This morning on the warm-up jog.
Kym: Why was that signal showing red and green at the same time, Baba bear?
Me: It must be malfunctioning.
Kym: Mal…what?
Me: ‘Mal’ is a prefix that is sometimes used to mean ‘bad’. Malady is an illness, malnourished is someone who hasn’t had proper nourishment, malpractice means bad action, malformed means badly structured, malaria is a disease that was named after what was thought to be its cause: bad air, and so on. Similarly, malfunctioning means not working properly or working wrongly.
Kym: <nodding silently>
30 minutes later.
Me: KYM, WHAT THE HELL? DID YOU JUST RUN AT 6 MINUTES TO A KM??? WHAT IS THIS? A WALK IN THE PARK? AM I WASTING MY TIME HERE? YOU USED TO RUN A 30-MINUTE-5K AN YEAR AGO? SHOULDN’T YOU BE FASTER? ARE YOU GROWING UP OR BECOMING SMALLER? I SAW YOU STOP THERE AND THERE AND…
Kym: Baba bear, I was just tired and it was very hot. It’ll be OK the next time. But what’s with the shouting? Are your emotions malfunctioning?
Me:
Kym:
Me: Oh. Sorry. You’re right. How silly of me to shout. Did you enjoy your run?
Kym: I did. Did you enjoy your walk?
Me: I did.
Kym: I love you, Baba bear. Even when you malfunction.
Me: Come here, you little bear! I think someone needs a bear hug.
Kym: I wonder who.
![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)
