"Where's My Brain?" and other Josephisms

A few funnies from the mouth of Joseph:

The other night Joseph held out his hand to me and said, "Where's my brain?"
(I think the word he was looking for was "raisin." He had recently come out of the bath, and his hands had been wrinkly, but when he asked me the question, his skin was smooth again.)

The other day in the car Joseph was saying to me, "I want to see your red lips! I want to see your red lips!" Then I asked him, "Why? Why do you want to see my red lips?" and he replied, "Because - You - Are - Driving!"

During another car ride Joseph noticed a wreath and garland suspended over the road. He asked, "What's that?" I told him it was a wreath for Christmas. I added, "Jesus is going to be born soon!" And he said, "Oh! Jesus is going to be born?" Then he said seriously, "He has boo-boos." I responded, "Yes... Jesus will have boo-boos at the end of his life." And Joseph said, "He needs to feel better. He needs some band-abes. On his hands and on his knees."
(I think he was picturing the crucifix at St. Vincent's.)

We saw a wreath on a subsequent car ride, and Joseph exclaimed "Jesus getting born!"

Joseph pluralizes most things like Golam, always adding "es" to the end: bookses, keyses, topses, sockses, etc.

He's also started adding "ie" to the end of lots of words: thingie, milkie, bookie, churchie, etc.

Observing how Joseph acquires language has been very interesting to me in general. It often reminds me of my own experiences learning new languages and how I would express myself, often with a limited vocabulary or understanding of grammar. For example, when Joseph was two and I brought him to the doctor's office for his annual check-up, he asked me, "What's this house?" Which I finally understood that he was asking me about the doctor's office, but did not have the vocabulary to say "What's this building?" or "What's this place?" or "Where are we?" Nonetheless, he was able to find words to make himself understood. Things like that continue to pop up in conversations. (Although I can't think of any more examples at the moment. ) Another thing that's interesting is his use of prepositions. I am reminded of a Spanish teacher who once said to the class: "Preposiciónes no significan nada." (Prepositions don't mean anything.) For the longest time, Joseph completely omitted prepositions. When Michael would say, "St. Joseph -- " or "Mary Mother of God --" Joseph would respond, "Pray us." instead of "pray for us." (Now he says "Pray zor us" like he is imitating the sounds, but not the word "for" which he can pronounce in other contexts.) He will frequently use the wrong preposition because I guess they don't really mean anything to him yet! e.g. He says "I am going to school formorrow?" or "forday" or "Grant said hi with me," "Read for me," etc.

I've also noticed that he says "jyeah" instead of "yeah" which reminds me of the way native spanish speakers pronounce english Ys. I know another preschooler who spoke this way when she was Joseph's age too.

I find linguistics so fascinating! I wish I knew more about it.

Joseph is very interested in traffic lights and is frequently asking and reasking what they mean as well as stating and restating it! He's also begun asking "why" constantly and has developed an annoying habit of saying "huh?" when he didn't hear something or is otherwise stalling. As in, "Joseph, pick up your toys." "huh?" Repeat four times... Michael and I are trying to break him of that habit. But guess who has to break their own bad habit first? "huh?" ME! "huh?"