Okay, so I don’t want to be one of those people… but honestly, aren’t we all a little too impressed with our children?   That’s not a terrible thing… is it????

So here’s the deal… uh, hum hmmm… “why I think my child is a prodigy, by Karli Venable.”  You see, it’s just that lately my little Noah-bear has been overly impressing his mommy and daddy with his insanely creative imagination.  Now I’m not sure, but I think he’s a little “advanced” for his age… you know, maybe just a little bit  ”ahead” of his time  : )  (Hopefully you know I’m kidding… okay, well, maybe there’s just a teensy weensy part of me that is not totally kidding and might think my kid is kind of impressive at times… I gotta be honest.)   

Seriously though, Noah has been blowing me away lately with his little imagination.  The other night I gave him a bread stick that came in my salad and he instantly grabbed it and started running it up and down his high-chair saying, “vrooooommm” (that’s his car noise) and “go go go go car”, making it stop and go and spin around.   Another time last week, he was watching a praise video (Hillsongs kids praise – he has been entranced with this lately) and he lined up all his stuffed animals and made sure their eyes were so they could “see” the video too… then, he made them dance and raised their hands.   For a 2 and 1/2 year old or 3 year old, I would think this is totally normal… but I was so taken aback by it for some reason with my barely 2 year old boy.  It’s like all the sudden my baby boy, who has sat back and quietly watched the world around him for the most part, is exploding.  He was like a sponge taking it all in – and now we’re seeing all this creative energy bursting forth.   He surprises me every single day.

Tonight before he went to bed, he wanted to be with “mommmm” as he so affectionately refers to me these days.  So he sat on the bed with me and grabbed my wallet.  (It’s a sad, sad statement of things, but for a long time now whenever we go to the store, he likes to get the credit cards out of our wallet and swipe them in the machine.)  Anyway, he opened the wallet and started pulling the cards out one by one and then putting them all back in.   I have a pretty small wallet so he had to work at getting them to fit just right in their slots… and of course, being a toddler, he did it over and over and over and over and over and over… well, you get the idea.

After he did the whole taking them out and putting them back in again thing I don’t know how many times, he started taking the credit cards and “driving” them in… with his little “vroooommm” for each one… then he would close the wallet and say “cose da doors” and then open it and say “open” and drive the credit “cars” back in.  He was pretending the cards were cars and the wallet was a garage.    Isn’t that creative?   (Well, you know maybe not to you… but obviously, I really thought so.)  And these are just a few little examples that my brain can come up with at the moment — but they are only the tip of the iceberg.  It’s so fun to see Noah create and pretend.

And then, not to drive this prodigy thing into the ground but he then proceeded to tell me what color the different cards were.  He’s so great with his colors… has been for a while… but of course, it still impresses me every time as though it was happening for the first time.   He ended his performance tonight by grabbing the cards and feeding them to Fluffles (his lamb).   And he imitated the eating and biting sounds with his mouth… where did he learn that?!  I’m sure just by watching us do it with him, but still, it amazed me.

So yeah, maybe I’m just a mom who’s totally undone by her child and very easily impressed.  I think a little bit or even a lot of that is a good thing… as long as it’s not the out of control headline-making stuff that defines “those people” that none of us want to ever become.  (I have this sermon running through my mind of John Piper’s where he said that he never ever says that he’s “proud” of his children… overjoyed, undone, humbled… but not proud… not full of pride.)  Ouch.   That was one of those that just seems to stick with you… every time I want to say “I’m so proud of you,” I subconsciously change my words now… it means the same thing, maybe even more, if I say instead, “I love you so much… you amaze me in every way.”   

Noah also has a new found fascination with watching any kind of live music.  He LOVES the prayer room (online or in person).  Stephen took him a few weeks ago and when they were leaving, Noah let go of his hand and tried to escape back into the double doors into the prayer room and threw a toddler tantrum because he had to leave.  (I guess if your toddler is going to throw a tantrum, it’s nice that it is because he wants to go to the Prayer Room.)  And if we’re watching the prayer room online from home, he cries if we turn it off.   The other night I happen to have the tv on and the Country Music Awards were on one of the channels.  And much to his daddy’s dismay, Noah was completely enraptured by it.   He crawled up on my lap and while the songs were playing he took his little hands and kept a beat by hitting his knees.  It was SO cute that we suffered through country song after country song.  (I told Stephen Noah’s got some Texas country roots – what can I say : )  Now Noah brings me the remote control and taps his knees and asks for the music every time we’re downstairs because he thinks I can make it come back on.  So cute though.

One last Noah story and off to bed — last night, while we watched North Carolina basically pummel Michigan (who, by the way, I was rooting for — I am convinced that if you took my brackets and just picked the exact opposite of whatever I choose, you would go all the way)… anyway, she said with a hint of bracket bitterness in her voice, Noah was watching that Hillsong praise dvd again (on portable dvd) and Stephen walked into the kitchen and Noah was just standing in the middle of the kitchen with both hands raised in the air watching the dvd.  Oh, how I wished we caught it on camera… it was one of those moments you know you’ll never forget.  It was SO sweet.

Yes, my child impresses me every day.  And it isn’t pride either.  It’s unfathomable wonder that this little person came from inside me… awe that Stephen and I made a covenant before the Lord for forever and the Lord allowed us to become ‘people-makers’… and appreciation of the glory of the human frame and the unique soul of every individual that especially seems brilliant as you behold your child.   It’s utter humility… because I knew the minute I saw the little flicker of a pen point on a monitor and heard Noah’s tiny little heart beating in the same way that I know every day that I watch him grow and learn now that my God is a Master Craftsman and an Artist like no one this world has ever known, worthy of all my adoration… because I know that I am but a guide and a shepherd (no small job or title by any means), but I am not the Author or Perfecter of Noah’s life.   It is not me Who knows every hair on his head and every day of his lilfe before even one comes to pass… because though Noah came from me, I know he does not belong to me. 

The word prodigy means something inexplicable or something unusually marvelous and extrordinary… and so, I have to be honest and say that I do think Noah is a child prodigy… but it is not because of me or even because of Noah.  It is the handiwork of God that makes him so, and not just Noah, but every child… and not just children, but all of us.   Even me.  Even you.  You are inexplicably marvelous, because you are His.  How crazy and glorious is that?!  May you know the heart of the Father tonight as He rejoices over you with singing and gazes over the balcony of heaven with the undone heart that only a parent really understands (though only in part) at you, His inexiplicable treasure.