Brushing Teeth

I snuck the toothbrush Isabella’s mouth, just long enough for the bristles to barely touch two of her little teeth before she arched her back again and yanked the toothbrush out of my hand and threw it across the bathroom. Brushing a stubborn 18 month old’s teeth has never been my idea of fun. I always wondered if it really did any good anyway because they can’t even have toothpaste until they are at least two. But, being the paranoid mother that I am, I sat Isabella on the bathroom counter every night and went through the same fight. Most of the time she won and I would finally give an exhausted sigh, sneak one more little brush in, and put the toothbrush back into its holder until the next night.

Isabella eventually got used to the idea and by the time she was two, she was ecstatic about the idea that she could now use real toothpaste to brush her teeth. It’s incredible how much thrill can come from something as simple as using toothpaste for the first time. The night of her birthday arrived and I applied a small amount of toothpaste to her toothbrush. I brushed for a moment then gave her a chance to spit. She leaned over the sink, swallowed, then made a sound like she had heard Cody making every time we brush his teeth. I tried to explain to her that she couldn’t swallow, she had to let all the spit go into the sink. “Ok mommy, I will.” She promised as I began to brush again. When we were finished I helped her over the sink, she swallowed, then made the same sound.

Throughout the next week, Isabella and I had “spitting practices”. I gave her a sip of water and then helped her let it go out of her mouth before she actually swallowed it. I showed her how I did it, I had Cody show her how he did it, we talked about spitting technique, and everything else I could possibly think of. Nothing seemed to work. I never had to do any of this with Cody. The first time we brushed his teeth, he spit out the excess toothpaste and that was that.

After several days I finally realized the problem.  I was the wrong person to teach her! I was a terrible spitter and a girl. I didn’t ever spit unless I absolutely had to. I decided the best course of action would be to turn the spitting lessons over to a much more experience and qualified teacher. That night, Kasey sat her on the counter and helped her brush her teeth. After a few moments, I heard from the other room Kasey and Cody cheering over Isabella’s first spitting success.