This Again.

Dear Matthew,

Today Joe asked me, "Was I like this when I was three?" and I'm glad he asked because it gave me perspective on a little, sometimes exhausting, issue you've been having:  You only like to wear this shirt...  (because it has "elbow spatches")

And you only want to wear these pajamas to bed...

I wouldn't DARE brush your teeth in the bathroom, because we SIMPLY MUST brush your teeth on the couch.  Also these slipper socks, even though they are too small...

could never be replaced by these...

because they don't have any yellow on them, of course.  "But your too small pair doesn't have any yellow either!" I say, to no avail...  AND you simply must eat off of this plate, with this fork, and will only use THIS NAPKIN.

So, I'm glad Joe asked this question today because yes, he was like this.  In fact, a few days ago I brought up some of Joe's old pajamas from storage for Danny and discovered that all the cuffs were cut off of the sleeves, something we ended up doing because he couldn't stand the feeling of the cuffs on his wrists.  It was reassuring to see. I realized this kind of thing will fade away with time and patience (Joe now wears a variety of jammies.)  I think we can see you through this phase without worrying.  In fact, it will probably take care of itself because I can tell your favorite shirt is already getting too small (the elbow spatches are becoming upper-arm spatches.)