(April 09, 2016)
In this chapter, we pretend that our little family is not engaged in skilling morning, noon, and night.
To bolster this pretense, you will be distracted by extensive kiddie spam along with a few images of the house.
You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.
Week 2/Day 9 (Mon)
Late last night, Misa gave birth to twins. The firstborn son Satoru will become the Wonder Child, who will be supported by his twin brother Shinji.
Jin and Misa now have roughly three days to finish preparing themselves to mentor the Wonder Child.
I include a close-up of Satoru with Jin for the sake of thorough documentation (in view of the profoundly scientific nature of this thread).
I would have to agree, however, with those who believe that all nooboos look alike at this stage.
In the bassinets, Satoru smiles on the left while Shinji snoozes on the right.
Please forget what I said at the end of the last chapter about having waited too late to “try for baby.”
The twin infants seem to be taking turns at crying and fussing most of the day and night.
Fortunately, the parents had a lot of uninterrupted time for skilling before the twins’ arrived.
Live and learn!
Day 10 (Tue)
This evening, around the same time as the initial pregnancy test (10:46 p.m.), we receive notice about the twins’ birthdays being today and we quickly aged them up.
They were just born two days ago on Sunday evening, so we hadn’t expected their birthdays for another day.
I guess I don’t really understand how conception, pregnancy tests, and childbirth work together after all.
The upper shot is Satoru, the Wonder Child. The lower shot is Shinji.
Their features share some similarities but they are not identical twins.
In case you’re interested, here’s a recap of the boys’ growth stages.
If you’re not interested, please feel free to skip to the next paragraph.
Day 5 (Thu), 9:30 a.m. Parents tried for baby
Day 5 (Thu), 10:46 p.m. Took pregnancy test (forgot to take it earlier); “Pregnant: 2nd trimester in 24 hours” message
Day 7 (Sat), 10:46 p.m. “Pregnant: 3rd trimester in 24 hours” message
Day 8 (Sun), 10:46 p.m. Mother went into labor, had twins
Day 10 (Tue), 10:46 p.m. “Celebrate xx’s birthday” message (not “almost birthday” message)
Oddly, the twins were only infants for two days, not that anyone minded. They were extremely fussy.
Jin: Ideally, Watcher, we’d like to send the boys off to school after completing the first tier of Whiz Kid and their homework.
Watcher: Well, we haz moodlet solvers, so anything is possible!
Satoru (green shirt) and Shinji (blue shirt) play three games of chess.
Is it just me or does every little facial expression that the boys make seem too cute for words?
“Read with an adult for two hours.”
Day 11 (Wed)
The twins aged up so late last night that they have the day off from school today.
From noon, all four of us head out to Desert Bloom Park.
The twins play in the playground and socialize.
Jin brings his violin, which he maxes, then he starts playing the guitar.
Since she can’t play the piano here, Misa goes fishing and adds four new fish to the family collection.
Jin: Just as the family sits down for a dinner of Grilled Chicken, Misa goes into labor. (You had realized that she was pregnant again, right?)
We go home immediately and Misa gives birth at home.
Hey, Misa. Looking pretty proud of yourself, aren’t you?
Misa: I’m just glad that the baby’s a girl so I can stop having babies!
Meet our third child, Aya Sanada. She’s just three days younger than her brothers.
Day 12 (Thu)
The twins head out for their first day of grade school, passing right through their younger sister’s “bedroom.”
Jin: Now that the Sanadas are a family of five, don’t you think we deserve more than a few outdoor skilling areas?
Watcher: Well, okay, but the challenge only lasts for about four more sim weeks, so your home will be pretty basic.
Jin: I’ll just keep practicing the guitar while you plan our new home.
W: Hey, about the guitar, Jin, you can stop trying to max it.
Jin: Really, why?
W: I realized today that the Entertainer/Musician career has a very low-priority restriction in the Apocalypse Challenge so it wouldn’t even be completed in Satoru’s lifetime.
Since we’re not playing the Wonder Child Challenge for a high score, let’s skip the Guitar skill and get your boy kitted out with the skills and traits that really matter.
For example, completing the Nerd Brain aspiration would let him insta-repair broken objects!
Jin: So if I’m dropping the guitar skill, what should I be doing now?
W: Mentoring the Wonder Child primarily, but you’ll also look after the garden.
Jin: On it.
A few sim minutes later, the Sanadas’ new dwelling is as complete as we can afford for now.
This is a view from the southwest corner. The former Inspired and Focused areas have been raised to the second floor.
Accessible from two sets of stairs, the open-air first floor holds the kitchen/dining and TV areas.
I can’t decide what to do with the center area—hot tub or small pool?
You can see the observatory over the bathrooms past the lanai on the south side.
The top image shows the house through the trees from the forest on the north.
The lower image shows the southwest corner, facing the beach.
The second floor consists of three areas: the inspired room (north), the focused room (south), and a small gym between the two rooms.
The second shot shows Jin mentoring Satoru on the violin in the inspired room, with the beach at their backs. It’s an amazing view.
Ironically, I started building because I wanted to provide the family with bedrooms. Thing is, there’s no more room on this 30×20 lot except down.
So I build the mandatory bedrooms in the basement. Eventually, I will get around to decorating them.
I’ve lost interest in building for today. Besides, this challenge isn’t about sleeping; it’s all about “Rally the troops” and skilling! And “Rally the troops” makes bedrooms largely superfluous.
Day 13 (Fri)
Jin: As soon as the boys leave for school, Misa and I head for the Forgotten Grotto to work on our Fish Collection.
Misa just needs one more fish to complete the Angling Ace aspiration.
On their second day of school, Satoru and Shinji go home with Bs on their report cards then join us at the park in Oasis Springs.
While Misa and I continue fishing in the park, the boys ask random townies to help them with their homework then proceed to socialize.
Day 14 (Sat)
Misa: Early this morning, I get a message that Aya’s birthday is today. I waste no time in aging her up then call the rest of the family downstairs.
Here she sits with her brothers Satoru (right) and Shinji (left), all dressed up in their school uniforms.
She aged up with platinum-blonde hair which means, I imagine, that she’ll later share my hair color.
Jin: All I can say is that I truly hope Aya grows up to look like her gorgeous mother.
Week 3/Day 15 (Sun)
Jin: Can you believe, Misa, that you and I met just two Sundays ago?
Misa: Yeah, so much has happened since then!
Jin: And here we sit, a blissfully married couple, with three lovely children!
Misa: Our Wonder Child, Satoru, has been doing really well, too!
Satoru’s Progress
Age: 8 days to Teen
Maxed Aspirations: Rambunctious Scamp, Artistic Prodigy
Maxed Skills: Mental, Motor, Creativity
Other Skills: Social L8, Logic L6, Violin L5, Video Gaming L2
The happy family enjoys a leisurely Sunday breakfast of grilled cheese sandwiches in their new dwelling.
Watcher’s Remarks:
I really love this Pier Palace lot but wish it were larger.
Because of its smaller size, I have difficulty balancing style and function. It’s inconvenient to go upstairs for skilling.
But what the heck, the family will only live there for four more weeks.
Anyway, the focused room is a little off and perhaps something other than a gym should be between the inspired and focused rooms, but this house will do for this challenge.
I’d like to keep thinking about and reworking a home of this sort.
Also, I dearly hope the children will be awesome when they age up to teens as well, but I’ve steeled myself to disappointment. *grits teeth
Thank you for reading!
oshizu's asylum 