for toothbrushing (although it seems to be a stage they go through- dd is fine now), I used to pretend there was an animal in her mouth and we had to brush him out, like, look, there's a kangaroo up there on the top teeth, lets brush him out... then Im allowed to brush and then he hops back to the bush, but then there's a hippo over there... etc.
That worked for a while, then we made up tooth brushing songs about how wide she could 'ahhh'
Then we got one of the electric toothbrushes and called it mr tickle, which worked really well.
Once she was old enough I explained why we had to brush them (I may have said at one stage we have to brush them or they will get black and rotten although better than my friend, she told her daughter if she didn't brush them a worm would come and eat them hehe)
Anyway, mainly I always tried to avoid it becoming a power struggle and keep it fun.

The only other thing that I can think of at the moment that really worked is the sling. Makes shopping centres easy, markets easy, travel easy. As long as its a good one thats comfortable to wear. I got my ergo out the other day for my three year old and it was still good.

Great thread buy the way