1y1m, 3y9m

 MYA
started being scared of the dark at night and now we use a night light!
trick or treated again and this year she got the concept of candy and treats.. last year, we were able to pass it as ‘counting beans'
actually said "trick or treat" "thank you" and "happy halloween" to people this year! still gets scared to take things out of peoples hands when offered something
doesnt carry her blanket or bear out of bed in the morning anymore
can start writing letters on her own!
likes talking/acting like a baby (maybe to mimic jackson, or to get attention, who knows! i still find it cute)
claps and gives him toys to make him feel better when he cries. sometimes is still rough with him but not on purpose. it's cute that she wants to hold his hand to walk together or sits behind him when he's standing to make sure he "doesn't fall" =)
calls us funny bunny
seems to be in a big curious phase (asks "why did you do that, or move that here?" or "what?" and asks follows up questions until she understands)
just grew out of her 4T clothes, what felt like overnight
favorite show is little angel (kinda like cocomelon).. there's only 3 hours of it on Netflix but she's watched it OVER and OVER for at least a couple of weeks now..
tried sweet potato for the first time (maybe cuz jackson was eating it) and seems to be a bit more adventurous with eating nowadays.. tried shrimp recently too at dim sum and she never goes for it!
did really well at her second dentist visit! opened her mouth wide for the dentist to see and didn't flinch. the first time around she barely opened her mouth at all
loves playing dollhouse and pretend. so funny when she talks in a baby voice cuz shes a baby herself.. it sounds so creepy sometimes
grabs my face to kiss me at night before bed or before school sometimes. IT'S THE BEST

JACKSON
seems to want to walk more nowadays (when we put him down, he tenses his leg straight and doesn't want to sit)
doesn't cry anymore when being changed after the surgery. poor boy must have been so clogged up!!!
slept train him again and so much easier. 22m of crying the first time, just some yelps the 2nd time, and  the subsequent nights were pretty quiet too, phew. still wakes up every 3 hrs or so but at least goes down fairly quietly each time with NO rocking now. saving my back and arms a bit! next thing we need to work on is probably night weaning, I don't think he actually needs the milk at night but it seems to be more of a comfort thing at this rate
gets jealous when anyone eats anything (he always wants a slice of the action)
waves when we say hi or hello

knows his name 

doesn’t like being fed

loves sweets *FRUIT, doesn’t seem to care as much for meat or veggies anymore 

loves practicing walking and almost gets over excited and ahead of himself as he laughs with each step

loves sitting on top of the dishwasher

able to spend more time independently playing sometimes but mostly loves being close to us (especially to mommy!)

seems to scream into any cups and bucket shaped things

in other news, we visited Alexandria, Virginia for a quick trip, kind of as a good-bye east coast tour thing (since no other cities around here are worth visiting at least within a 2 hr drive -- since we've been to Philly and DC enough times). it was so fun! and possibly the last warm day of the year. so nice to actually be in a nice city/town and able to walk around (vs all squares and plazas here). nice waterfront city and many cute restaurants. we felt like we barely did anything there, but the time really flew by. i guess my favorite part was literally just walking down king street and then stopping by for ice cream (well, gelato for me!) mya, of course, loved the hotel stay and is always so adaptable. lately she's been acting more like a baby though and keeps saying she's 'tired of walking' and wants to be in the stroller.. probably because she sees jackson in the stroller and is jealous of that. we'll see how that flies in new york since we're going next week for thanksgiving!