Vampires and Werewolves

I've seen a lot of posts about the new book in the "Twilight" series, Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer. I haven't read it yet (I'll start it tonight) because I wanted to re-read the first three books in the series. (Three books in five days. Is that possible?) I had the same problem with the Harry Potter series. I re-read all the books in the series each time a new book came out. (Thankfully I didn't start that series until book 3 was already available.)

Regardless, I've been very careful about these blog posts about Breaking Dawn. I don't want ANYTHING spoiled. I'm so excited to pick it up from the library tonight. I put my name on the waiting list in early July, and I was number 339 on the list, and the book didn't even come out until August! This series is such a craze. Just like HP, but on a smaller scale. (By the way, the first movie comes out in December, with an HP alum in the lead role. Just a bit of trivia for you.)

(Are you sick of the parentheses yet? I am.)

Moving on. So these books are great. They are super easy reads and you can go through them like lightning. I refuse to write anything about the content of these books (except for the title, sorry), but I will say that if you are looking for an easy, beach read, something that you don't have to put a lot of thought into, and a nice, clean love story, these are the books for you.

The real point of this post was not to discuss these books. Honest. It was just ironic that these are the books that have been consuming me for the last five days with everything else that's been going on at home.

Some of you may remember my post here, about Isaac biting Dylan. I figured it was due to his teething, and he'd grow out of it. He only bites Dylan. With the occasional nip at my dad, Todd and I. (Although my dad received his "love bite" early on when I thought it was a teething issue.)

Now, I know that's not the case. And the problem has escalated. Dylan is biting him in return. Not good. I have tried everything I know to try when Isaac bites, or tries to bite, Dylan. I have tried biting him back (he laughs), I have tried yelling at him (he shakes his head as he's walking away), and currently I am slapping his mouth while telling him "no biting." This seems to make some sort of impact because he immediately starts crying, and runs and climbs into the time out chair. He understands he's not supposed to bite, but he also knows this is the fastest, easiest way to get Dylan to quit bugging him, or taking his toys, or kicking him or whatever it is she's choosing to do at the given time. There are even times when I know Dylan probably deserves the bite. But I can't let Isaac know that. It will become an epidemic, if it hasn't already.

Today was another day like any other. The kids were playing. Sometimes happily, sometimes not. When I heard the familiar sounds coming from the other room. A low growling sound and a sound of panic. Isaac's going after Dylan, she knows it, and she's scared. Who could blame her. He leaves a mark. I can tell from listening that Dylan took something from Isaac because I heard her throw it across the room in hopes that he would forget his attack on her and leave to retrieve whatever it was she took. No such luck. The next thing I know, total silence.

It took another couple of seconds of silence to realize what had happened. Dylan was hurt, and she was crying. When she cries, there is silence between the screams as she's trying to get enough oxygen to let out the blood-curdling screams. When she did, I knew it was bad. She was walking toward me and told me Isaac bit her. I asked her where and she showed me her leg. My goodness, I'm surprised there wasn't blood. It was deep, it was purple, and Isaac has pretty straight teeth. It was almost like a plaster indentation on her leg. Dylan continued her screaming, but I left her there to find Isaac.

Of course, he was happy as can be, playing with the toy that had caused the scuffle and looked at me with mock innocence as I walked up to him. I picked him up, slapped his mouth and dropped him on his timeout chair. He was less than thrilled. But he also knew he deserved to be there. Dylan calmed down and the more I looked at her leg, the more I needed to capture the evidence on film. We came upstairs and I grabbed the camera to take a few shots. I was amazed at how much better her leg looked in just those few shorts minutes. Her healing powers are amazing. The pictures don't do it justice.

Don't worry though, I've seen this happen before, and we're bound to get a lovely, long-lasting bruise later on today that I can take some snapshots of.

But here's my question...any idea how to dissuade an almost two-year old from biting his sister when she's bugging him? Especially when the sister is an almost three-year old you can't reason with? I'm up for anything. Please help.