Some of them fake it so well that we can be tricked into thinking they do, but the more you interact, the more you realize there are subtle differences between English and what I dub "threespeak" that can cause a bit of confusion.
Every three-year-old will have their own version of threespeak, but here is a list that covers a lot of our particular dialect.
Help (as used in the phrase "I want to help!"): To gently place your hand on the hand of your parent as she makes a sandwich, puts clothes in the washing machine, puts flour in the mixing bowl, or other such activities.
No (as used in the phrase "No, we're not doing that today."): A mean word. "We don't say that word in our family."
Not tired: a state of being in which you want to put your head on the couch or on the ground and do nothing, but under no conditions do you want to put your head on a pillow.
Hungry: To have an appetite for one particular thing. One can be hungry only for treats and not for dinner.
Lunch/Snack: A type of meal less determined by the time of day it is eaten and more determined by its contents and who is present. For example, if the three-year-old determines it is lunch time, then Daddy shouldn't be there for that meal, even if it's at 6 pm.
Seed: An abomination. A texture that is not smooth which tarnishes foods such as rice, oatmeal, many fruits, and whole-wheat anything. Occasionally refers to the white part of an orange. If a food has a smooth texture but still has the appearance of a seed, it may still be unacceptable.
Bigger: Best explained here:
Never: having not occurred in the past 5 minutes. See here:
Favorite: Anything a three-year-old likes. For example, if a parents says that a child does not need to share a favorite toy when friends come to play, the child will gather up all of his sports cars and hide them.
Based on these examples, it seems that one who wishes fluency in threespeak should become proficient in hyperbole.
Such as: This is my favorite blog post ever and I'm never writing one again.
I didn't realize "help" was a general three-year-old thing. It always cracks me up, especially since he always asks if *I* want to help *him* when he puts his hand on mine.
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