Not Yet: The Faith of a Toddler

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." - Hebrews 11:1

In the vein of one my heroes of blogging, Maeve's Momma, I wanted to take some time to record some of the awesome things our little boy is saying as he's learning to talk.

"Not yet, Mama, not yet."

One of my favorite is "No yay, Mama, no yay."

Amos has a unique personality for a toddler. He's a lot more interested in understanding his world than controlling it. (His little sister is another matter entirely!) He seems to really appreciate it when I list the sequence of events for the day.

"First breakfast, then get dressed, then go to Mama gym, then store, then library, then home, then lunch, then nap."

"Otay, Mama," he'll say.

If I get the steps out of order, he'll say, "No yay, Mama, no yay." Not yet, Mama. We can't get dressed before breakfast!

I've realized that that one little phrase, "Not yet" is magic. He will accept almost anything in the moment with the promise that he will get what he wants in the future.

When we're watching tv, I tell him, Mama show now, Amos show later. "Otay, Mama. Amos show, no yay."

When he wants to eat a cookie, I tell him, the food on his plate first, cookie later. "Otay, Mama. Dee-dee, no yay."

I try to be really careful to follow through on those promises. It's way too easy to take advantage of his acceptance in the moment and then hope he forgets later. In the words of Mary Poppins, I try not to make "pie crust promises: easily made, easily broken."

His faith in the future, though, is a sight to behold. He has no idea when "not yet" will come--in an hour or in two days or two months--and yet he willingly accepts that answer to so many of his requests.

"Baba zoom zoom, door?" (This translates to "Are Grandma and Grandpa coming in the car and about to come in the door?")

"They are coming in their car to see you, but not for a long time."

"Oh, no yay, no yay."

His faith is an incredible example. He trusts me so completely that when I say something will happen, he just accepts it and waits. Often, when the appointed time arrives, he is right beside me ready to receive what I've promised him. As soon as the "mama show" ends, he is right beside me saying, "Amos show now?" As soon as he eats his food, he is ready for his cookie. As soon as he sees that I'm done eating breakfast, he is ready to move on to the next activity. I often think that he's forgotten what he was waiting for and just occupied himself with something else, but no, he's just waiting patiently.

As Christians, we believe that God has promised us so many good things. But we are not nearly so patient in our waiting. Sometimes we wonder if God has forgotten us. Or we get tired of waiting on God and just start doing our own thing. Or we try to force the outcome that we want without God's help. It's pretty embarrassing when my toddler is better at waiting than I am, when his faith in the future is more unwavering than my own!

The other half of the theological statement of "not yet" is "already." "Not yet" have all things been made right, but "already" has Christ defeated sin and death. "Not yet" has all of creation been made new but "already" God has demonstrated his love for us.

Looking out the window at the library

The "already" is an important part of Amos's "not yet." He has already experienced the fulfillment of lots of promises. He already knows that he is loved and cared for. He already knows that his life is full of good things. His "already" is the foundation of his faith in the "not yet."

We have a similar foundation. Time and time again, we have received the fulfillment of God's promises to us. We've experienced his love, mercy, peace, and forgiveness. We've witnessed broken relationships and broken bodies healed. We've "already" seen God keep his promises and respond to our requests.

May we say with the faith of a child when we are faced with a broken and hurting world, "Not yet, not yet," and wait patiently for the day when all will be made new, when pain and sorrow will be no more, when we shall see our Father face to face. "Not yet, not yet."

A few other random things Amos says

These are completely unrelated to the above. I just want to record these because they crack me up.

All of Amos's favorite things are blue. We have no idea why this is. It started when we were painting our interior doors blue. Amos was fascinated by this process and latched onto the idea of "blue." But when we painted the screen doors green, he still called them blue no matter how many times we corrected him. He's starting to learn his colors, but he still has his "blue water" (which is actually yellow), his "blue blanket" (which is actually blue), and "blue Bob and Larry" (his favorite VeggieTales episode).

Things that are not quite as good as blue are yellow. This morning he asked to watch "yellow Mary Poppins," which is apparently The Sound of Music. He also has "yellow toys" and "yellow water." I have no idea where this system of ranking came from, but he is remarkably consistent!

"Oush" = ouch (that is super cute!)

I've tried to teach him to say Eva. That goes like this:

M; "Say Eeeee"
A: "Eeee"
M: "Say 'vaaaa'"
A: "Vaaaa"
M: "Eeee-vaaa."
A: "No! Baby!"

He loves to proclaim that he is awake in the morning. When I walk into his room in the morning (after he's been yelling "Mama" for five minutes), he rubs his eyes and says, "Mama! A-vay!" with such surprise that I think he is surprised every morning by the mystery of transitioning from sleeping to being awake.

He also loves to tell stories. They go something like this:

"Mama, baby, baba. Zoom zoom zoom. Vaaaaa! Sssssss. Ooooh. A bee-bo. A bee-bo. Mama, baby. Zoom zoom."

I think most of his stories consist of various combinations of people in his life riding in a car together and then getting attacked by a monster. They have lots of sound affects and go from a calm tone to lots of hand gestures and loud noises, but for the most part, I have no idea what he's talking about.

I remember reading that toddlers have a "language explosion" somewhere around 18 months. Amos is lagging a little behind, but he is eagerly trying to make up for the all the time he's missed!

Heading out into the world!