[blparent] Introduction

Tue Jun 13 11:56:06 UTC 2017

			If he can do harder material, you guys should do
either Unbroken or The Boys In The Boat. Both are eexcellent and have stayed
with me in ways I didn't expect. 
My ten year old and I will probably read one of those this summer. 
She also likes Magic Tree House, I'll have to check out the other books
mentioned in this note. 
Love the story about your cat Houston, almost makes me wish I had a cat:)
My ten year old says all the kids in school love those fidget spinners. 
Heather, you and I are also on the NAGDU list, though I'm a cane user. I
used to use a dog, way back in the day. 

-----Original Message-----
From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Heather
Bird via BlParent
Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 5:30 PM
To: Jo Elizabeth Pinto via BlParent <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Heather Bird <heather.l.bird at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction

     Jeremy loves the Magic Tree House. I pre-read everything that he is
going to read, and they just about drove me batty, but I got through it. 
Ranger in Time? I've got to snag those. Summer is upon us and I am seriously
limiting his Apple TV time, so I need to pack his USB thumb drive with as
many books as possible. He reads just about everything I can find on NLS
Bard, including some books that are typically thought of as "girl" books,
like the American Girl books, Little House Books, although he lost interest
after finishing the Long Winter, the Ramona books and similar. Go you, I can
certainly read Braille, but not in a way that makes it pleasant to listen to
me read aloud. I pre-read the board books and short story books that I am
going to read for Caleb, so I am just using the text as a cue for the
memorized text. I believe strongly in the value of Braille, and my sons are
learning Braille, but my reading aloud will just never be even anywhere
close to their dad's. 
He does crazy funny voices and accents too. That's OK, I am the chief story
maker-upper in our house, and with eccentric kiddos on the spectrum I have
to make up some weird stuff. Jeremy loved vacuum cleaners from age 2 until
around age 5 and street sweepers from around age three to six, so I had to
make up stories about those. Caleb is obsessed with shapes, so our current
crop of bedtime stories are all about adventures with discovering shapes.
What the heck on a nature walk or a grocery store run is shaped like a
trapezoid? *palm to forehead* Oh, a black labby. My mom Bernice has a black
lab named Octane from the Seeing Eye. We are a circus everywhere we go with
three adults, two of them blind, two kids and three service dogs. I swear,
restaurant owners quake in fear when they see us coming.

So nice to meet you.

On 6/11/2017 4:42 PM, Jo Elizabeth Pinto via BlParent wrote:
> Hi, Heather. It's great to meet you. It sounds like you have a busy,
active family.
>
> My daughter is nine years old, entering the fourth grade in the fall. She
enjoys all things Barbie, princess, and sparkling. But she also has an
adventurous streak, and many times her Barbies and princesses will get
prettied up to go mountain climbing or spacewalking. She's sighted, and
loves reading out loud to me from the "Magic Tree House" and "Ranger in
Time" books. I've been reading "Dr. Dolittle" and "Little House on the
Prairie" to her this summer in braille. Her dad owns a watch and clock
repair shop, and I proofread braille books, mostly textbooks, from home. We
live in Colorado. I have my third guide dog, a black Lab, from Guide Dogs
for the Blind, in California. Actually, this one, Anlyn, came from the
Oregon campus in 2014.
>
>
> Welcome to the list,
> Jo Elizabeth Pinto
>
> "The Bright Side of Darkness"
> Is my award-winning novel,
> Available in Kindle, audio, and paperback formats.
> http://www.amazon.com/author/jepinto
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
> Heather Bird via BlParent
> Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 1:58 PM
> To: blparent at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Heather Bird <heather.l.bird at gmail.com>
> Subject: [blparent] Introduction
>
> Hello. My name is Heather and I am the middle generation of a three
generation blind family. My mother is blind and my father sighted. My
husband is sighted and my two sons, ages 3 and 8 are also blind. The four of
us have LCA, a rare autosomel dominant form, as LCA is typically recessive.
>
>
> My older son Jeremy is about to turn 9 in August, and he is my extreme
child. He is on the autism spectrum and he never acts his age. He either
acts far more considerate and mature than his peers, like a 12 year old, or
he acts incredibly immature and difficult like a 2 year old. So, Its like
having my 3 year old son Caleb, and two other children, a 2 year old and a
12 year old with some weird custody arrangement where the 2 year old and the
12 year old are never in my home at the same time.
> *smile* Jeremy is extremely bright, but has poor planning skills and is
often seriously lacking in basic common sense. His reading comprehension is
two to four grade levels above, but his actual reading is about one grade
level behind his peers. He can do mental math one or two grade levels ahead
of his class mates, but getting him to sit down and write out his work on
the Braille writer for math is like wrestling a rabid, really pissed off
squirrel. His primary interests are space flight/NASA history, Mine craft,
collecting figit spinners, amusement park rides, science and watching other
people play various games on YouTube. Like his father, Jeremy cannot carry a
tune in a bucket, has an aptitude for math and technology and a fondness for
Bruce Coville books and doing Lego models. Jeremy is also my child of
contradictions. He wasn't fully potty trained until around age 4, we are
talking about "sit on the plastic froggy potty and I'll give you an M and M
and a penny to put in your toilet piggy bank that you flush to get the coin
to go down into the base, and please for God's sake can we get you out of
cloth training pants by the start of Kindergarten?" But, at age 3 he could
take the old empty toilet paper cardboard tube off of the holder and install
a new role for me. He can read children's books on difficult topics like the
holocaust or the underground railroad, and have meaningful conversations
about their content, but if he drops half of a cheep, crappy 20 cent freeze
pop, it is the same bursting into tiers and carrying on like a wounded
animal that you would expect to accompany something serious like his cat
dying.
>
>
> My younger son Caleb is 3. He is my easy going sweet. He is quite 
> smart, but rarely brilliant. He has tantrums on occasion, but he 
> rarely misbehaves. He's very dependable, for a 3 year old, and a very 
> amusing, lovable kiddo. If he is on the spectrum, it is much less 
> significant than with Jeremy, as he is pretty typical in most ways. He 
> loves music, car rides, shapes, visiting his nana and his grammie, and 
> scented products. The only sensory things we have really seen with him 
> is that he screams his head off as if we've poured sulfuric acid on 
> him whenever Ilsa licks him, and he is not thrilled about having messy 
> things on his hands or face, although he is able to cope if I give him 
> a cloth napkin to use whenever he gets something on his fingers or 
> face. He has done everything either on time with or slightly behind 
> his peers, whereas Jeremy did just about everything way ahead of or 
> way behind his peers. I see more of myself in Jeremy, but I have an 
> easier time with Caleb. I love them both dearly, but, honestly? I like 
> Caleb better. On a day-to-day basis, I far prefer spending time with 
> Caleb. Jeremy pushes my buttons constantly, although on the rare 
> occasions when Jeremy can focus and control his behavior, he is 
> responsible for the majority of the extraordinary, epic or memorable 
> moments in our household. Caleb keeps me sane and Jeremy helps me grow 
> as a person, and both are very valuable aspects of my life. We want to 
> have one more child, and we are hoping for a girl, but we are stopping 
> at three even if the next one is a boy. Although, with three little 
> boys, my husband, with his male service dog and Jeremy's male cat, I 
> might have to go and spend some time with the little girls of friends 
> to keep from being overwhelmed with testosterone. At least Ilsa is on 
> the girl team with me. *smile*
>
>
> My husband is sighted and he is one of the few sighted people that I feel
really "gets it" about the blindness thing. He is an Iraq War veteran of the
United States Marine Corps. He just graduated with an under graduate degree
in computer science and is looking for a job. He has moderate to severe PTSD
and is a service dog handler. His service dog is a smoothe coat collie named
Dante, who we owner trained.
>
>
> We also have a grey and black Maine Coon cat named Houston, who is
Jeremy's pet. One of my catch phrases regarding the cat, as I fish him out
from under something, extricate him from a tight spot or shoe him away from
something he's stolen is "Houston, you are a problem."
>
>
> I have a black and tan German Shepherd Seeing Eye dog named Ilsa. She is
still quite young as I got her in September of 2016 and she wasn't yet two
at that time. I have previously had a yellow lab from GEB, two GSDs from
Fidelco and one GSD from TSE prior to Ilsa.
>
>
> I am the chapter president of our local Rochester chapter of the National
Federation of the Blind of New York. My husband, Jim is a board member, and
my mother, Bernice, who is also blind is our secretary. I am also the vice
president of the New York Associations of Guide Dog Users.
> Jim and I are members of IAADP and Jim is a member of the VFW, the DAV,
and also of NOPBC. He might be joining the blind veterans division as well.
I am an attachment parent, in most respects and a green parent whenever I
can be. Our chapter is very new and very small, but is growing rapidly. Wee
were chartered with 7 members in October of 2016 and we now have 15 members,
and of those 15, 5 of them are blind parents, my mom, my self, a single
blind mom and a blind couple.
>
>
> It will be great to get to know all of you here on list.
>
> Have a great Sunday,
>
> Heather and family,
>
>
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