I do it - ALL BY MYSELF! - Toulouse and Tonic

Today’s process of trying to teach Meyer to brush his teeth all by himself is sponsored by Orajel™ Kids but opinions are my own, except for those that are Meyer’s. He’s 3 so he has lots of opinions.

Meyer’s at that age (3 3/4 to be precise) where he wants to do EVERYTHING by himself. I don’t mind most of it because I really like to encourage independence. I mean, it’s the only way we, as parents, are ever gonna get any kind of life back. Granted it slows everything down letting him “do it all by myself,” but then once he learns, yay!

The main thing we’re working on right now is teeth brushing. I’m a stickler for taking good care of our teeth and so this is a hard one for me to let him do by himself. One thing that’s helped is letting him choose his own toothbrush and toothpaste so he has at least some control over the process. He’s always loved Orajel Kids’ products (my older boy too). Meyer’s choice? A Bubble Guppies toothbrush and Thomas the Train Training toothpaste. We’re still working on the transition to our big kid (fluoride) toothpaste. We practice with it about twice a week. As his spitting improves, we’ll make the switch full time. But for right now, he looooves the taste of the training toothpaste so getting him to brush is easy-peasy.

Our current solution to the “I do it all by myself” issue is that I let him put the training toothpaste on the toothbrush himself, then I let him brush his teeth. After that, mommy gets a turn too. Then I know he’s learning AND we’re still getting those teeth properly cleaned. Thanks to Orajel Kids, before long, we’ll make that independent brushing milestone.

Speaking of milestones, Orajel™ is offering one lucky winner a chance to turn milestones into #Smilestones with a $1,000 gift card along with an Orajel™ product prize pack to keep their smile healthy for capturing their next big Smilestone! It’s easy to enter. Just show us your funny, frustrating or embarrassing milestone moment.

Here’s me getting you started. While I love this photo for the sheer insanity of it all, I’d also love to get the chance for a do-over that didn’t involve a physical assault on Santa Claus.