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My very own website!!! Yikes!

Mr Tumble I love you (and your signing)

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.

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 šŸ™‚ ). 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 LittleĀ 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 šŸ™‚ ).
Justin, you really are ‘Something Special’.


12 comments

  1. Yes, signing has been so much fun with our little one, and she is developing speech right on cue … in fact she’s quite advanced. As you say, it just gave her another form of communication. We think that actually encourages development rather than delaying anything. By the time they’re 4 or 5 most parents wish they’d go back to signing! haha
    #fortheloveofBLOG

  2. We have always enjoyed he children programs. My daughter used to love them when she was younger and sometimes our son watches. Its great that he does introduce signing to the general public and show that different sign languages aren’t really that complex to learn the basics.

    Its only a shame they have some different sign languages in different counties. For example, he does Makaton and here in Dorset its sign along. They are fairly similar with just slight differences – but it would be fantastic if they were standardized through out.

    Great post though and its fantastic that your little one is picking up so much good knowledge from it.

  3. MMT

    I couldn’t agree more – JF is a legend and has done so much for disability on TV. It gets my back up when people slate him, as he seems like a top quality bloke…
    Thanks so much for linking to #coolmumclub

  4. Ahhh yes Mr. Tumble! My daughter really likes watching him and it is nice how engaged she gets with it.. Thanks for linking up to the #BloggersBests linky pop by again!

  5. My daughter has an obsession with Mr Tumble, she loves him and wants to watch him all the time. It’s a little annoying, but that’s because she doesn’t want to do anything else. I agree with you that he is very educational and does teach children, so he does have some benefits. Thanks so much for linking up at #fortheloveofBLOG. Claire x

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