That happens to me sometimes as well, and I've been LDing for almost ten years.

Reality checks help, definitely. If you are having trouble remembering to do them in your dream, periodically do them in waking life. For example, when something interesting or a little out-of-place happens to me in waking life, I do a finger count RC very quickly. It does help by keeping your brain thinking about RCs, and also about lucid dreaming. Try it out, see if it helps.