Driven by Competition
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 by Amy
Riley has taken to creating blueprints. Yeah. She made a blueprint of a castle, complete with Master Bed Chamber, bed chamber, stairs, stable, towers, a moat, drawbridge, and a "home captuure." I'm not sure where she got the name "home capture," since she seems to be talking about what I know as a murder hole where invaders get boiling water and rocks dumped down on them LOL.
Riley has also been reading up a storm, both devouring books on her own, or ones that I read. We've read nearly all the Roald Dahl books together. I also have childrens' versions of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, Beowulf, and the Iliad that I can't wait to dive into. There's also a childrens' version of The Canterbury Tales that I want to get my hands on, but really need to look at it first since many of the stories are quite bawdy and I want to make sure that their charm is not lost in the translation to a childrens' version. Time to share my English major nerdiness with my children! Oh, and I have Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories that look like a ton of fun. They seem to be similar to the Native American animal stories that the girls love so much, so I think they will enjoy them. They're funny too.
Right now Riley is reading The End of the Beginning by Avi, and The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. She was reading the Avi book first, but then saw the commercial for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie and wanted to start that. She's almost done. We found the first movie on demand, and we watched it last night. At first, I wasn't sure if she was understanding the book, because she was reading silently, and didn't seem to be asking for help with many words (maybe about one every few pages). The Diary of a Wimpy Kid is leveled 950L (about fifth grade) and the Avi book is a late-third/early-fourth grade book. The books Riley is bringing home from her teacher for her home reading are also grade level late-3/early-4th grade, but they seem to be books written for first graders with more advanced language. As in, the subject matter is still cutsey, which Riley doesn't like. For instance, she's been reading the Lighthouse family series, but it's about a cat, dog, and three mice children who live in a lighthouse. Riley likes more mature subject matter LOL.
Anyway...watching the movie, Riley kept saying "That didn't happen in the book" or "that happened in the book, but it was funnier in the book" or "what about xyz part that happened in the book but was not in the movie?" or "such-and-such character is not exactly like the book, they're meaner/funnier/fatter/goofier/etc. in the book." So, I guess she is understanding the book after all! Oh, there was one small section in the book that was written in cursive that she had to have me read. She can't read cursive!
It's funny, though. Last night she was up until about 10:30 or 11pm reading, and I couldn't get her to bed, so I let her read herself to sleep on the couch. She eventually fell asleep, and I moved her up to her room at about 2am, and as she was going upstairs, she grabbed her book and read a little in bed. At 2am!
Oh, look, I just remembered what I titled this post. Doh. But, yeah, on that...Riley seems to create competition wherever she goes in everything she does. I don't get it. When reading, she asks me how many pages I normally read in a day (I lied and told her 40-50 LOL), and how many Rudi reads, and then gives us regular updates on what page she is on and how many hours she's read (yes, hours, not minutes! She has a bookmark timer.) When Uncle Ben was here, he mentioned that he taught James how to play chess, and what do you know, Riley suddenly wanted to learn too. She wants to be the best at everything, and I don't know how I feel about that. I certainly never foster an atmosphere of competition. I don't think so at least. I don't consider myself a competitive person, although if someone is being an ass, I try to hand their ass to them. But if everyone is civil, then I am happy losing and having fun while doing it. I don't care if I swing and miss every ball at the batting cages, but if someone starts making fun, then I'll start really trying. I am competitive with myself, if I can do something faster or better than I previously have. But I don't think that I am a competitive person all-in-all. I'm certainly not ambitious, and I think ambition and competition go hand-in-hand.
I was concerned when she wanted to read Diary of a Wimpy Kid that the only reason she wanted to read them was because James had read them. Over and over again, after receiving updates on which page she was on, I asked her if she were actually enjoying the book, that reading wasn't a competitive activity, and if she wasn't enjoying herself she could stop, or if the book were too difficult she could save it for later. She insisted that she loves reading and loves the book. Okay, then.
Riley has also been reading up a storm, both devouring books on her own, or ones that I read. We've read nearly all the Roald Dahl books together. I also have childrens' versions of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, Beowulf, and the Iliad that I can't wait to dive into. There's also a childrens' version of The Canterbury Tales that I want to get my hands on, but really need to look at it first since many of the stories are quite bawdy and I want to make sure that their charm is not lost in the translation to a childrens' version. Time to share my English major nerdiness with my children! Oh, and I have Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories that look like a ton of fun. They seem to be similar to the Native American animal stories that the girls love so much, so I think they will enjoy them. They're funny too.
Right now Riley is reading The End of the Beginning by Avi, and The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. She was reading the Avi book first, but then saw the commercial for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie and wanted to start that. She's almost done. We found the first movie on demand, and we watched it last night. At first, I wasn't sure if she was understanding the book, because she was reading silently, and didn't seem to be asking for help with many words (maybe about one every few pages). The Diary of a Wimpy Kid is leveled 950L (about fifth grade) and the Avi book is a late-third/early-fourth grade book. The books Riley is bringing home from her teacher for her home reading are also grade level late-3/early-4th grade, but they seem to be books written for first graders with more advanced language. As in, the subject matter is still cutsey, which Riley doesn't like. For instance, she's been reading the Lighthouse family series, but it's about a cat, dog, and three mice children who live in a lighthouse. Riley likes more mature subject matter LOL.
Anyway...watching the movie, Riley kept saying "That didn't happen in the book" or "that happened in the book, but it was funnier in the book" or "what about xyz part that happened in the book but was not in the movie?" or "such-and-such character is not exactly like the book, they're meaner/funnier/fatter/goofier/etc. in the book." So, I guess she is understanding the book after all! Oh, there was one small section in the book that was written in cursive that she had to have me read. She can't read cursive!
It's funny, though. Last night she was up until about 10:30 or 11pm reading, and I couldn't get her to bed, so I let her read herself to sleep on the couch. She eventually fell asleep, and I moved her up to her room at about 2am, and as she was going upstairs, she grabbed her book and read a little in bed. At 2am!
Oh, look, I just remembered what I titled this post. Doh. But, yeah, on that...Riley seems to create competition wherever she goes in everything she does. I don't get it. When reading, she asks me how many pages I normally read in a day (I lied and told her 40-50 LOL), and how many Rudi reads, and then gives us regular updates on what page she is on and how many hours she's read (yes, hours, not minutes! She has a bookmark timer.) When Uncle Ben was here, he mentioned that he taught James how to play chess, and what do you know, Riley suddenly wanted to learn too. She wants to be the best at everything, and I don't know how I feel about that. I certainly never foster an atmosphere of competition. I don't think so at least. I don't consider myself a competitive person, although if someone is being an ass, I try to hand their ass to them. But if everyone is civil, then I am happy losing and having fun while doing it. I don't care if I swing and miss every ball at the batting cages, but if someone starts making fun, then I'll start really trying. I am competitive with myself, if I can do something faster or better than I previously have. But I don't think that I am a competitive person all-in-all. I'm certainly not ambitious, and I think ambition and competition go hand-in-hand.
I was concerned when she wanted to read Diary of a Wimpy Kid that the only reason she wanted to read them was because James had read them. Over and over again, after receiving updates on which page she was on, I asked her if she were actually enjoying the book, that reading wasn't a competitive activity, and if she wasn't enjoying herself she could stop, or if the book were too difficult she could save it for later. She insisted that she loves reading and loves the book. Okay, then.
