Mom Arm

Are you a Mom? Then you've got it.  Oh yes.  Mom Arm.

It just happens.  One day you're driving and baby gets fussy.  Suddenly, you find that your arm is able to almost pop itself out of the joint and extend backwards while you drive.  Not only does it reach back there, it's also quite good at soothing angry babies, searching for dropped pacis, pulling on the shaky blue bird, tickling tummies, removing blankets from heads and letting a gummy mouth chew on it.  

I found myself with Mom Arm this morning.  Brixton was mad (at something, who knows, probably the stock market again) and fussy.  My arm went into Go-Go-Gadget mode and stretched back, found his paci and located his foaming mouth.  Paci placement: succesful.  I swear if there was an oven back there I could bake a cake too.  

The disturbing part was actually looking at my arm.  The shoulder was all rounded and tense, my shoulder bone digging in the muscles in my back.  I shudder to think what would happen if we had a car accident.  As it was, people tend to kind of stare.  Maybe they're impressed (Wow, look at that reach!) or perhaps confused (Is there a baby in there?) 

Mom Arm is closely related to Vacation Arm, which was deployed by my Dad several times.  Vacation Arm happened during long car trips and usually resulted in Dad reaching backwards, locating a sassy mouth and applying the needed smack upside the head.  Dad always had long arms, but his arms never seemed longer than when you were strapped helplessly in a car and that angry missile of a hand was coming towards you.  Sometimes the hand became more like an angry claw, pinching any flesh it could come into contact with.  Oh, the good times of childhood.  Brixton has so much to look forward to.