Illicit activity: start ‘em young
Andrea Bellamy |

In my pre-baby life, my neighbour called me The Napper. I love sleeping, and I especially love a late, lazy afternoon nap. I was hoping my own daughter would see the beauty of daytime shut-eye, but, for now at least, she’s not all that fond of stationary beds. She’ll nap in her car seat as we’re buzzing around town, she’ll nap in my arms as I do the baby dance, and she’ll nap in her stroller on our daily walks. (You know how everyone tells pregnant women and new mothers, “sleep while the baby sleeps”? Please tell me how you do that while you’re driving.) 


Anyway, all this is preamble to explain why I haven’t had a lot of time to sit down and blog (or do any gardening, for that matter). On the upside, our walks have allowed me to explore my neighbourhood more thoroughly than ever before.

vacant lot panorama.jpg

This is a vacant lot next to our townhouse complex. It’s slated for development, but since it’s unclear when that will actually happen, I thought it’d be the perfect location for some seed bombing.

I had about 100 or so seed balls I made a couple of months back, so I dressed Lila in her bad-ass black cap (for ninja stealth) and we set out to do some guerrilla gardening.

Guerrilla Lila.jpg
She was pretty lax about the whole thing. Kind of like my morals.

Hopefully we get a good show of wildflowers before the tractors roll in. I’ll keep you posted.

Comments

  1. The most adorable little ninja I’ve ever seen. Excellent camouflage. With a baby in a snuggly or stroller, no one will suspect you’re up to “nefarious” green schemes.

    The two stop spam words I have to type to submit this are “doubt” and “impulse.” How perfect. More validation to never doubt an impulse to engage in some guerrilla gardening.

    Seriously and honestly, Lila is beautiful.

    I really enjoyed this post. From the title to the last words, it had me smiling all the way.

  2. Comment by Elaine - June 25, 2008
  3. Love her stealth gear (blankie.)

    Hopefully, we will get to see some wildflowers. Funny post.~~Dee

  4. Comment by Dee/reddirtramblings - June 26, 2008
  5. Mine wasn’t fond of the daytime nap either. I used to pace up and down the bathroom for ever before she was drowsy enough to put in her crib.

    Apparently it’s a sign of intelligence, which is of no comfort whatsoever I know when you are gasping for sleep.

    Very glad you’ve got her guerrilla gardening at such a young age, and whoever makes the black baby caps is a genius. She is a CUTIE.

  6. Comment by paola - June 26, 2008
  7. Elaine – aw, shucks. Thanks for the praise :)

    She’s the perfect decoy, eh?

    Dee – I hope we’ll see some results, too – I hope it’s not too late in the year to have started.

    Paola – I think she’s pretty cute, too (though I suppose I’m biased!) The black cap is from American Apparel.

  8. Comment by Andrea Bellamy - June 27, 2008
  9. Andrea,

    I love your spirit.

    Regarding the your love of the nap: My mother-a renowned great lover of naps-was not graced with a daughter who shared that love. Eventually her technique in dealing with this was to lie on her stomach with the me on my back next to her. She would then lay her arm over my stomach, slipping her hand under my back. I couldn’t get away and would eventually fall asleep most times. Even if she was able to get only 15 minutes she was grateful, as I’m sure you are with a little fireball to attend to.

    Over 40 years later, when family stories are being told about when my brother and I were little, I like to give her trouble about “all of the hours I spent staring at the ceiling.”

    Best wishes from Seattle!

  10. Comment by Denise - June 28, 2008
  11. I’ve been doing the same with my kid lately. she’s too young to get the concept but she likes flowers and she likes throwing things = a hit.

  12. Comment by lisa - June 28, 2008
  13. Clearly, every baby should have a bad-ass black cap.

  14. Comment by Monica - July 1, 2008
  15. We wrote an article on the similar subject of raising kids with a sense of “green” awareness.
    Click user name and it should redirect.
    Hope it helps!

  16. Comment by Homebasics - July 17, 2008
  17. Good work! I do have some bad news for you, though. I have 2 children, 2 years apart (they 18 & 20 now). When they were little I could get them to nap, but never at the same time. When one fell asleep, he would somehow notify his brother that it was time to wake up. How I survived, I still don’t know…..

  18. Comment by emily - July 19, 2008
  19. Go ninja baby go! love the chapeau! hope you grow up to look good in hats….and like flowers. check out my blog “Martha Stewart, I need you babe” http://www.gonepausal.com

    my Mt Everest of gardening blog entry!

  20. Comment by gail forrest - July 19, 2008
  21. I agree with monica re: every baby should have a bad-ass black cap. lol. And good job, starting her young with the Guerrilla Gardening!

  22. Comment by Blackswampgirl Kim - July 19, 2008
  23. You have a darling little one. So cute! That is definately a fun adventure, hope they come up.
    Have you tried using a baby sling or carrier to do gardening and what not. She may like that and fall asleep at the same time. I use to use the Ergo carrier and put my son on my back. There are several other carriers as well, the babyhawk, kangaroo korner has several. Hope that helps.

  24. Comment by Cathy Steck - July 20, 2008

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