Kym: ‘Baba bear, why do we say, “write a mail” and not “type a mail” when we are not really writing, but typing?’
Me: ‘Ummm, I have no clue. Maybe it comes from the time people wrote letters using a pen and paper.’
Kym: ‘Is the email a letter?’
Me: ‘You can call it that. Sure.’
<Silence>
Kym: ‘Baba bear, if I want to say some other word instead of “very” for happy, what can I use?’
Me: ‘Happy to help. You can use “ecstatic”, “excited”, “gleeful”, “overjoyed”, “thrilled”, and some more. Here are the spellings.’
Kym: ‘Why do they have so many words for one word?’
Me: ‘That is how language is. You’ll know someday how to use all these words to write well.’
Kym: ‘I don’t write well?’
Me: ‘You do, but language is about more than just conveying a thought; it is about conveying an emotion. And doing it elegantly and efficiently. More words for the same thing but with slightly different meanings help.’
Kym <moodily>: ‘OK. I still don’t get it though. But I have a question, Baba bear: Why does “racecourse” have a “u” in it?’
Me: ‘Frankly, I don’t know why any word has a “u” in it.”
Kym: ‘Baba bear, isn’t English a funny language?’
Me: ‘Yep. English is indeed a funny language.’
Kym: ‘Why don’t adults laugh when they speak English then?’
Me: ‘Adults laugh very little anyway. Also, have you seen the people who invented their language?’
Kym: ‘Meaning?’
Me: ‘The English people are those that live in England. Remember when we went to London 3 years ago with Ajoba and Aji? They invented English. They are a very serious people, not given to much laughter.’
Kym: ‘You mean the Queen?’
Me: ‘Something like that.’
<Silence>
Kym: ‘And Paddington bear?’
Me <having visions of HRH Elizabeth and Paddington sitting together inventing words>: ‘Not really. But that’s an interesting thought.’
Kym: ‘May I have some strawberries and vanilla ice cream?’
Me: ‘Now, you are talking!’
Kym: ‘Of course, I am talking, you silly bear!’
Me: ‘No no, what I meant was an idiom, like a common saying in English.’
Kym <murmuring to herself>: ‘English is a funny language.’
![Mr Baba: 'Would you like to take off the backpack now that you've been downstairs for like 30 minutes?'
Ms Kym-Kym: 'I like it like this. You should try it. It's very comfortable.'
Mr Baba: [Pulling on his backpack] 'Hmmm, you're right. That's rather snug.'
Ms Kym-Kym: 'Twinning! Yay!'
#LuckiestManAlive #BearFamily](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/416920031_3373151642830342_6696851954454537274_n.webp?stp=dst-jpg&_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=ZMLmjPdSAEUAX8nnJex&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfB0olvUVmnenPKd2wCllMDehg5gzDgAbc4BDsGLqIm6pA&oe=65BA4561)
![Kym: 'Mr Baba, can I tell you something wierd? You can actually get tired from doing nothing!!'
Me: 'It is called boredom.'
Kym: 'Noooo. I mean, like physically tired.'
Me: 'One can get tired and sleepy due to boredom. I remember reading about it somewhere. Let's find out.'
[Some Googling later]
Me: 'It says here that "A new paper published in the journal Nature Communications finds that a part of the brain that is associated with motivation and pleasure - the nucleus accumbens - also can produce sleep. The new findings may explain why we have the tendency to fall asleep in the absence of motivating stimuli, i.e., when bored." Isnt it interesting?'
Kym: 'I already knew that. Why do you need to research things we already know?'
Me: [Finding a subject worth talking about now]: ' Ah well, that's what we'll talk of tomorrow on your morning run. It's very interesting the way science is done and our understanding of the universe is expanded.'
Kym: 'Can we talk of unicorns instead?'
Me: 'Sure. How do you know they exist? That's an interesting question too that you can use the scientific method to answer.'
Kym: 'Do they have to exist for us to talk about them? We can just pretend they do for an hour and have fun.'
Me: [Laughing] 'Yes, sure. We can do that too.'
#BabaBabyConversations #BearFamily #KymAndI](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/416410840_383105434396466_2267910263456009774_n.webp?stp=dst-jpg&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=LIozs445JFcAX_48wGC&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfDQ2qbb0yO_wUmLj_L0ZxF61eDdwlIN-vyrd8GZe_pBMQ&oe=65BAFA57)
