gardening with a baby on your back...or not

{pictured above is our friend marisa's lovely bountiful garden}

it can be done. they can be rocked and lulled to sleep in the warm sun. i've seen it done a million times..well at least a dozen. i even knew a mama who had a farm, and yup- her baby would sleep and coo in the sling all afternoon long. before i had children i remember talking with a dear friend and we both said -- you know we just want babies on our back in the garden.
but not my babe.
she fussed and wriggled. she cried and hollered to be free. and it was funny, she loved the ergo walks daily and the backpack with papa. but the garden was a no. maybe it was her age, maybe it was just her spirit that summer. but i am here to say that this year we are out in the garden. hands in the soil, makeshift watering cans, eating sour rhubarb,finding worms.
and it is delightful.
the thing about parenting that i have learned is that your children choose you and they are not always the wee person you thought they would be. they are better, their very own magical spirit and they are here to delight us in way we never imagined.