All things jedanielee

Of Sleep, Appetite, and Satiety

2018-10-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

As a student, many of us have pulled an “all-nighter” to cram for an exam. Invariably, these all-night study sessions find us at the local 27/7 diner ordering delicious burgers, fries, and milkshake. Why is it that we fuel our sleepless state with calorie-dense foods? “We have very substantial research that shows if you shorten or disturb sleep, you increase your appetite for high-calorie dense foods,” says Charles Samuels, MD, medical director of the Centre for Sleep and Human Performance in Calgary, Alberta. “On a simplistic level, your appetite changes.”1

Decades of research has demonstrated that insufficient sleep affects how much we eat and what we eat.2,3,4,5,6

Portion Control – How much we eat

To better understand how the lack of sleep influences how much we eat, we must understand the two hormones that are associated with appetite and satiety: ghrelin and leptin.7

Ghrelin

Ghrelin, the hunger hormone, tells your brain that you are hungry. It regulates your appetite by telling your body when to stop burning calories and when it should store energy as fat.7,8 When you sleep, your body uses far less energy than it does when awake. As such, the level of ghrelin is decreased during sleep when compared to being awake. If you do not sleep enough, you end up with too much ghrelin in your body; thus, your body stops thinks it needs more calories and you become far more likely to eat. In other words, your lack of sleep increases ghrelin, which cause you to eat more.9

Leptin

Leptin tells your brain when you are full; it is the hormone that regulates satiety by telling your body when to start burning calories and creates a series of chemical messages and responses that start in the hypothalamus and ends in the thyroid gland, which helps control how you store and use energy.7,10 When you sleep, the level of leptin increases; this tells your brain that you have plenty of energy and do not need calories for now. If you do not sleep enough, you end up with very little leptin in your body; this causes the cascade of chemical steps that causes your body to think you do not have enough energy and that you need more calories. In other words, your lack of sleep decreases leptin, which causes you to eat more.11

The One-Two Punch

When you lack sleep, you have the devastating combination of increased ghrelin and decreased leptin. The combined effects of the two hormones can increase the amount of appetite and food intake.12,13 Thus, it should be that sleep is an important factor that influences how much we eat.

Food Choices – What we eat

So, we’ve seen how insufficient sleep can influence how much we eat. Does a lack of sleep affect the kinds of foods we choose to eat? Could that staying up all night cause to order the burgers, fries and milkshake, instead of the green leafy salad?

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley studied how sleep deprivation can affect areas in the brain related that control food choices.14 Researchers showed pictures of different foods to 23 healthy young adults, who rated how much they desired the food. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, scientists were able to see that areas of the brain associated with pleasure-seeking responded more strongly to images of high-calorie foods after the subjects had been kept awake for 24 hours, compared to when they were well-rested. Additionally, the sleep-deprived subjects demonstrated decreased activities in the areas of the brain associated with decision-making. The results suggested that being sleep-deprived has a two-fold effect on eating: Insufficient sleep makes us more inclined to choose higher calorie foods and it makes us less able to control our impulses for higher calorie foods.

A more recent study went further and evaluated whether sleep affects our sense of taste. What we eat and how much we eat are determined, in part, by our senses. Of our senses, taste and smell play a prominent role on what and how much we eat.15,16 Researchers at Cornell University studied 57 healthy young adults, who submitted to sleep tracking and sensory tests. Real foods were used, in addition to standardize taste-testers. Both the Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire and the Control of Eating Questionnaire were used to quantify food cravings. Participants who sleep-deprived reported umami or sour tastes were more intense than those who were well-rested. Additionally, the sleep-deprived subjects craved high-fat, sweet foods more. In other words, insufficient sleep alters the way we perceive our taste and may induce our craving for unhealthy foods.

What else happens when we stay up too late?

Being sleep-deprived influences portion control and food choices. But what about staying up late? Researchers have found that the circadian system, which is our body’s internal clock, influences our hunger and cravings for sweet, starchy and salty foods in the evenings.17

“Of course, there are many factors that affect weight gain, principally diet and exercise, but the time of eating also has an effect. We found with this study that the internal circadian system also likely plays a role in today’s obesity epidemic because it intensifies hunger at night,” said Steven Shea, Ph.D., director for the Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology at Oregon Health & Science University and senior author on the study. “People who eat a lot in the evening, especially high-calorie foods and beverages, are more likely to be overweight or obese… Increased hunger at night, in today's society where people tend to stay up later than they should, will likely lead to increased food consumption overall, which naturally would lead to weight gain,” Shea says.18

In other words, go to bed earlier to avoid late-night snacking because the more you are sleeping at night, the less you will be tempted to eat. Plus, the more you sleep, the better your ghrelin and leptin levels and the better your brain is able to make good decisions about portion control and food choices.

References

1 Fields L. Lack Why a Lack of Sleep Can Make You Fat, and How to Keep From Gaining Weight. Health Magazine. February 29, 2016. https://www.health.com/health/condition-article/0,,20232959,00.html. Accessed October 25, 2018.
2 Taheri S, Lin L, Austin D, Young T, Mignot E. Short sleep duration is associated with reduced leptin, elevated ghrelin, and increased body mass index. PLoS Med. 2004;1(3):e62.
3 Spiegel K, Leproult R, Van cauter E. Impact of sleep debt on metabolic and endocrine function. Lancet. 1999;354(9188):1435-9.
4 Tambalis KD, Panagiotakos DB, Psarra G, Sidossis LS. Insufficient Sleep Duration Is Associated With Dietary Habits, Screen Time, and Obesity in Children. J Clin Sleep Med. 2018;14(10):1689–1696. Published 2018 Oct 15. doi:10.5664/jcsm.7374
5 Nedeltcheva AV, Kilkus JM, Imperial J, Kasza K, Schoeller DA, Penev PD. Sleep curtailment is accompanied by increased intake of calories from snacks. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89(1):126-33.
6 Bayon V, Leger D, Gomez-merino D, Vecchierini MF, Chennaoui M. Sleep debt and obesity. Ann Med. 2014;46(5):264-72.
7 Kalra SP, Ueno N, Kalra PS. Stimulation of appetite by ghrelin is regulated by leptin restraint: peripheral and central sites of action. J Nutr. 2005;135(5):1331-5.
8 Poher AL, Tschöp MH, Müller TD. Ghrelin regulation of glucose metabolism. Peptides. 2018;100:236-242.
9 Broussard JL, Kilkus JM, Delebecque F, et al. Elevated ghrelin predicts food intake during experimental sleep restriction. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2016;24(1):132-8.
10 Jéquier E. Leptin signaling, adiposity, and energy balance. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2002;967:379-88.
11 Hart CN, Carskadon MA, Considine RV, et al. Changes in children's sleep duration on food intake, weight, and leptin. Pediatrics. 2013;132(6):e1473-80.
12 Prinz P. Sleep, appetite, and obesity--what is the link?. PLoS Med. 2004;1(3):e61.
13 Hogenkamp PS, Nilsson E, Nilsson VC, et al. Acute sleep deprivation increases portion size and affects food choice in young men. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2013;38(9):1668-74.
14 Greer SM, Goldstein AN, Walker MP. The impact of sleep deprivation on food desire in the human brain. Nat Commun. 2013;4:2259.
15 Boesveldt S, De graaf K. The Differential Role of Smell and Taste For Eating Behavior. Perception. 2017;46(3-4):307-319.
16 Kershaw JC, Mattes RD. Nutrition and taste and smell dysfunction. World J Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2018;4(1):3-10.
17 Scheer FA, Morris CJ, Shea SA. The internal circadian clock increases hunger and appetite in the evening independent of food intake and other behaviors. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013;21(3):421-3.
18 Oregon Health & Science University Communications. Study explains what triggers those late-night snack cravings. https://www.ohsu.edu/xd/about/news_events/news/2013/04-29-study-explains-what-trig.cfm. Published April 29, 2013. Accessed October 25, 2018.

Baking Banana Bread FamiLEE style

2015-11-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

Banana bread

Happy Birthday, Heliya Jiselle HeeJung Lee!

Last Friday, October 30, 2015, marked the fifth year since I delivered my third child/second daughter. Carrot cake is a FamiLEE favorite. We anticipated about sixty people for the party and baked two cakes. However, with all the preparations and commotion, it was difficult to properly document the process of making carrot cake for my Culinary Skills class assignment.

As such, I opted to complete the assignment by baking banana bread using a recipe that has been in our FamiLEE for years. Unfortunately, I have no idea as to where it originated and am unable to properly credit the original author at this time.

Typically, most banana bread recipes seem to ask for a lot of butter and sugar. However, this recipe uses a little oil and honey. This fits very well with FamiLEE’s sensible plant-based diet.

Ingredients, as written (makes one loaf)

3 very ripe bananas
½ cup honey
3 Tablespoons canola oil (I used olive oil instead)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda (aluminum-free preferred)
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Methods, as written

Heat oven to 350° F and lightly coat the loaf pan with oil
Mash the banana and mix with honey, oil and vanilla extract
Combine whole-wheat pastry flour, baking soda, salt and nuts
Combine and blend the two mixtures
Spoon into loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes
Enjoy banana bread

Ingredients, in greater detail and FamiLEE style

If you haven’t figured out by now, FamiLEE eats a lot of food. As such, I quadrupled everything! Here are the pictures of each ingredient:

12 very ripe bananas (we only had frozen bananas; bring to room temperature for best results)

2 cup honey

12 Tablespoons olive oil

4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

6 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I washed the walnuts and used a salad spinner to remove the water)

Mixing ingredients, FamiLEE style

Generally, baking consists of wet ingredients and dry ingredients. I find it helpful to segregate everything based on this criteria. You can see in the pictures below that the bananas have been defrosted and the walnuts have been chopped with a chopper.

Wet ingredients

Dry ingredients

Using a stainless steel potato masher, we mushed up the bananas and added the honey, oil and vanilla extract (not pictured).

Mashed up bananas

Adding the honey

Adding the oil

Combining the dry ingredients was easier. In a large bowl, just add the baking soda, salt and walnuts to the whole-wheat pastry flour.

Placing whole-wheat pastry flour into mixing bowl

Adding baking soda

Adding salt

Adding walnuts

Once all the dry ingredients are mixed, it was time to combine everything. I've found it’s easier to slowly add the wet mixture to the dry mixture while stirring. From a baker, I learned that the mixing process should introduce a lot of air into the mixture. The mixing should continue until there is not a dry portion left.

Combining the wet mixture to the dry mixture

Just a little bit more mixing as the dry ingredients almost all gone

I let the fully mixed batter sit for just a moment as I oiled the four loaf pans. Technically, I should have done this earlier so that less time elapses between mixing and placing the product in the oven. I'll go into this in more detail later.

Oiled loaf pans

Here are my four children watching intently.

Theophilus, Helaine, Jeriel and Heliya observing the process

Once the loaf pans were oiled, I distributed the batter into the pans.

Adding batter to oiled loaf pans

Done filling loaf pans

After filling, I placed the pans into the pre-heated oven in the middle rack.

Time to close the oven door

After closing the oven door, I waited for forty minutes. What happens during those forty minutes? There’s actually a science to baking (feel free to skip this next paragraph if science bores you):

Science of baking

For instance, in this case, the baking soda, sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃), is a base. Chemistry teaches us that bases react with acids; specifically, the baking soda (pH 9) reacts with the honey (pH 4) and bananas (pH 5). This reaction causes the formation of carbon dioxide gas, water and salt. It’s the carbon dioxide gas (CO₂) that bubbles and fizzes to puff up the bread. This reaction starts to happen as soon as the batter is mixed. As such, it’s important to start baking as soon as mixing is complete. Additionally, it is important to use fresh baking soda. If it gets too old, the rising reaction will not occur and your bread making process will fall flat. If done correctly, the CO₂ bubbles will expand in the heat of the oven and will exit the bread, leaving the bread with a fluffy texture.

All done?

After the forty minutes are up, check to see if everything is done. Most people use a toothpick to stab the bread in the middle. If it comes out clean, it’s done; if it comes out messy, then it needs more time in the oven. However, I’ve found toothpicks to be unreliable; instead, I use a stainless steel chopstick. Obviously, the narrower the implement, the less invasive the process.

Another alternative is to use uncooked spaghetti. Once I determined it was done, I took them out of the oven. Apparently, it’s helpful to let things cool before cutting or eating.

Fresh out of the oven

If your children can’t wait, then have them lick the mixing bowl clean. I let the birthday girl do that this time!

Heliya licks the bowl as Jeriel looks on, wistfully

Adjusting playback speed for Vimeo, Netflix or other streaming video services

2015-10-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

Do you enjoy speeding up the playback rate of YouTube videos? If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you might need to enable HTML5 for YouTube. The wonderful thing is that most video streaming services support HTML5. As such, a little Java script can allow you to modify the playback speed of a video stream from virtually any service (I've personally tested Vimeo, Amazon, Netflix).

Create a bookmark or bookmarklet pointing to the following "address/URL" (I put this in quotes as this is not an actual destination on the internet):

javascript: var v = document.querySelector('video'); var t = prompt('Set the playback rate'); v.playbackRate = parseFloat(t)

Once you get to the video you want to see, click the bookmark and a screen will pop up asking you for a playback rate. Type in 2 if you want things twice as fast or 1.5 if you want things 1.5 times fast. Very handy to get through things quicker!

Flubber Footwear Fashion - Fun!

2014-05-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Recently, Flubber is all rage at our house:

Time to Eat

2013-12-27T12:40:00.001-08:00

Today at 11:40, HeeSun came to me and said, "배고파" (I'm hungry.)

"아직 먹을시간 안됐어" (It's not time to eat.)
"언제 먹을수 있어" (When can I eat then?)
Pointing to the clock, I said, "긴바늘이 12에가면 먹자" (When the big hand reaches 12.)
"노~~~~~~~~~~~~오" (Nooooooooo!) she protested, "짧은 바늘이 12에가면" (When the little hand reaches 12!)
"응 알았어" (Okay,) I acquiesced.

It's 12:30 and she's almost done eating!

Amazon

2013-10-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

Eyes for India

2013-10-07T12:29:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, I was at the Partnership Weekend for It Is Written. There, I learned about a project, Eyes for India. Sight can be restored to the blind for as little as $75 a surgery!

The surgeon, Dr. Jacob Prabhakar, an ophthalmologist, is medical director of Ruby Nelson Memorial Hospital. Dr. Prabhakar has perfected cataract surgery so that he can do one in 1.5 minutes! Dr. Prabhakar holds these free eye clinics in addition to running the hospital. Sometimes, he will work all day without eating, drinking or taking a break, just to able to do that many more surgeries. Below is an "exclusive" video that I have permission to use. Please take a moment to view it and prayerfully consider helping this cause.

All things Amazon

2013-10-01T11:38:00.001-07:00

Summer is technically over. Fall is here, but it seems to typically meld right into Thanksgiving and then Christmas - very quickly!

As many of you already know, I'm a big proponent and consumer of all things Amazon. It has literally changed how I shop. For me to go to a store, it takes a minimum of 15 minutes of driving out on way.

Here's a way to save some time and money for your holiday shopping!

How to save favicons...

2013-06-24T12:44:00.001-07:00

Last I checked, I interact with over 200 different websites that require a username and password. I hope you never did what I used to do - use the same username and password combination for every single site... I reformed a bit a few years ago. I pull from a pool of usernames but I now use a unique password for each site. How do I keep track of all these username/password combinations?

I use KeePass.

I won't take the time to extol the virtues of this cross-platform password management database, which I store on the cloud and have access to on all of my devices...

The reason for this post is I wanted to document an easy way to do something. Those of you who know me, know my predilection for organization to the point of being unflatteringly categorized as "anal retentive."

Anyhow, there is an option within KeePass to create icons for each entry. What better way to organize your entries, aside from the groups/folders, than to provide a colorful, unique icon that is already associated with each entry?

Every self-respecting website you go to already has icons that work perfectly for this. They are called favicons.

So how does one extract a favicon from a website that one frequents?

Note the following API:

https://plus.google.com/_/favicon?domain=facebook.com

Obviously, this example is for Facebook. Replace the last part with the website of the favicon you want! Save the resultant image and use it within KeePass.

Voilà!

TaeHo, literally...

2013-05-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

It's very hard to get decent pictures of TaeHo. He avoids the camera like the plague!

At church, the Sabbath School teacher, intending to pick up the story from last time: "So where is Joseph now?"

TaeHo: "Joseph's dead."

Sticker fun

2013-05-01T22:15:00.001-07:00

HeeJung has a sticker book. Yes, she stuck these on herself...

Saying, Speaking; Same Thing...

2013-04-22T11:25:00.001-07:00

Our third child, HeeJung is two. She's been speaking since she was about 14 months old. As such, her vocabulary is immense for her age. Not only that, she's been "studying" world flags with her maternal grandparents. Thanks to my parents-in-law, HeeJung know a little under a dozen flags. Obviously, one of them is the Flag of the United States of America.

So every time she sees it, she proclaims, "미국기!" <American flag, pronounced "Meegook Gee">

Today, during our drive, her paternal grandmother was sitting next to her. HeeJung sees the Stars and Stripes and declares the obligatory, "미국기!"

Then, she changes things up, "말미국기!" <Horse American Flag, pronounced "Mahl Meegook Gee">

Why? I don't know. Grandmother was curious too, "희정아, 그게 무슨말이야?" HeeJung, what are you saying?

Now, in Korean, "saying" and "speaking" is the same word. So, technically, it would have been proper to translate the Korean as, "What are you speaking?"

To wit, HeeJung replies, "한국말!" <[I'm speaking] Korean!>

HeeJung, where is 미국기? Incidentally, she picked out her shirt for this particular photo! And, yes, she is two years old in this photo...

For those of you who read Korean, here's what my wife wrote:
Apr. 10, 2013
온가족이 차를 타고 있었다.
할머니 옆에 앉은 희정이가 미국 성조기를 보고 "...미국기" 조용히 얘기한다.
못들으셔서 할머니께서 물어보셨다.
"말미국기" 희정이가 얘기했다.
할머니께서는 "희정아 그게 무슨 말이야?" 물으셨다.
그러자 1초의 머뭇거림도 없이 희정이 하는말...."한국말!!"

She Said, She Said Not

2013-04-11T23:06:00.000-07:00

So, we were driving home. By way of explanation, we drive around in a Sprinter, which seats ten. It's large enough that one can easily move from the passenger seat to the last row of the vehicle.

Unbeknownst to us, our number two child, HeeSun had to go number one.

Instead of telling us this, she would whine very loudly, "엄마, 오세요!" <Mom, come here please!>

Mom responds, "기다려." <Wait.>

A little louder and with more whine, "엄마, 오세요! I said!"

To which, my wife Irene would respond, "기다려, I said."

Without hesitation, "No, you saidn't!"

Ingenuity Theater

2013-02-07T22:36:00.001-08:00

If you've been to our house, then you'll probably remember that you weren't allowed downstairs. Or maybe you came over during that rare moment where we did things downstairs. But most of the time, it has been off limits because I haven't had time to remodel it.

Well, due to circumstances, I've been forced to tackle this project along with Uncle Joe and my father-in-law. Partway through the remodel, we changed our minds about getting an 80-inch flatscreen.

Why limit oneself to merely 80-inches? On a 16:9 screen, the 80-inches diagonally works out to be about 70-inches wide. Besides, with three young children, who knows what will happen as they run around downstairs!

So, for similar costs, we opted to go with a projector solution: the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 5020UB.

Try 140-inches on for size! Yes, this thing shoots on our wall a 12-foot-wide image!

I was testing things out when my children came into the room. As I had configured the projector for ceiling mount, the picture was upside down. TaeHo and Heesun wanted to see the picture properly so they turned their heads to their side. Obviously, they had to keep moving their heads. Eventually, this is the position they opted to use to view the screen (HeeSun left before I could take the pictures:

An older brother's devotion...

2013-02-01T22:18:00.002-08:00

I did a dreadful thing today - if you have a Microsoft account, you can read about it in my still unanswered question on TechNet. Well, suffice it to say, I started the process of recovering (hopefully, all of) the home videos - albeit, in a crude and grueling way.

Still, I'm thankful for all the prayers (thanks +ss Lee) and because I am able to salvage precious moments like the following video. It's a video of TaeHo sharing his "touch, hear and read" book with his baby sister, HeeJung. Sorry, it's unedited.

Anyhow, I'm hoping that one of these days, I'll have all the time in the world to edit and organize all my media (yeah, right!).

This was shot with my Sony HDR-XR200V, which has a story of its own. If it were to talk, it'd tell you about how it survived a 9 story fall in Peru! Maybe I'll write about that one of these days...

December Eggplant

2012-12-18T21:49:00.003-08:00

Snow. Finally. I can't remember a year where the weather has been rather temperate up until December. We even had an Indian summer.

First snow of 2012

I haven't blogged anything about our ongoing agricultural endeavors; however, we picked our final eggplant for the year. I'm no green thumb. Is it typical to still have eggplant in the middle of December in Oregon?

The eggplant was used in a vegetable dish, along with potatoes, carrots, onions and such. Yum!

Final eggplant of 2012

Finally, one of TaeHo!

2012-12-05T21:58:00.000-08:00

You'll notice that I haven't included much media with TaeHo lately. This hasn't been deliberate. Rather, it's hard to get him to agree to be filmed or photographed, as evidenced by the following picture:

Theophilus Harold TaeHo Lee reacts to what he perceives as the paparazzi!

Imagine my surprise when he agreed to sing a Scripture song - and let his sister, HeeSun sing along! The following is a rendition of Matthew 22:37-39. And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

She prefers curlier hair or bald...

2012-11-28T20:50:00.000-08:00

As I was sitting at my desk working on the computer, my youngest, HeeJung, climbed up behind me as my daughters customarily do.

Normally, she blows "zerberts" on my neck and says, "방구!" then laughs her head off. But, this time, she had her brother's battery-operated train engine. Apparently, she must think I look better with curlier hair or if I was bald. Why? Because the next thing she does is stick the train into my hair.

The wheels on the train go round and round, round and round, round and round... I think you can imagine what happened to my hair.

HeeJung re-enacting what she did with the train...

It's not everyday that this happens; but, yes, I walked around with a train stuck to my head for a few minutes today! Oh the joys of fatherhood.

Did you grow a new train on your head, Jed?

Thankfully, my wife was sympathetic to my plight and took apart the bottom of the train with a screwdriver and was able to pry the train gently off my head.

This is all the hair I lost - yeah, that's it... Thanks to my wife, who used a comb and a pick; I guess she does not want me bald! She did tell me to get a haircut though...

My even curlier hair! Any more and I would have been bald!

What is this?

2012-11-22T12:23:00.000-08:00

Okay, I decided to do something fun for Thanksgiving. I'll give one whole dollar ($1), payable via cash or PayPal, to the first person who correctly guesses what the item in the picture below via email or text ONLY (contact information below):

After the contest, I'll be posting the significance of this picture. Stay tuned and have a blessed Thanksgiving!

email: jedanielee at gmail dot com
text: 503 8 nine 8 - 0 eight 99

One rainy Sunday night...

2012-11-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

We were driving down to Eugene late one night (I had some work at a client's place in the morning). It was raining and I was very tired, which is why my wife offered to drive. The children were restless so we turned on The Piano Guys.

All three of them really enjoy Over The Rainbow - Simple Gifts. In fact, TaeHo actually wept the first time he heard it!

What follows is a completely unedited clip of them enjoying the song to the maximum. We turned on the interior lights to get what little lighting we could.

Chopsticks!

2012-10-29T23:51:00.001-07:00

An interesting conversation piece comes up when eating with Anglos, who typically use a fork as their primary instrument for stuffing their faces. The reason being is that I primarily use my spoon, I guess like an unrefined child, according to Western thought.

Sorry, I'm not used to eating with a fork. Believe or not, you've probably have had more experience with a fork than my whole family combined!

How? As you probably know, Koreans eat with spoons and chopsticks.

And we start them early... Check out our almost-two-year-old, then watch her five year old big brother break out his metal ones (correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Koreans are the only people that traditionally uses metal chopsticks):

Couple days shy of two...

2012-10-27T23:50:00.001-07:00

You remember our youngest, Heliya Jiselle HeeJung Lee, right? This is her after playing in the dirt outside...

Mind you, we speak Korean pretty much exclusively at home with the children. My wife will help me remember some of the details better; but HeeJung has been speaking for a long while now. So bear in mind that she has not been taught any English - deliberately.

Now, listen to her sing the Scripture song, "Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be open unto you - Matthew 7:7"

Puppet show

2012-10-26T00:03:00.000-07:00

I wonder where they got the inspiration to do this?

What did she do upon waking up?

2012-10-19T09:51:00.001-07:00

This morning, post wake-up routine (except for combing her hair), this is the first thing HeeSun did:

Helaine Serenity HeeSun Lee, 3.75 years old

As you can see, she's written the following:

HEESUN LEE 이희선
ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅇㅈㅊㅋㅍㅎ
ㅏㅑㅓㅕㅗㅛㅜㅠㅡㅣ
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS
TUVWXYZ
(picture of two girls, she's holding her friend's hand, she said)

I took the picture as she was writing out her numbers (12). She wrote them out to 20. It's been awhile since I studied child development, so I'll have to talk to Sue, my sister about HeeSun's aptitude. Whatever the case, it was noteworthy for me.

Sisters are forever!

2012-09-17T22:56:00.000-07:00