[blparent] And now there are two!

[Steve Jacobson]

Jennifer,

I don't know if you would remember, but you and I showed people one of the very first prototypes of the 
KNFB Reader in Louisville, I think.  I have also worked a lot with Sunish and he would recognize my 
name.

My two kids are teenagers now but it doesn't seem that long ago that they were one and four.  It always 
seemed to me that moving from zero kids to one was far more challenging than moving from one to two, but 
of course experiences can vary.  The thing is, some things are definitely a challenge, but some things 
are somewhat easier.  For example, even when they are pretty young, they can start to entertain each 
other once in a while.  That won't happen for you for a while yet, but it will probably happen sooner 
than you might think.  One of the larger hassles is having to deal with two car seats, and I don't have 
any magic answers there.  You will have two things to consider in dealing with that problem.  One is to 
figure out what you are comfortable with, that is, when you feel that a car seat is not absolutely 
necessary which will probably depend on a number of factors.  The second factor is what the laws 
require.  The laws are not the same across state boundaries, for example, and they can even vary 
depending upon whether you own the car.  There are some devices that would not meet the legal 
requirements for a car seat but would offer a more portable approach that provides much better 
protection than a seatbelt alone.  An approach such as this for a child toward the upper end of car seat 
age might be acceptable when traveling to the national convention, for example.  Double strollers can be 
nice, too, but they are also more bulky when not in use.  The presence of a younger child will stimulate 
the development of vocabulary in your older child.  For example, when your youngest starts grabbing at 
things, your older child will learn the word "Mine" faster than might otherwise have happened.  <smile>  
Even the word "no" might come sooner.  However, I suspect that your older child has probably mastered 
these two words and concepts by age two-and-a-half.

Anyway, I want to extend my congratulations to you and Sunish and also wish you the best of luck.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Wed, 2 May 2012 14:34:21 -0400, Jennifer Bose wrote:

>Hi, fellow blind parents.

>I post pretty infrequently on this list, but I've learned a great deal
>from all of you. I'm Jennifer Bose and I live in Brookline,
>Massachusetts, with my husband Sunish Gupta, who worked several years
>ago on the project to build the early model of the KNFB Reader. Yes,
>I'm bragging on him a little. Naming our babies has been interesting
>since we've tried to find names that would represent their
>backgrounds; I'm American and he grew up in India. We have our
>2-1/2-year-old daughter, Abigail Tulsi, and as of last Friday we have
>a newborn daughter, Tara Isabel. We're both very happy with two.

>I remember asking this list how blind parents manage two children and
>we got great responses. It's not that I don't believe it can be done;
>I know we're certainly not the first. My head knows that there are all
>sorts of solutions, but my emotions play tricks on me. Well, I'll put
>that down to normal parental anxiety and ask any of you who have
>multiple children to tell me everything I need to know. I'll take any
>tips you care to send along, especially about managing a toddler and a
>newborn. My husband and I are generally pretty independent and have
>done very well with one child, but with two, we're in a new zone. So
>please let me know what you've done or what you would suggest for us.
>I'm grateful for any and all help.

>Thanks so much. This is a tremendous resource.

>Jen

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