loopyloulaura

Actually that isn’t entirely true. Mr Tumble is really quite annoying.

But Justin Fletcher is simply brilliant.

(I would have written ‘Justin Fletcher I love you’ in the title of this post but I didn’t want to terrify the poor man as that sounded a bit stalker-ish)

The enthusiasm he has and the rapport he develops with the children is beautiful to behold. Justin seems to be a genuinely lovely person. The children are so excited to meet him in each episode.

Zach has discovered Mr Tumble. In a BIG way. He runs around the house signing random words that he has learned, so at the moment it is pebble.

Zach is obsessed with Mr Tumble and loves signing! Thank you to the awesome Justin Fletcher (I love Gigglebiz best) #cbeebies #babysigning #mrtumble #justinfletcher #learning #mumswithcameras #reallife #timetogether #childhoodunplugged #candidchildhood #thisparentlife #instakids #growinguptoofast #stillmybaby #mummyblogger #parentblogger #parentblogs

A post shared by Laura Beresford (@loopyloulaura) on Nov 22, 2017 at 3:36am PST

He is absolutely thrilled when I understand him and in the past week he has made a huge developmental leap. He is now repeating almost every word and attempting to speak them later in the day, so he has figured out that all words have meaning and are attached to permanent objects.

His understanding has been fab for a long time but now he is remembering the words and applying them himself. He proudly pointed to parts of his body and said the words which I could actually recognise (got a bit of a shock when he said dinkle – what we call boy bits 🙂 ). This morning Chris went in to the kids’ room to say goodbye before work and Zach clearly told him he’d done a poo but Chris didn’t understand him (or was that just an excuse to avoid nappy duty…)

Zach is incredibly musical (must get that from Chris!) and has been able to pick up a tune for months. His Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is note perfect.

I have done baby signing with all 3 children. I took a class when Matthew was about 8 months old. He rarely did the signs but it occasionally helped him to express himself as he can get overwhelmed by emotion and stops communicating. Matthew now pretty much talks non stop which I mention in my 5 Funny Little Things About… post! Anya enjoyed signing but she was desperate to get talking, a girl thing maybe or 2nd child syndrome?

Some critics of baby signing have claimed that it may delay speech but I disagree. I believe it simply gives children another option and encourages communication. Body language and facial expression are an important component of signing so can help with recognising emotion.

So on a personal note: thank you Justin for the work you do with children and for children (and entertaining parents too: my favourite is Gigglebiz 🙂 ).

Justin, you really are ‘Something Special’.