This Is The Way We Brush Our Teeth

I feel that I owe it to my daughter to tell you all that the toothbrushing, it's going *well* these days. I say that with all sorts of trepidation because I don't want to jinx the damn thing!!

The Toddler Monster that lurks under this cute face has retreated into hiding, at least when the toothbrush comes out. She is now cooperating with brushing at least once a day. Hallelujah! I won't have to get her dentures at 2 years old!

Notice I mentioned that she's brushing at least once a day. That's because I am apparently not Mother Of The Year enough to get my sh*t together in the morning and get her to brush her teeth before we leave the house. Please don't call CPS on me. I'm trying. I keep joking in a kinda half serious way that I'm going to create a picture schedule for myself to remind me to get the kid's teeth brushed, along with all the other stuff that has to be done in the morning. "They" say picture schedules are great ways for kids to learn routines...I think "they" probably really mean they're great for Mommies.

So, as a public service announcement, what worked for me? Basically, I just kept at it. We bought her a cool electric toothbrush, she doesn't care for it. So I just kept handing her her toothbrush, making a big fat deal about how cool it is to brush your teeth, forced her to cooperate when she didn't want to, and....it seems to have worked. She's not yelling at me anymore, not contorting herself into a pretzel to get away from me when I have the toothbrush in my hand. She's even opening up her mouth to let me get the back teeth! Woohoo!

Thanks for all your support, everyone! I took every message to heart. Seriously. It really helped.

(Edited to add: See, I wasn't really kidding. I'm taking this home, coloring it, and sticking it up on her bedroom door to help me remember!)