rd: After couple days of feeling weak, Nicholas gets up full of spirits to do his weekend physical therapy. He and his therapist had a fun day communicating. Nicholas has come a long way with his weekend therapist and we're glad to see them getting along. Today they went over bending over, walking backwards and working on hand coordination by Nicholas listening to see what hand to use to pick up a object. After the session was over Nicholas took his 48hrs pill at 1pm since his spinal tap on last Thursday. For the rest of the day, he just read some books with mommy, played with his trains, watched some TV and rested.  

May 22nd: Nicholas slept most of day today after a long day at the hospital yesterday. His body and mind wasn't up to speech therapy class. We cancelled speech therapy. We were happy to see Nicholas get up and eat a bowl of chicken noodle soup, because his appetite always goes low after couple days from getting Vincristine (VCR) chemotherapy medication.    

May 21st: After two blood test, the third one today was on target as Nicholas'  red blood cells, white blood test and platelet were in good numbers to start "Maintenance I Treatment". A bone marrow was given to see what stage of cancer Nicholas is at, a spinal tap and a dosage of Vincristine (VCR) chemotherapy medication while Nicholas was asleep. This was long day at the hospital. While waiting for his blood test, Nicholas walked around the floor after watching several Thomas The Train & Friends movies. The doctor and nurses were all smiles watching Nicholas walk around and seeing him work hard to walk and run again. Once we left the hospital late afternoon, Nicholas had to take some new chemotherapy medications. Since the hospital visits are twice every other week, most of the medications during this cycle will be given orally at home. We decided to invest in a pill crusher to make our lives easier. After the spinal tap, Nicholas will now to take his 48hrs pill at 1pm on May 23rd and 60hrs pill at 1am May 24th. The first couple medications he vomitted when we got home and had to retake it in which he didn't like. Later on at night, he has to take one medication called Mercaptopurine (MP) on a empty stomach for six straight days and 1 1/2 tablet on the seventh day every night. Nicholas was twisting and turning all night in and out of bed until he dosed off around 2am after a long day. The bone marrow results will be given to us next week.  

May 20th: Nicholas' body still had some little rashes around his body,so we gave him some benadryl to get rid of the rashes. With all the blood test couple days ago, the physical therapy and chemotherapy medications at home, Nicholas body was not cooperating with him to do speech therapy. The instructor tried several things to get Nicholas' attention, but nothing was working. So we cut the session short. He gave us several activities to work on Nicholas' vocabulary and pronunciations. The rest of the day he just rested and slept. 

(NICHOLAS STRETCHING OUT TO GET PIECE OF PUZZLE FROM TASHA DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY)

May 19th: Nicholas was all fun and games at physical therapy today. After he did the usual walking to Tasha's office to get the keys to his physical therapy room, Nicholas wanted to run the therapy his way today of what he wanted to do. At first all he wanted to do was walk the even bars with the stepping blocks and trampoline in the middle. He walked the bars like five times back and forth until he was bored and wanted to try something else. Later he worked on kicking the medicine ball to strengthen his legs and stretching exercise with the playdough for his hands. Even though he did his way, it was a good session and he got a good solid workout on his legs and hands.     

May18th: Today was not a good day for Nicholas at the hospital with his mediport and chemotherapy to start his fifth cycle. He got up with a good attitude knowing it was chemotherapy day. After getting dressed, he didn't give mommy a twist and turn to put the cream on his chest for the mediport to be installed. Once he got to the hospital to take his blood test after getting his weight and height, his mediport was not working. Nicholas lost one pound. With all the flushing and cleaning up the mediport from last week, Nicholas' mediport was clogged up and after several tries of trying to get his blood out, they decided to go the old fashion way and get his blood out with a IV. The doctor says this sometimes happens with the mediport getting clogged up and nothing to worry about. So they decided to take his blood out of his left hand and Nicholas was not going for it. He protected his hand and pulled away couple times and after realizing what had to done, he gave up his hand for the blood test. When the results came back, the numbers of the red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets did not add up to the number the doctor was looking for. With the white cells off by a little, the total numbers were off by couple numbers and to play safe, the doctor did not want to put Nicholas to sleep twice this week to get his chemotherapy started, a spinal tap and a bone marrow to see what stage the cancer is in. So the doctor decided to have Nicholas to come back Thursday May 21st and by that time his numbers should be up and the treatment should be given to start his fifth cycle.

May17th: Another day of Nicholas getting up early, but this time around it's 5am in the morning. He sure took away the beauty sleep out of mommy and daddy on this Sunday morning. Funny thing, he gets up and tells mommy he wants pancakes for breakfast and when mommy looks at the clock she thought she was dreaming. We got lucky as he changed his mind and just wanted a bowl of cereal in which was easy to serve instead of making the pancackes. After breakfast, the rest of day, Nicholas watched some movies and read some books in spanish with mommy   

May 16th: Nicholas gets up at 6am full of energy after sleeping most of yesterday. Later in the day he has his weekend physical therapy session. Today was a good session for Nicholas and his instructor. Every Saturday, the communication and work ethic for Nicholas is getting better and confidence is building. After the workout and getting his legs massage, Nicholas takes a afternoon nap. Later on when he wakes up, he plays around with mommy and watches his favorite shows on TV.      

May15th: Nicholas has another off day from everything as his speech therapist instructor could not make it today. With the late reaction rashes from chemotherapy medications still coming and going around his body we gave him benadryl for most of day to get rid of the rashes. With the benadryl he sleeps most of the day. 

May 14th: Nicholas has a off day from everything. No hospital visit, no speech therapy and no physical therapy. So it was rest day for the family for the early part of the day and then some activities for Nicholas so he can't get bored all day staying inside. We played with his train set to start, did some rope walking exercise to give his legs a workout and later on some book reading and going over objects.  

(NICHOLAS WORKING ON ANIMAL PRONUNCIATION AND MATCHING IN BOTH ENGLISH AND SPANISH DURING SPEECH THERAPY WITH MR. PORTE)                   

May 13th: The rashes are playing a game on Nicholas's body. Some go away and new ones come out. Benadryl continues to do a good job, but with chemotherapy you always expect something new. Nicholas had a good session with his instructor during speech therapy. The went over action cards, pronunciations, read a Cat In Hat Book, played who is who in the story and to finished off with Nicholas completing two puzzles. 

May12th: Nicholas continues to battle some late reactions rashes around his body and head from chemotherapy. Everyday benadryl does a good job of getting rid of the rashes, but sometimes they creep back on to another part of his body. So instead of going to a dermatalogist, the doctor has given us a week to see how benadryl will work of getting rod of the late rashes. If they continue, she will send us to the dermatalogist. Today was a visit to physical therapy. Nicholas' sessions are getting better and legs stronger everyday. He did all the exercise with Tasha, but didn't cooperate with walking the rope, he just wanted to use the walls and chairs to move around. After the session was over, Nicholas jumped on the trampoline while holding on the even bars. The rest of the day, he just rested and read some spanish books with mommy.  

(NICHOLAS TAKING ONE OF HIS DAILY CHEMOTHERAPY MEDICATIONS AT HOME) 

May 11th: Nicholas was suppose to start the fifth cycle of his chemotherapy treatment today called Maintenance I, but after his blood test results came back, the doctor decided to wait another week. His red counts were good, platelet counts were good, but his white blood counts were a little low so he couldn't have a spinal tap and bone marrow to see how the cancer is at this stage of his treatment. During the 84 day/12 week period of this cycle, Nicholas will be taking more chemotherapy medications orally this time around instead of through his mediport. He still has the VCR (mediport), Mercaptopurine(MER) 1 tablet(Mon-Sat) & 1/2 (Sun), Methotrexate(MET) six tablets every Monday night except on spinal tap days, Prednisone (PRE) twice daily for 5 days after Vincristine (VCR) and other medications. After getting the run down from Dr. Sadanandan of what is going to happen to Nicholas during this cycle once all the blood counts are good, we left the hospital early and spent the rest of the day resting and catching up with lost sleep. 

May 10th: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! We want to thank all the mother's, grandmother's, godmother's, aunts, sisters, nurses, doctors and friends for all your kindness, caring, love and support you have given us as we go through this battle with Nicholas to conquer cancer. Today was a good day for Nicholas in the eating department, as he ate breakfast and lunch today, since his appetite was low for the whole past week. He didn't want any dinner, so he just ate two popsicles and went to bed.  

May 9th: Nicholas and the weekend physical therapist are working and communicating good, that the therapist is seeing more confidence in Nicholas' body, mind and spirit. He is standing up more by himself, using his hands and waist to lift himself up to walk to mommy and daddy around the apartment. The session was a good seesion as Nicholas is starting to count with the therapist when they're doing ups and downs and bending the legs exercise. Once therapy was over, Nicholas took a long midday nap until his cousins and aunt came over for a visit and spend time with mommy for mother's day. Cousins Christiaan and Chanel and Aunt Michele came over. They gave mommy roses for Mother's day and bought food to give mommy a rest of not entering the kitchen to cook. Chanel read and colored with Nicholas, while Christiaan played with the trains, animals, music and educational games. For awhile we had to tell the boys to slow down and go easy on each other, never knowing one is battling cancer. They had fun and Nicholas was all smiles and joy to see his cousins. This day also gave mommy and daddy some rest as the cousins took care of Nicholas.  

 (NICHOLAS WALKING THE ROPE DURING HIS WALKING RELAXING AT HOME)

May 8th: Today we had to visit the dermatalogist to see why Nicholas was getting rashes in his head and around his groin area, but once we got to her office she to run out for a emergency call from the hospital and we have to reschedule. So we headed back home to get some sleep until Nicholas' speech therapy class in the afternoon. His instructor started the session with a train set in which Nicholas enjoy playing with, but the trick was while setting up the track, he was talking to Nicholas and working on communication and to see Nicholas' focusing and follow instructions skills. Once the train set session was done in which was good, Nicholas was not all that ready to head to the next lesson, so the instructor took out all of Nicholas' train set from Thomas & Friends to work on pronunciation, clarity and delivery in which worked out good. Later on Nicholas had to take some benadryl to work on the rashes. 

(NICHOLAS RELAXING AT HOME EATING A ICY AFTER PHYSICAL THERAPY)

May 7th: After having a good night sleep, Nicholas was all ready to head to physical therapy. Most of the rash in his head was gone, but a little left around the groin area. So we planned that after physical therapy we would visit his doctor. Nicholas and Tasha had fun today. He is starting to walk more with holding one hand, gave Tasha some spanish words that caught her off guard during while she was holding the rope and he was walking behind her. Once the session was done, Tasha surprise Nicholas by getting together and jumping on the trampoline. We later went upstairs to see Dr. Sadanandan and she looked over Nicholas and the rashes and made a choice of sending him to a dermatologist to see what is going. So we made a appointment for the next day. The rashes and bumps are coming from a combination of chemotherapy medications. The doctor was all happy while watching Nicholas walk around the floor holding nurse Nelly's hand.    

May 6th: Nicholas had no hospital visit today, but he had speech therapy class in the afternoon. Nicholas had a good session today with his instructor. They practice preposional phrases, contractions and correcting words. No puzzles to work today, so they did matching animals to pictures and Nicholas played with a radio car while conversating with his instructor. Later on during the night, Nicholas develop a rash on his head and on his penis and we gave him some benadryl to see what will happen next morning.  

May 5th Cinco De Mayo: Dr. Sadanandan told us that Nicholas is doing good and is in his final stage of intensive chemotherapy and come Monday May 11th, he will have a blood test to check his counts and to see when he can start Maintenance I. Maintenance I is a 84 day/12 week cycle process that will include chemotherapy medications, spinal taps, several bone marrows to see what stage of cancer Nicholas is at, to see how much the chemotherapy worked and how many cancer cells it destroyed. He will visit the hospital twice every other week for the first several weeks and then down to twice a month in the final days of this phase. With all the chemotherapy given to battle his cancer, his defense system is still down a little so he still can't go outside to much and mingle with the crowd that much. With the summer coming up we have to be careful and watch ourselves of going out. We talked about the upcoming summer and what Nicholas can do. We went over several activities that will benefit Nicholas, but the first debate was the swimming. Last summer Nicholas was taking daddy and son swimming classes, he did good and he likes the water. When Nicholas beats this cancer his grandfather plans on taking him to Isla Grande. The doctor wants him to take swimming classes to strengthen up his legs, but she is concerned about the water and Nicholas drinking it while swimming. Once the doctor gives the okay for Nicholas to swim, the physical therapist already has some exercise for Nicholas and a nearby YMCA for him to swim. 

(NICHOLAS PLAYING THE PIANO DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY TO WORK ON HIS BALANCE AND STANDING STRAIGHT UP WITHOUT HOLDING ON TO THE CHAIR)   

May 5th Cinco De Mayo: Nicholas tested out his new wheelchair today as he had a date with Tasha and physical therapy. Parking around the hospital is hard find and the street cleaning in the morning makes it more tough. So today I dropped off Nicholas as he worked with Tasha alone with no parents around for about 20 minutes. Mommy had some errands to run and daddy waited in the car till time was up. I got upstairs Nicholas already walked the rope by himself with one hand, played the little piano with two hands and balancing himself good and no leaning which is a big step forward. Once he saw daddy he started to play with the playdough to test his reflex, finished a puzzle and walked to daddy usiing the rope to end the session. We then went upstairs to show the doctor and nurses the wheelchair and they were all smiles and happy to see Nicholas. When we got home, I wanted to see if Nicholas could walk one flight of steps with me holding him and he surprised me by walking the full flight of steps after having a hard working day with Tasha. Even though Nicholas had one chemotherapy visit this week, the VCR medication has taken his appetite away that he just wants to drink juice and leche. He ate a good breakfast, but after that just liquid and a hot dog after his physical therapy. 

(NICHOLAS LEAVING CHEMOTHERAPY WITH HIS NEW WHEELCHAIR)     

May 4th: Nicholas had a easy day at the hospital today as he just went to get a blood test and VCR chemotherapy medication. The VCR is a strong chemotherapy medication and this is one of the medications that usually takes away Nicholas' appetite and makes him weak. His blood test came out good, even though some counts of white cells were down. For the rest he just rested, read some books and played with his train set and animals. The wheelchair arrived today to give Nicholas more space and comfort sitting down until we find the right pediatric walker that will help him strengthen up his legs to walk and run again alone.   

May 3rd: Today was a relaxing day for Nicholas. With no visitors coming over, Nicholas was alone today and driving his mother crazy asking her for each of his every favorite eating dish possible that came out of his mouth. The one good thing mommy has learned since Nicholas got diagnosed, she doesn't jump at the first request. She usually waits until his final decision. 

(SAINT PEREGRINE PATRON OF CANCER PATIENTS - LOOK OVER NICHOLAS TO PROTECT AND SAVE HIM. YOU WERE FAVOURED WITH A VISION OF JESUS COMING DOWN FROM HIS CROSS TO HEAL YOUR AFFLICTION. ASK GOD AND OUR LADY TO TAKE CARE OF NICHOLAS OF WHOM WE ENTRUST IN YOU)

May 2nd: Another good weekend for Nicholas and his weekend phyical therapist. They had a another good day of bonding as Nicholas gave the therapist no tears, hard work and lots of walking around that the therapist said "Today Nicholas you had a lot of energy and I'm happy for you." After the session was over Nicholas went to sleep for couple hours. When Nicholas got up, we went to mass at Queens of All Saints to celebrate St. Peregrine The Patron of Cancer Victims. During the mass, Nicholas' name was metion to get a blessing on this day and after mass was over the Modestin familia was blessed by the priest. 

(NICHOLAS WORKING ON ANIMAL RAIN FOREST JUNGLE PUZZLE DURING HIS SPEECH THERAPY SESSION WITH MR. PORTE) 

May 1st: We cancelled physical therapy, because the insurance company gave Nicholas enough amount of visitation to physical therapy to last him the whole year, that we had to cut down from four-to-two days a week of physical therapy in which gives us about five-to-six visits a month. With his appetite low and knowing no physical therapy, Nicholas just rested until his speech therapy class in the afternoon. This was one of those days in which Nicholas wasn't cooperating with his instructor at the start of class, but as the class went on, his attitude changed and he started to participate in the activities. They went over puzzles, matching body parts and repeating words in letters that Nicholas is not pronouncing good.      

April 30th: Another day of no chemotherapy was all what Nicholas had to know today as we dressed him for physical therapy. Even though there wasn't no chemotherapy, we had to visit nurse Lynda to talk about a pediatric walker she found for Nicholas to get his strength of walking again alone. Physical therapy was interesting today as Tasha put out a rope for Nicholas to walk from one part of the room to the other part of the room by himself. With the encouragement of Tasha, Nicholas walked the rope and then turned around and walked backwards without crossing his legs. This was a big step forward of walking backwards in which his foot didn't clamp up on him. His ankles were fine and the hightop sneakers is doing its job of holding the bottom of his legs together. While Nicholas was walking the rope again, Tasha threw some rubber balls on the floor for Nicholas to pick up to practice of bending over and keeping a good grip on the rope. At first he buckled a little and then after he got his balance and worked the exercise really good. After physical therapy was over, we went to see Lynda to talk about the pediatric walker and what Tasha had to say. We gave Lynda the good news that the physical therapy department will order two walkers to see which one Nicholas likes and gets adjusted to and then order one for him to take home. During all this time Nicholas was all smiles with Lynda and Nelly while holding his hand over his chest to protect him from not getting the mediport installed. We all smiled and told Nicholas no stickers (his meaning for mediport) and went home. 

April 29th: Nicholas was all smiles getting dressed in the morning, knowing he was going to see Tasha for physical therapy. With no cream to his chest and no sticker on his chest, it was fun and joy. Today's workout was different for Nicholas as Tasha worked on his arms and throwing a ball against the wall. She had him throwing with both arms, but it all came down to his right hand doing most of the work. After the throwing session, he did some step climbing and walking with one hand with Tasha instead of two hands around the physical therapy room. Nicholas continues to express himself vocally a lot with Tasha, since she does not wear a white doctor's coat and doesn't give needles and overall she doing a solid job with Nicholas and communicates good with him. Later on during the day Nicholas had speech therapy. First he had a good nap after PT, so thinking he was ready for Mr. Forte and speech, Nicholas caught the therapist off guard and didn't want to do puzzles at the start and wanted to do something else. This was going to be one of those sessions were he cranky at the start and had to find something to catch his attention. So no puzzles, Mr. Forte brought out a bilingual matching game in english/spanish that Nicholas could say his animals, food, clothing, numbers, letters and connecting sentences using a combination of asking a question and getting a answer. The one area we see Nicholas also improving is his spanish words.  

 (NICHOLAS ALL SMILES WITH HIS NEW LOOK AFTER LOSING THE MAJORITY OF HIS HAIR DURING THE 4TH CYCLE OF CHEMOTHERAPY. THE DOCTOR SAID NICHOLAS HAS STRONG GENES, BECAUSE KIDS USUALLY LOSE THERE HAIR AT THE START OF THE INTENSIVE CHEMOTHERAPY AND NICHOLAS UNTIL THE SEVEN MONTH (MOST OF IT ON EASTER SUNDAY) SINCE HE GOT DIAGNOSED IN SEPTEMBER).

April 28th: No hospital visit today. Today was family rest day. The whole family slept late in which for us today was waking up past 9am from the usual daily 6am. Mommy slept the latest, because her body has taken a beaten and needed the extra rest, daddy woke up with Nicholas early to play with his new car set given by nurse Lynda and read him his new  train book given to him by a woman from Brooklyn Library who comes to the pediatric ward several times a month for reading hour. For the rest of the day it was just relaxing and chilling at home. 

(NICHOLAS ALL ALONE GETTING CHEMOTHERAPY MEDICATIONS ON A LONG DAY)

April 27th: After three days of no hospital, Nicholas knew it was back to hospital as he protected his chest from mommy, as she had to put the cream for the mediport to be installed. Nicholas weight and height didn't change, but some of his blood counts that is usually high and good, was a little low due to the chemotherapy medications he is taking during the phase. Today he had to take the PEG-Asparaginase PEG shots in both thighs in which he just cries, as he looks at the needles going into his thighs from the nurses. Mommy usually sends daddy in for PEG shots, because to be honest it's painful to watch. Before PEG is given, Nicholas has to sit back and get some benadryl into his system, so he would not get any late reactions after taking his PEG shots. The VCR was given first and about a 1/2 hour later the PEG was given and I must say, watching a little boy get PEG shots is something that is tough on any kid battling to conquer cancer. We had to wait for a hour to see if any late reactions and after nothing we went home and relaxed until a week later. For the first time in two and half weeks, he doesn't have to go home with mediport in his chest for four days.

April 26th: A beautiful Sunday, so Nicholas was full of spirits. This was also the first day in several days his appetite was good and he wanted to eat some "arrow con pollo" from mommy and had daddy fetch him some italian icy on the way home from work. Family members came to visit and enjoyed his time playing with his train set, building blocks and driving mommy up the wall. 

(NICHOLAS WALKING AROUND APARTMENT WITH GUIDANCE OF DR. NWACHUKWU DURING HIS WEEKEND PHYSICAL THERAPY)

April 25th: The beautiful weather was bringing out the best in Nicholas, because for the first time in couple weeks, he didn't give his weekend physical therapist Dr. Nwachukwu, no fuss, no crankiness and overall the doctor got Nicholas' full attention for the full hour. The workout was good, intense and hard work. The doctor knowing he had Nicholas' body ready to go, worked out on ups and downs to strengthen his waist and upper body, had him walk around the apartment alone using the sofa, walls and standing up alone. During the breaks, Nicholas got his legs massage. Once the therapy was done, we had a function at the hospital to attend. We ran a couple minutes behind time, Nicholas and mommy went upstairs as daddy went looking for a parking. The ceremony was short as mommy and Nicholas got there before it was over and daddy missed the function looking for a parking around TBHC. The ceremony was for a motorcycle group who donated several wide screen televisions to the Pediatric Cancer Unit. One the biker's daughter beat cancer as she was treated at The Brooklyn Hospital Center and this was there way of saying Thank You.

(NICHOLAS POSING WITH FRIENDS, NURSES AND DOCTOR AT TBHC FUNCTION - (L-R BACK ROW) NURSE NELLY, FERNANDO, DR. SADANANDAN, NURSE LYNDA, MARIELIS' MOTHER ANA - (L-R FRONT ROW ) NICHOLAS, CHILD SPECIALIST KRISTEN, MARIELY'S COUSIN & MARIELY) MARIELY IS ALSO BATTLING CANCER.

April 24th: No hospital visit today for Nicholas, so he just chilled and relaxed at home until speech therapy in the afternoon. NYC got some beautiful spring weather today, so we took Nicholas for a ride and walk around the block just to get him out the house. He enjoyed the ride and the walk was nice and calm as he walked a block to get home. Nicholas' speech therapy was good, as he practiced syllables, words and letters that he has problems pronouncing. During the later part of the speech therapy session, Nicholas was starting to lose focus and eyes closing, as he missed his midday nap. He slept for couple hours once the session was over until dinner time. 

(NICHOLAS AND HIS FRIEND ANDRES IN PLAYROOM WAITING FOR CHEMOTHERAPY)

April 23rd: We thought today was going to be a short day at the hospital, but it turned to be a longer than we expected. While waiting for the chemotherapy to arrived at the hospital, Nicholas met up with Andres in the playroom watching Diego. Andres is a 9-years old boy who was diagnosed with a different leukemia a week after Nicholas was diagnosed and they know each other during there long stay in the hospital back in September and October. Andres and Nicholas played together and after a while, we took Nicholas for a walk around the Pediatric Cancer Unit floor for some walking exercise so his legs would not get tighten from sitting down to long. The walk was good, as Nicholas' doctor was all smiles watching him walk around. After the walk Nicholas was back playing and drawing with Andres and finally after several hours the chemotherapy medication for Nicholas and Andres arrived. Nicholas feeling a little tired just wanted to sit back in his stroller instead of a chair to get his chemotherapy from nurse Nelly. One thing about chemotherapy, it doesn't matter if it's Nelly or Lynda giving him the chemotherapy, Nicholas always cries a little at the start of the process with the cite of needles and later he just puts a face that you just want sit back and laugh. After Nicholas got his chemotherapy and his mediport taken out his chest after four days, he stayed to watch Andres get his chemotherapy. This was the first time Nicholas watched the process of how chemotherapy was giving to a patient. For the rest of the day at home after taking his daily medications at home, Nicholas just relaxed.    

(NURSE NELLY GETTING HELP FROM MOMMY AS NICHOLAS GETS HIS CHEMOTHERAPY MEDICATION INTO HIS MEDIPORT. THE SITE OF NICHOLAS LOOKING AT THE TABLE OF ALL THOSE CHEMOTHERAPY NEEDLES MADE HIM CRY A LITTLE)    

April 22nd: Nicholas still not eating good, due to the chemotherapy, got up in the morning and ate a bowl oatmeal. His appetite comes and goes and whenever he has a good day of eating we have to take advantage of feeding him good, because the next day could be just drinks. Today was another quick trip just to get AraC chemotherapy. Once we got back home, Nicholas was given his 48hrs pill after the spinal tap. After having a week off from speech therapy, Nicholas was back in class at home. He gave Mr. Forte a good day of cooperating, listening, reading and going over pronunciation with several letters. Everyday his speech and clarity is getting better. During the final minutes of his session, Nicholas was given two puzzles to do, one of  tropical forest animals and another train puzzle. He went through the train puzzle first, because his love of trains, but the tropical forest was a tough one. Nicholas was introduced to new birds, snakes and monkeys that caught him off guard. He learned there names instead of just saying birds, snakes and monkeys. Later on at night Nicholas was given his 60hrs pill after the spinal tap.   

April 21st: Nicholas was a little weak in the morning as he gave us a fight to get dress before heading to the hospital to get a quick chemotherapy treatment. Even though he might feel weak sometimes, some chemotherapy medications can sure bring out the best and bad side of a kid when he doesn't get his way. We finally got him dressed and took our daily trip to TBHC and got his chemotherapy medication. Today was a short one as he only got AraC chemotherapy. The rest of the day Nicholas was working out with mommy doing some walking exercise at home and getting a massage to loosen up his muscles and tight spots in his legs. 

 (NICHOLAS LAYING DOWN AND STILL A LITTLE KNOCKOUT AFTER GETTING A SPINAL TAP) 

April 20th: Today was a long day at the hospital as Nicholas had to take a spinal tap and several other chemotherapy medicines. Before the spinal tap was to given, a funny thing happen when the anasteleologist wanted to shake Nicholas' hand after saying hello. At first Nicholas said hello and then half way to shake the doctor's hand, Nicholas pulled back his hand and didn't shake the doctor's hand and we just stood there in smiles. The doctor knowing since back in September, that anytime Nicholas saw him, it's all about Nicholas getting a injection and going to sleep. The first couple spinal tap Nicholas cried before getting the dosage to make him sleep, but now he looks at the doctors, nurses and medical students around him to see who and what they're going to do to him. Once the spinal tap was done, he was given IT MTX and AraC chemotherapy medications. Today he was given his spinal tap at 1130am and now his 48hrs pill is on 1130am Wednesday 4/22 and 60hrs at 1130pm same day, much better than the 330am given last week. The only bad thing during the second part of this phase, Nicholas' appetite is going more off than on in the last couple weeks.  

(NICHOLAS WORKING WITH PLAYDOUGH AND TASHA TO WORK ON STRETCHING OUT ARMS IN ALL DIRECTIONS WHILE KEEPING HIS BODY BALANCED AND STRAIGHT UP) 

April 19th: Nicholas was all smiles as he got a visit from family members. Another Sunday mommy got some rest, as Nicholas was playing, reading and tumbling with his cousins. He played all day until they left late afternoon. After taking a quick nap, he got up to eat and watch some NBA playoffs with daddy until it was time for bed.

April 18th: Nicholas was all cranky in the morning and when the weekend PT therapist came, he gave the therapist a fight of not listening and focusing for the first several minutes. While not focusing on the therapist, Nicholas was getting a foot and leg massage to loosen up his legs from therapist so when he got his attention he can do some walking exercise. Once the fighting and crying was over, Nicholas started to walk and listen to the therapist and for a half hour, they got along and communicated. For the rest of day, Nicholas just slept and relaxed.  

(NICHOLAS WALKING EVEN BARS WITH HUGE BLOCKS TO CLIMB WITH TASHA DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY) 

April 17th: Nicholas was all happy when he knew today was only physical therapy and having a nice spring day was a beautiful thing. Tasha again had something new for Nicholas. Today she brought out a walker. Once Nicholas saw the walker and put his hands on it, he just walked away and didn't want to use it. Tasha didn't pressure Nicholas use the walker, so she went onto on working with him on the even bars and puzzles. Nicholas walked the even bars, but with bigger blocks in between and at last he made his Thomas The Train puzzle by himself to finish up his hourly PT session. The one thing that has improved during PT is Nicholas' speech with Tasha and the communication between them. 

 (NURSE LYNDA FLUSHING OUT NICHOLAS' MEDIPORT WITH MOMMY AFTER THE FOURTH AND LAST DAY OF A WEEK OF CHEMOTHERAPY)

April 16th: The day started really early in the morning as Nicholas had his 60hrs pill after the spinal tap at 330 in the morning. Thank god for old classic movies on cable, daddy was able to stay up and wake up mommy and Nicholas to take his chemotherapy medication. Once that was over we went back to sleep. Today was double duty Nicholas. First he had visit with his friend Tasha in physical therapy and then later on a visit to the 10th floor for chemotherapy. After three days of getting stronger dosage of chemotherapy to start the second part of the 4th cycle, Nicholas was in good spirits with Tasha. Tasha brought out some playdough first, so Nicholas can stretch out his arms in which was teaching him of keeping his balance while stretching out the playdough. He did good and after she worked him hard of walking around the room using just chairs, walls and a huge therapy ball without help of nobody. Nicholas was on his own. At first he was cranky and then after he realize he was alone and nobody to help him until the last part of the puzzle of walking around. Once PT was over and the hard work Nicholas just went through, he did not have no energy to walk to the 10th floor, so went into his stroller. Today was another quick visit to chemotherapy as he just got AraC medicine.  

April 15th: Another quick visit for Nicholas to the hospital today in which he just got AraC chemotherapy medicine. Later on during the day, he took his 48hrs pill that needs to be takes after his spinal tap on Monday 4/13. Dr. Sadanandan and nurse Lynda gave us some good news, as they found a pediatric walker for Nicholas to help get his strength back in his legs and to get him out of the stroller, so he can walk more.  

April 14th: Nicholas has to visit the hospital three-to-four days a week for chemotherapy treatment for the next four weeks during this phase and during that time, the mediport has to stay in his chest until the fourth day is over. Now we have to have a eye on him a little more, so he would not pick on his chest and take out the mediport. We had a quick visit to the hospital today in which Nicholas just had to get AraC chemotherapy treatment. Once the treatment was over, Nicholas walked all the way downstairs using the walls and the help of daddy. Nicholas is already starting to lose his appetite today, after eating oatmeal and eggs for breakfast, he only ate a hot dog early evening and drank apple juice and water for the rest of the day. 

(NICHOLAS NOT SMILING KNOWING HE HAS TO WEAR THE MEDIPORT IN HIS CHEST FOR FOUR STRAIGHT DAYS FOR CHEMOTHERAPY) 

April 13th: Nicholas starts the second part of The Delayed Intensification I. He took his blood test and the results came back good and he was ready to start his chemotherapy on this long day. After taking his blood test, Nicholas waited couple hours for his spinal tap and to get the new chemotherapy medicines that will make a strong last push to get rid of the cancer in his body. Nicholas' doctor gave him a whole body checkup and she told us, that he gained a couple pounds with a combination of steriods and pediasure. We started giving Nicholas pediasure(strawberry his favorite flavor) during the first part of the 4th cycle to help boost his body with vitamins in which worked and the steriods as always puts pounds on you. We were told to go easy on the pediasure and only give it to him during the times his loses his appetite in which will happen during this phase. Nurse Lynda gave Nicholas his new chemotherapy medicines in which included Cyclophosphamide (CPM), Cytarabine (AraC) and IT MTX in which is a strong dosage of chemo. While sitting back in the recovery room taking his new chemotherapy medicines, daddy was ordered by Nicholas to get Nicholas McDonald's chicken nuggets and french fries in which he was feeling to eat. Good thing a McDonald's is around the corner from The Brooklyn Hospital Center, so it was fast and easy and he was full of smiles eating his nuggets and fries. After finishing up with his chemotherapy and eating 1/2 of his food, we finally left the hospital around 530pm. Since the spinal tap was giving late in the afternoon, we now have to give Nicholas his 48hrs pill at 330pm on Wed 4/15 and 60hrs pill at 330am on Thu 4/16. We got home and right away Nicholas had to take his regular chemo medicines in which is usually giving early evening and later on during the night on a empty stomach he has to take a new pill call Thioguanine (TG) in which would be given to him for 14 straight days. The regular evening medicines didn't go down his body good as he threw up all what he ate and all the medicines he took orally. This was the first time in weeks Nicholas' body didn't take a oral medicine good. After a washup and change of clothes, he was feeling weak and ready to hit the sack. He went to bed and everybody else followed his lead and went to bed early.      

April 12th Happy Easter: Nicholas is all fun of joy and  smiles today, as he gets visits all day from his uncles, aunts and cousins. 

(NICHOLAS' LEGS GET A MASSAGE FROM DR. NWACHUKWU DURING HIS WEEKEND PHYSICAL THERAPY)

April 11th: Nicholas' hair continues to fall in bunches that he is leaving a trail of hair around the apartment. We now see the real effect of the strong dosage taking its toll on Nicholas' hair. Later on during the day, Nicholas gets his weekend workout exercise from his weekend physical therapist and since he cancelled this week of PT due to his sweeling and redness, he gets in a solid workout in for a good 40 minutes. Nicholas is coming along and everyday he is building his confidence of wanting to walk by himself. The one thing Nicholas lost from his strength in his legs and waist, was the potty training he learned. Between us and the daycare, he was getting accustom of walking to the bathroom, climbing the little stool and using the toilet. Before he got diagnosed, he was just starting to learn to wear underware with his pull-ups. Now that he can't walk to the bathroom, he sometimes tries to crawl or tell mommy o daddy toilet. We are potty training and teaching him to let us know, when he wants to use the bathroom, so we can lift him up and take him.    

April 10th Good Friday: Nicholas got up strong and full of energy, but the one bad thing with him waking up early, it was at 530am. Instead of sneaking away like he does sometimes, to play with his train set or blocks, he decided to wake both parents up and wanted to play. Daddy woke up to play and read to Nicholas and mommy slept a little longer, because she had her church procession to atttend in the afternoon. For the rest of day we went through his favorite games, books and blocks until we had to pick up mommy from her procession and church service.    

April 9th: Today was a relaxing and chilling day for Nicholas. The swelling and the redness finally went away so he was home the whole day. No hospital visit till Monday after Easter. The one thing we had to be concerned about now was his hair falling out and having not to scratch his eyes and just wipe the hair off his face. 

April 8th: Nicholas got up full of spirits today, but we kept working on his up and down swelling in his eyes. The swelling was down and gone, but still a little redness in his eyes. He started to get cranky in the morning, knowing another day of staying home and not seeing Natasha for physical therapy was the bad news he didn't want to hear. Once we cancelled PT, he had his workout at home. He first got a massage from mommy to rub out the tight points in his ankles and legs. Later on we had a good workout to exercise his mobility and balance of walking around the apartment and doing his up and down of climbing by himself on and off the couch in the living room to test the strength in his waist. After taking a nap, Nicholas was ready for his speech therapy class in the afternoon. He had a good session, practicing the verbs, clarity, working on some bilingual words and at the end did a puzzle of animals from the jungles of Africa. During this fourth cycle of chemotherapy, Nicholas is starting to lose a lot of hair in which the doctors was amaze it took this long for a kid his age to start losing his hair at this stage of the chemotherapy.       

April 7th: The swelling in Nicholas' eyes was down, but he still had some redness in his eyes. We called the doctor to give a update and she told us to cancel his physical therapy session. The reaction around his eyes could be from anything, so we played it safe and kept him home. We don't know the cause of the sweeling and redness, but it came after from taking a blood test, eating dinner and since his defense mechanism and platelets are low and with up and down spring weather, it could be the pollen from the flowers. Tough to guess, but better play safe and not gamble. So the rest of the day Nicholas was playing with puzzles,, building blocks, reading some spanish books with mommy and watching some of his favorites TV shows. Between all the activities, he continued to take benadryl to kick the reaction out of his eyes to see how he will be the next day.

(NICHOLAS AT HOME BUILDING BLOCKS ON DAY OFF) 

April 6th: Today Nicholas had to take a blood test to see if his body and blood counts are ready to continue the second part of  "The Delayed Intensification I Treatment". With much concern of the last several days when his body was weak, we thought Nicholas would have needed a blood transfusion in which sometimes is needed during this cycle, because of the heavy dosages. Once we got to the hospital, Nicholas was attended by a new medical student named Chris. Chris gave him a full checkup and talk about what was going on with his body in the last several days that was effecting him. Nicholas gained another 1/2 inch and gained about two pounds. Nicholas is starting to gain back his body weight during this cycle in which sometimes has him eating a good chunk of food and just wants to eat, that has mommy cooking all his favorite meals for breakfst and dinner. After leaving Chris we met up with nurse Lynda, she had the pleasure of installing the mediport and taking his blood test. Nicholas had a quiet smile as his looked at every move Lynda did while taking out his blood. One thing about Nicholas, he is always looking at every move when he is awake of what the nurses and doctors are doing to his body and following instructions. We waited about a hour for the results instead of going home for a phone call. Lynda came back with good results as Nicholas' blood counts are good and the only thing down was his white cells. Later on during the night before Nicholas went to bed, he started scratching his eyes and by the time mommy came over to see the itch, his eyes were swollen. Mommy gave him benadryl and the swelling went down a little.

April 5th Palm Sunday: Nicholas gets up full of energy for the early part of the day, but by the afternoon, he body begins to get tired and he just wanted to sit back and get some rest. He was full of smiles and joy when his cousins Manny and Rachel along with his Uncle Juan and Aunt Patty came over for a visit from upstate. Nicholas played and tussled with Manny and Rachel as long as possible until his body could take it. He sometimes gets cranky when his body dictates that he can't play no more, but he is starting to understand and listen what is going on. After watching Nicholas have several tough days from the effects from the chemotherapy, it was nice to see the fun loving boy and himself enjoy the time with his cousins. 

(NICHOLAS EATING A BANANA WITH COUSIN MANNY DURING A BREAK FROM PLAYING AROUND)

April 4th: The heavy dosage from the chemotherapy session Nicholas had during the week and his daily chemo medicines at home during this chemotherapy cycle, still had a effect on his body. Today we cancelled his weekend physical session. His body and legs were to weak to go through with the exercise he had to do. Even though his body was out of it, the one good thing was that he was eating.   

April 3rd: Another rough day for Nicholas as he got up this morning with no type of energy. So again we cancelled Natasha and his speech therapy session. We know Nicholas is having a bad day due to the chemotherapy session, is when he just wants to lay down and doesn't want to do nothing. Even though sometimes his body is weak, he will ask to play with his train set, puzzles, read a book with mommy o daddy or watch his shows Dora, Diego & Wow Wow Wubbzy, but today he just wanted to do nothing and just wanted to lay down. We called his doctor to see if this was normal during this cycle, and she said it is and no worries. She did say look out for fevers and look at his skin in case he goes pale and might need a blood transfusion, when he goes for a blood test for the upcoming week.  

April 2nd: Today was a tough day for Nicholas, the chemotherapy treatment he had on Monday 3/30, we could see the effects on his body. Even though he was saying "Tasha & Toys" he was having a slight fever which was controlled right away, but fought with us to take him to his physical therapy session. Mommy tested Nicholas standing up while putting on his jacket and once his legs wobbled, we cancelled his day with Natasha. Natasha said she had a surprise for Nicholas, so next session we will see what she has in store for him. The rest of the day, he was just wanted to be by himself and be with mommy, as he had mommycitis - he just didn't want her to leave his side.

April 1st: After staying home yesterday from the hospital to recover from his chemotherapy treatment, Nicholas was up and about to head to his physical therapy session. Once we got to the hospital we got greeted by Natasha, but I saw Nicholas a little cranky, but willing to work on his session. The session started out good as Natasha adjusted the even bars so Nicholas can walk by himself. After the even bars, she worked on Nicholas' confidence of walking alone using the walls and chairs without help.

(NICHOLAS STANDING ALONE DOING A PUZZLE TO EXERCISE ON BALANCE DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY)

The first several steps were good and then he realize he was alone without help, he walked a couple more feet and balanced himself good. He used his stroller to test his strength of pushing up a floor. He tumble at first, but after got a good grip and had a good walk to the elevator. The session was cut short as Nicholas walked 45 straight minutes with and without help. He felt tired, but was willing to walk out with daddy to the car. Later on in the afternoon, Nicholas had speech therapy. Today they focused on the clarity on the letter F & P. As Nicholas and the speech therapist practice on clarity and worked on puzzles, Nicholas was getting tired and restless as you could see his cooperation was drifting away. Overall it was a good session, but one thing with Nicholas as he battles leukemia, once his body feels tired, his mind and physical ability just drift away and he just wants to walk away and rest. 

(NICHOLAS WALKING EVEN BARS WITH BLOCKS OF STEPS IN BETWEEN WITH TASHA DURING PHYSICAL THERAPY).

March 30th: Today was a visit to the 10th Floor and once mommy put the cream on his chest for the mediport to be installed, he knew which doctor he had to visit. This time he didn't cry out loud when he saw the cream, he just had slight tears in his eyes, got dressed and we left for the hospital. Once we got upstairs, Nicholas was greeted by two new interns and nurse Nelly that weighed, measured his height, blood pressure, and temperature in which things were good before taking a blood test to see if he can have chemotherapy treatment. Nicholas didn't gain any weight or grew any inches. He got along good with the interns on a first time meeting basis. After taking his blood test and getting back his result, Nicholas was given his chemotherapy treatment fast. Today he was given Vincristine VCR and Doxorubicin DOXO and when he gets home, he has to take Dexamethasone (DEX) twice a day for seven straight days. The doctors and nurses wanted to get Nicholas out of the 10th floor, because several kids came in the morning with colds, fevers and runny noses. Since cancer kids immune systems are low, they can pick up anything and can end up staying in the hospital. So Nicholas was treated and we left. The only thing that was low for Nicholas today on his blood test results, was his white blood cells. This was the first chemotherapy treatment, that we were back home by noon time. The rest of the day Nicholas rested.    

March 29th: Nicholas had a beautiful day as he got a surprise visit from his cousin Karina. This was also a day mommy could get some rest as Karina and Nicholas played for the rest of the day. They took a break to eat some homemade chicken vegetable soup for lunch and after continued to do some puzzles, 123's, ABC's and as always, Karina reads a book to Nicholas before she goes home. 

(NICHOLAS WITH COUSIN KARINA PLAYING WITH TRAIN SET) 

March 28th: Nicholas got up a little weak in the morning after been dosed with Tylenol the day before to control his fever and runny nose. After eating a good breakfast of oatmeal and pancakes, he was ready to tackle his weekend physical therapy session. At first Nicholas was not cooperating and wasn't focused to his therapist at the start, but once he got his act together, Nicholas and the therapist communicated good and had a good session after the little bumpy start. The rest of the day Nicholas was just resting and at night, he sat down with mommy and daddy to watch some 2010 Soccer World Cup Qualifying Games and NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Games.

March 27th: Today was a bad day for Nicholas, because last night he fought off a late fever in which was controlled and then this morning he got up with a runny nose. After thinking what to do, we cancelled his physical therapy and speech therapy session for the day, so he can feel better and rest to get physical therapy session for the weekend.

March 26th: There was no sitting down for Nicholas today as Natasha took Nicholas right out his stroller once he walked into the physical therapy department. He first walked the even bars couple times with and without the blocks in the middle to work on his stepping up and down. After the even bars Natasha gave Nicholas a new different look as she changed plans and walked him out the PT department and walked around the hospital. They walked the stairs between the 2nd and 3rd floors of The Brooklyn Hospital Center, used the stairways, walked back to the PT department to pick up his clothes and stroller and to finish off, they walked out to the car . Natasha said Nicholas' legs are getting strong to walk again, but she sees a little tempting of Nicholas' side of walking alone with no help. He legs still shake a little, but overall a big progress. While walking today, Natasha also saw that Nicholas' speech is getting better, clarity is improving and she understanding his words and the communications between the both of them is getthng better.

March 25th: Today was a beautiful day as Nicholas had a good physical therapy session with Natasha. Today they focused on walking up and down with blocks, while Nicholas was walking the even bars. He walked up and down the steps by himself couple times as Natasha was close in case he lost his balance and finally did some puzzles around the room to work on his balance, hand coordination and followed commands of how to use his body and which direction to walk. After spending time and getting a good sleep, it was time for speech therapy. The speech session was good today as Nicholas and Mr. Forte worked on clarity, syllables, colors and animals in sentences and the difference from a animal goes from a baby to adult. Everyday is a improvement and everyday we see his clarity is getting better.

March 24th: Today was a good day. Nicholas was off from everything and no hospital visit. We just had to continue giving him his house hold chemotherapy medicines.

(NICHOLAS AT HOME PLAYING ON OFF DAY FROM HOSPITAL WITH THOMAS & FRIENDS TRAIN SET)

Moday March 23rd: After a beautiful weekend, Nicholas is back to his normal routine. He gets up full of energy, but while getting dressed he sees mommy with the cream to be put on his chest. Once he sees the cream, he cries and fights a little, but then settles down and the cream is put on his chest for the mediport to be installed. He goes through the normal phase of weight, height, blood pressure, temperature. He takes his blood test and his red, white blood counts come back normal and his platelets come back good. No spinal tap today, so Nicholas was well aware and wide awake to see his chemotherapy treatments been given by nurse Nelly. The one thing the nurses don't have in there favor, even though they bring smiles and laughter to Nicholas during his chemotherapy treatments. One they have to install the mediport and two they have to give him his chemotherapy medicines. Today Nicholas got VCR and DOXO and with no late reactions, we went home early today. Early for us is anything leaving by 1pm, since most chemotherapy session start at 9am.

March 22nd: Nicholas is all smiles as he gets a visit from his cousins Karina and Erika and his Uncle Hermilo. Right away he jumps all over Karina with hugs and kisses. These two have a bond that only they can describe, For every cousin and friend Nicholas has, he has a special bond of playing or doing something with them. With Karina(9yrs) they like to play puzzles and this time around, they broke out the ABC and 123 toys mommy bought Nicholas for his birthday. Everytime Karina is about to go home, she always reads a book to Nicholas that puts him to sleep. Erika is on her college spring break came in to see Nicholas.

(NICHOLAS TRYING ON A PAIR OF CROCS AT HOME AFTER COMING HOME FROM CHEMOTHERAPY) 

March 21st: Nicholas' Aunt Yvette from Boston comes in for a weekend visit to celebrate a belated birthday with her nephew who just turned 3 back on March 7th. Aunt Yvette was sick with a sinus was not allowed to visit. They spend the whole day playing, reading and sleeping. During the day, Nicholas had his weekend physical therapy in which Dr. Nwachukwu, worked him hard and gets the best out of Nicholas. Sometimes Nicholas cries, but it's all about the extra work and effort he gives the doctor. The session was a good session.

March 20th: Nicholas gets up with energy, but this time around was to early as the clock was only at 615am. With both are bodies tired, we get up and serve him breakfast (pancakes and hot dogs), eat and later shower and clean up for the 1015am physical therapy session. His session with Natasha has a little stumble at first since he wanted to run the session at first instead of focusing on Natasha. After several minutes into the session and a couple stares looks from mommy, Nicholas gets down and listens to Natasha and has a good session. This time around she walks with Nicholas and mommy all the way downstairs till I drive up with the car to take us home.

March 19th: Another day of sparkling smiles for Nicholas and full of energy, but he doesn't know he also has to get chemotherapy shots after his physical therapy session. Physical therapy went good for Nicholas, but after the session was the challenge, as Natasha and mommy walked Nicholas step-by-step from the 2nd Floor to the 10th Floor via elevator. He was all smiles until he realized he wasn't going home, but to visit the doctor and quickly his smile went away knowing a shot is coming. Once he got to the 10th floor, he was given some cream on his thighs for the injection of PEG shots. He sat down for about 20 minutes and then nurses Nelly and Lynda came for him for his shots. I took him in since mommy doesn't like needles and sat him down to hold him down as Nelly and Lynda gave him his PEG shots. Once the shots were given we waited for a hour to see if any late reactions. With no late reactions we went home.

(NICHOLAS ALL SMILES WITH HIS COUSIN KARINA AND HIS GRANDMOTHER)

March 18th: Nicholas gets up with his sparkling smile, knowing today is Tasha and Toys in which means Physical Therapy. Natasha the therapist jumps all over Nicholas as soon as he walks through the door and for the next hour, she has his full attention. They first stretch out and then straight to walking exercise. He first tackles as he walks the steps going up and down and then up and down sideways, next he goes to walking bars to walk by himself by holding the side bars and to finish off with Natasha, they play with a puzzle while Nicholas was standing all the time. Once the session was over, Nicholas walked out to the elevator. Later on during the day, Nicholas has his speech therapy, in which today was a good session with Mr. Forte. They spend time with clarity and matching games.

March 17th: Today was tough day for Nicholas as his body feels week and his appetite is low as he just wants to drink liquid for the early part of the day. As the day goes on and after taking several required medicines, he gets back some strength and eats a full meal and spend the rest of day playing with his Thomas The The Train Set and listening to books read by mommy.

(NICHOLAS WAS ALL SMILES BEFORE HEADING TO HIS HOSPITAL SPORTING HIS NEW BASEBALL HAT GIVEN TO HIM BY HIS GRANDFATHER)

Monday March 16th, 2009: Nicholas starts his 4th cycle of his chemotherapy - Delayed Intensification I. Nicholas walks into his chemotherapy session around 9am and before he starts to get his chemo, he gets weighed, height, blood pressure and temperature. He gained 1/2 pound and grew a inch. Once that is all done, Nicholas gets his mediport installed into his chest to get a blood sample to see if his blood counts and platelet are good to have chemotherapy today. The blood and platelets counts came back good. Nicholas first had a spinal tap in which he had to be sadated. While Nicholas was still out of it and sleeping in the recovery room, nurse Nelly gives him Vincristine (VCR), Doxorubicin (DOXO), Intrathecal Methotrexate (IT MTX). After all chemo medicines were given and no late reaction, we went home after a long day at The Brooklyn Hospital Center Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Unit.

(NICHOLAS CLOWING AROUND WITH COUSINS CHANEL AND CHRISTIAAN DURING BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION)

March 9th-15h: Nicholas takes a week off from everything and gets his body ready to start a new cycle the upcomiing week.

March 8th: Nicholas' weekend birthday celebration continued as his Grandmother, Uncle Hermilo, Uncle Rafael, Aunt Elia and cousin Karina came to visit and spent most of the day till afternoon so the rest of family from upstate New York can visit. Nicholas was feeling good the whole weekend in which was a good sign that he was up and about during the busy weekend of visitors. Once the first bunch left, his Aunt Patty, Uncle Juan, cousins Rachel and Manny came over. The one thing that makes Nicholas full of smiles since he can't be around much kids these days while battling cancer is the visits from his cousins in which he can be free, play and be himself.  

 (NICHOLAS EATING BIRTHDAY CAKE WITH MOMMY)

March 7th: HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICHOLAS!!!! Today Nicholas turned 3 and he got up full of energy. He first got a early morning birthday wish from his Grandfather who sang happy birthday in both Spanish and English as Nicholas was all smiles listening to Grandpa sign to him. Before all the celebration, Nicholas had a short physical therapy session in the morning in which went good and fast. After the PT was over and later in the afternoon after Nicholas took his usual afternoon nap, he got a big surprise as his Aunt Michele baked him his favorite TV character. She gave Nicholas a huge Diego The Explore Birthday Cake...mmmm.

                                     (NICHOLAS' DIEGO EXPLORE CAKE)

Aunt Michele came over with his cousins Christiaan and Chanel and spent most of the day. Christiaan (8yrs) and Nicholas sometimes play rough that sometimes I wonder were they get so much energy. After much playing with his new trains to add to his Thomas & Friends Train Set, puzzles and eductional games he got, we cut the cake. Funny thing while waiting to cut the cake, Nicholas was digging his finger and eating the icing off a animal on the cake.

(NICHOLAS MAKING WISH ON HIS 3rd BIRTHDAY)

Since we can't have to many visitors at one time, because his body mechanism is down, he later got a visit from his Aunt Dahlia and cousin Jasmine. They spent couple hours with him laughing and talking until he started to fall asleep after a long day. 

We want to thank The Lighthouse Community for helping us create this site for the readers, family and friends to read about Nicholas.