[blparent] Have youy also thought of joining the writers' Division??? LOL!!!
Heather Bird
heather.l.bird at gmail.com
Tue Jun 13 12:59:06 UTC 2017
I saw it on the list of divisions and groups, but I think if I join too much
else that my head will explode. I love all of the neat things that NFB has,
but between NAGDU, blind parents and occasional participation in parents of
blind children and blind veterans my plate is pretty full. *smile* Thank you
for the vote of confidence though. I love to write and to read, although I
wind up doing a disproportionately large amount of the latter and far less
of the former.
Heather Bird
"They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't
a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I
wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a
Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up." -
Martin Niemöller
In our diverse society we must never fail to speak up in the face of Human
Rights violations lest we be the next targets of such violations.
-----Original Message-----
From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bernadette
Jacobs via BlParent
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2017 1:44 PM
To: blparent at nfbnet.org
Cc: Bernadette Jacobs
Subject: [blparent] Have youy also thought of joining the writers'
Division??? LOL!!!
Good Afternoon Miss Heather and everyone else!! Miss Heather, I found
your description here being colorful, quite entertaining as well!! I
do hope we'll have a chance to get to know you better here!!
Have a great day Everyone!!
Bernie
On 6/12/17, blparent-request at nfbnet.org <blparent-request at nfbnet.org> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Introduction (Heather Bird)
> 2. Re: Introduction (Deborah Kent Stein)
> 3. Re: Introduction (Jo Elizabeth Pinto)
> 4. Re: Introduction (Heather Bird)
> 5. Re: Introduction (Jo Elizabeth Pinto)
> 6. Re: Introduction (Kim D)
> 7. Re: Introduction (Judy Jones)
> 8. Re: Introduction (Melissa R Green)
> 9. Re: Introduction (Judy Jones)
> 10. Re: Introduction (Heather Bird)
> 11. Re: Introduction (David Andrews)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2017 15:57:42 -0400
> From: Heather Bird <heather.l.bird at gmail.com>
> To: blparent at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [blparent] Introduction
> Message-ID: <e5c0dc86-98c7-7d22-3333-3b646d5659d9 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>
> 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,
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2017 15:35:58 -0500
> From: "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817 at att.net>
> To: "'Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
> Message-ID: <247801d2e2f2$55d3e9c0$017bbd40$@att.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>
>
> Dear Heather,
>
> Thank you for the delightful description of your family. I look forward to
> hearing more about all of you on this list. Welcome!
>
> Debbie
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Parent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Heather
> Bird via BlParent
> Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 2:58 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,
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> BlParent mailing list
> BlParent at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> BlParent:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/dkent5817%40att.net
>
>
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2017 20:42:26 +0000
> From: Jo Elizabeth Pinto <jopinto at msn.com>
> To: Blind Parents Mailing List <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
> Message-ID:
>
<BN3PR0601MB1889767C178168916B74EB8EACCC0 at BN3PR0601MB1889.namprd06.prod.outl
ook.com>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> 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: Parent [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,
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> BlParent mailing list
> BlParent at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> BlParent:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.com
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2017 17:29:45 -0400
> From: Heather Bird <heather.l.bird at gmail.com>
> To: Jo Elizabeth Pinto via Parent <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
> Message-ID: <5229f214-64e5-498d-acf7-6a1aff41880a at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>
> 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: Parent [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,
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> BlParent mailing list
>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> BlParent:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> BlParent mailing list
>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> BlParent:
>>
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/heather.l.bird%40gmail
.com
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2017 22:01:22 +0000
> From: Jo Elizabeth Pinto <jopinto at msn.com>
> To: Blind Parents Mailing List <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
> Message-ID:
>
<BN3PR0601MB1889DD9CB89325A80AE2BEB7ACCC0 at BN3PR0601MB1889.namprd06.prod.outl
ook.com>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Heather,
>
> The "Ranger in Time" books are wonderful. There's a lot of great history
> slipped into the fast-paced stories. Plus, a golden retriever. How much
> better can it get?
>
> As for the circus, I know what you mean. I feel that way even with just
one
> service dog and a kid. Not so much now, but when my daughter was little
and
> I had the dog, the car seat, the diaper bag, the baby, and all the
> trappings, and I finally got settled in a place, I would sometimes say,
"The
> circus has arrived."
>
>
> 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: Parent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Heather
> Bird via BlParent
> Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 3:30 PM
> To: Jo Elizabeth Pinto via Parent <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: Parent [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,
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> BlParent mailing list
>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> BlParent:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.co
>> m
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> BlParent mailing list
>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> BlParent:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/heather.l.bird%4
>> 0gmail.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> BlParent mailing list
> BlParent at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> BlParent:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.com
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2017 16:14:33 -0700
> From: Kim D <dobiefly80 at gmail.com>
> To: Blind Parents Mailing List <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
> Message-ID:
> <CAJX31BZ+ioXcXmg9BMWpHV+hNwyOqzSCSz9kW-qD6PnU2wa5Aw at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> I'm not sure how this works. How do you post to the thread. I'm brand
new.
> My family is moving to the more rural Montana from Portland and I have a
> teenage daughter that is blind. Trying to make connections any way I can.
> Kimberlie
>
> On Jun 11, 2017 3:06 PM, "Jo Elizabeth Pinto via BlParent" <
> blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>> Heather,
>>
>> The "Ranger in Time" books are wonderful. There's a lot of great history
>> slipped into the fast-paced stories. Plus, a golden retriever. How much
>> better can it get?
>>
>> As for the circus, I know what you mean. I feel that way even with just
>> one service dog and a kid. Not so much now, but when my daughter was
>> little
>> and I had the dog, the car seat, the diaper bag, the baby, and all the
>> trappings, and I finally got settled in a place, I would sometimes say,
>> "The circus has arrived."
>>
>>
>> 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: Parent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Heather
>> Bird via BlParent
>> Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 3:30 PM
>> To: Jo Elizabeth Pinto via Parent <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,
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > BlParent mailing list
>> > BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> BlParent:
>> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.co
>> > m
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > BlParent mailing list
>> > BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> BlParent:
>> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/heather.l.bird%4
>> > 0gmail.com
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> BlParent mailing list
>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> BlParent:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> BlParent mailing list
>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> BlParent:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/
>> dobiefly80%40gmail.com
>>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2017 19:11:20 -0600
> From: "Judy Jones" <sonshines59 at gmail.com>
> To: "'Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
> Message-ID:
>
<!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAALlvaysiXRpJrGz5gYo3TnkigQAAEAAAAEbfNRTGCihPqWT4uEuI
Tu8BAAAAAA==@gmail.com>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Hi, Kimberly,
>
> You came to the right place. My name is Judy Jones, and I love being on
> this list, even though our two daughters are grown. Are you a blind
> parent?
> If you are a sighted parent, you are more than welcome to stay on this
> list,
> but there are resources and an organization for sighted parents as well.
> Welcome to the list!! :)
>
> Judy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kim D via
> BlParent
> Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 5:15 PM
> To: Blind Parents Mailing List
> Cc: Kim D
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
>
> I'm not sure how this works. How do you post to the thread. I'm brand
new.
> My family is moving to the more rural Montana from Portland and I have a
> teenage daughter that is blind. Trying to make connections any way I can.
> Kimberlie
>
> On Jun 11, 2017 3:06 PM, "Jo Elizabeth Pinto via BlParent" <
> blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>> Heather,
>>
>> The "Ranger in Time" books are wonderful. There's a lot of great
>> history slipped into the fast-paced stories. Plus, a golden retriever.
>> How much better can it get?
>>
>> As for the circus, I know what you mean. I feel that way even with
>> just one service dog and a kid. Not so much now, but when my daughter
>> was little and I had the dog, the car seat, the diaper bag, the baby,
>> and all the trappings, and I finally got settled in a place, I would
>> sometimes say, "The circus has arrived."
>>
>>
>> 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 3:30 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,
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > BlParent mailing list
>> > BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
>> > for
>> BlParent:
>> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.
>> > co
>> > m
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > BlParent mailing list
>> > BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
>> > for
>> BlParent:
>> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/heather.l.bird
>> > %4
>> > 0gmail.com
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> BlParent mailing list
>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> BlParent:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.co
>> m
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> BlParent mailing list
>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> BlParent:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/
>> dobiefly80%40gmail.com
>>
> _______________________________________________
> BlParent mailing list
> BlParent at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> BlParent:
>
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/sonshines59%40gmail.co
> m
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2017 19:14:16 -0600
> From: "Melissa R Green" <lissa1531 at gmail.com>
> To: "Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
> Message-ID: <D352F4D084F5428E9B175A8D40A8B1A7 at melissa>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=response
>
> Welcome heather. Your family certainly keeps you busy. Look forward to
> hearing more from you on the list.
>
>
>
> Best,
> Melissa R. Green And Pj
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Heather Bird via BlParent
> Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 1:57 PM
> To: blparent at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Heather Bird
> 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,
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> BlParent mailing list
> BlParent at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> BlParent:
>
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/lissa1531%40gmail.com
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 9
> Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2017 19:19:40 -0600
> From: "Judy Jones" <sonshines59 at gmail.com>
> To: "'Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
> Message-ID:
>
<!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAALlvaysiXRpJrGz5gYo3TnkigQAAEAAAAObG3yJ7JuZIvjh2fkAa
Ra4BAAAAAA==@gmail.com>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Hi, Heather, and welcome to the list. Tell your husband thanks for his
> service to our country. Glad to have you on board.
>
> Judy
>
>
> -----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
> 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,
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> BlParent mailing list
> BlParent at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> BlParent:
>
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/sonshines59%40gmail.co
> m
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 10
> Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2017 21:34:28 -0400
> From: Heather Bird <heather.l.bird at gmail.com>
> To: Kim D via BlParent <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
> Message-ID: <7ea8a57c-183e-350b-cdce-e15316f3672c at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>
> Go you, you just did post t to the thread. If you are getting the
> list in email form, you just reply to the message and it will go to the
> list. If you are doing it through a website, then you've got me. I am
> just tech savvy enough to get by, but I bet someone else can help you
> out. Nice to meet you. Can you tell us a little bit about your daughter?
> Moving to a rural area is going to be tough for her for sure, definitely
> doable, but it will be an adjustment, especially if she was really
> independent and went a lot of places on her own living in Portland. That
> is a beautiful city. A few years ago when we were considering leaving
> New York state we were looking into the Portland area, but we have too
> much family in the Rochester area to leave. Wait, hold up, I may be
> making incorrect assumptions, are we talking Portland Oregon? Or, is
> there a Portland in Montana? Anyway, welcome to the list, we are both
> new here.
>
>
> On 6/11/2017 7:14 PM, Kim D via BlParent wrote:
>> I'm not sure how this works. How do you post to the thread. I'm brand
>> new.
>> My family is moving to the more rural Montana from Portland and I have a
>> teenage daughter that is blind. Trying to make connections any way I can.
>> Kimberlie
>>
>> On Jun 11, 2017 3:06 PM, "Jo Elizabeth Pinto via BlParent" <
>> blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Heather,
>>>
>>> The "Ranger in Time" books are wonderful. There's a lot of great history
>>> slipped into the fast-paced stories. Plus, a golden retriever. How much
>>> better can it get?
>>>
>>> As for the circus, I know what you mean. I feel that way even with just
>>> one service dog and a kid. Not so much now, but when my daughter was
>>> little
>>> and I had the dog, the car seat, the diaper bag, the baby, and all the
>>> trappings, and I finally got settled in a place, I would sometimes say,
>>> "The circus has arrived."
>>>
>>>
>>> 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 3:30 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,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> BlParent mailing list
>>>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> BlParent:
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.co
>>>> m
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> BlParent mailing list
>>>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> BlParent:
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/heather.l.bird%4
>>>> 0gmail.com
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> BlParent mailing list
>>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> BlParent:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.com
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> BlParent mailing list
>>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> BlParent:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/
>>> dobiefly80%40gmail.com
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> BlParent mailing list
>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> BlParent:
>>
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/heather.l.bird%40gmail
.com
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 11
> Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2017 21:00:50 -0500
> From: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>
> To: Blind Parents Mailing List <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
> Message-ID: <auto-000084766864 at mailfront1.g2host.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
> If you reply to a message, it will automatically be a part of that thread.
>
> Dave
>
> At 06:14 PM 6/11/2017, you wrote:
>>I'm not sure how this works. How do you post to the thread. I'm brand
>> new.
>>My family is moving to the more rural Montana from Portland and I have a
>>teenage daughter that is blind. Trying to make connections any way I can.
>>Kimberlie
>>
>>On Jun 11, 2017 3:06 PM, "Jo Elizabeth Pinto via BlParent" <
>>blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> > Heather,
>> >
>> > The "Ranger in Time" books are wonderful. There's a lot of great
>> > history
>> > slipped into the fast-paced stories. Plus, a golden retriever. How much
>> > better can it get?
>> >
>> > As for the circus, I know what you mean. I feel that way even with just
>> > one service dog and a kid. Not so much now, but when my daughter was
>> > little
>> > and I had the dog, the car seat, the diaper bag, the baby, and all the
>> > trappings, and I finally got settled in a place, I would sometimes say,
>> > "The circus has arrived."
>> >
>> >
>> > 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 3:30 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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> End of BlParent Digest, Vol 157, Issue 7
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