Pearly Whites.

Every morning my kids and I get up and I put on a pot of coffee because god know I cant function without it. I pick up Gabe and ask him what he wants for breakfast; toast or cereal, its the big decision in the morning. He chatters away in a non sensical language I have yet to learn while pointing at one or the other. I put him in his high chair where he either enjoys jam on toast, Rice Krispies or Mini Wheats and usually he gets half a banana or whatever fruit we have on hand. Now don't get me wrong there are days I make pancakes, french toast, or eggs and bacon, but they are few and far between, I'm such a creature of habit.

While he eats I enjoy my coffee and usually within 10 minutes Eden decides its time for her breakfast. Her choices are rather limited, right breast or left breast? After Eden's done, and my cup of coffee usually has gotten 10 degrees cooler, it's time to brush Gabriel's teeth. Now this is the hard part of the morning because in all my life I have never met a child who hates the tooth brush as much as Gabe, and the bigger hes gotten the harder it is for me to get his teeth brushed. When he was younger and could put up little fight I could have his teeth brushed in a minute or two. In and out as fast as possible because even in the early days I could tell he hated the tooth brush. Now all I have to do is walk up to him with the tooth brush and the tantrum begins. Hitting, biting, slapping the tooth brush from my hand, refusing to open his mouth, biting down so I can't move it back and forth, the list of tools he has in his arsenal to avoid getting the plaque brushed off his teeth are endless. It was getting to the point where my only offence was a head lock.

To avoid head locks and the potential creation of claustrophobia I had to come up with some other way to clean those pearly whites. So I have decided to enact the most basic and awesome weapon in my arsenal. My stubbornness. Now every morning I give him a choice, let mommy brush your teeth, or sit in your high chair. I have to give him credit, hes almost...almost...as stubborn as I am. But I have also discovered one more basic weapon I may deploy if need be. His want to be independent. So I gave him an extra tooth brush one morning and he let me brush his teeth to a point. He could still hit with one hand. SO I gave him another tooth brush. There we are, me holding one tooth brush, him holding two, both of us brushing his teeth. We may look bizarre, but it gets the job done. I have conquered the tooth brushing issue but I still have to admit that my favorite meal of the day is lunch where no teeth brushing is required.