Thursday
When we last left our Thrive sims, Caleb was about to break into the house. Imagine my surprise when I first saw Caleb creeping past the house, doing what I at first thought was the Egyptian.
Then he turned into our lot. Panicking, I tried to save the game but only got a warning:
“You cannot do while a vampire is breaking in” or something to that effect.”
What!? Caleb is going to break in and…?
Not knowing what else to do, I quickly lock the front door.
When I check outside again, Caleb is just standing there, looking pretty but no longer trying to break in. Then he vanishes in a flash.
Is it because of the locked door or the garlic objects? Or the combination? Who knows?
Indoors, Shinya and Gramps remain oblivious to the dire threat that has passed.
Instead, they continue teaching Indiana and Fuschia to dance, blissfully unaware.
W: Don’t you think you’re living a little too dangerously, Shinya?
It’s 3 am and you’re running around in the dark as if your life means nothing to you.
Shinya: Nah, we’re safe for tonight! We have the garlic objects!
And anyway, all the wolfsbane plants are harvestable now, so I want to gather them.
What will you use the wolfsbane for?
Shinya: I have no idea, but they’re probably needed for some vampiric concoction. *shrugs
Shinya: Look, Watchette! There’s that handsome vampire Gramps told me about.
The rule here, Shinya, is: “Look but don’t touch.” Don’t you be approaching him, either.
This is not the challenge where you get to hanky-panky with Caleb.
Shinya: Huh? You’re going to put me in yet another challenge? With Caleb?!
No, no. Just a figure of speech. And a passing thought…
Ken: At 9 pm on Thursday, which is the fourth day of our challenge, I become the first Happy Toddler!
And, yeah, I’m having Papa help me potty because I maxed the Potty skill faster that way.
Everyone else is close to becoming Happy Toddlers, too, so I needed a competitive edge to be the first.
Ken is Inquisitive, which is one of my favorite toddler traits so far.
Friday
Shinya: It’s past midnight and all the toddlers are in bed except Allure and Deredere.
Allure is the best at persuading adult sims to do her bidding. She’s the only toddler to have gotten that lazy maid to help with blocks and flash cards.
For some reason, she has the fewest skill points as of Thursday evening. But with individual training, she catches up very quickly. That’s a relief!
Shinya: Deredere is an easy toddler to teach, because his Clingy trait makes him more responsive to teaching. A busy household should probably avoid this toddler trait, though, because a Clingy toddler wants lots of attention.
In fact, Deredere soon maxes Potty to become our second Happy Toddler.
Wow, it’s 1:00 am already and we’ve been so busy with the toddlers today that I completely forget that we’re in Vampire Central.
Oh well, we should be fine. The door’s locked and we haz garlic.
Living dangerously again, I see. Do you realize it’s 2 a.m.? You shouldn’t be outside.
Shinya: I just couldn’t resist, Watchette. The two plasmafruit trees in this hood are ripe for plucking. We’re going home to Windenburg soon and this is my last chance!
Plasmafruit have zilch to do with your 7 Toddlers Project, Shinya. But yeah, I’m curious, too.
Ken: Papa is so happy to have another garlic harvest before we go home.
Shinya: It’s true, son. But we’ll leave these garlic objects at the house!
Growing garlic at Thrive is a great idea, Shinya! If/when your Uncle Shota starts his project, he won’t have time to go traipsing off to Forgotten Hollow.
Shinya: Yeah, we have time to traipse, but he won’t, eh? I see what you mean, though. He can conveniently drop by Thrive and harvest garlic from my garden, right?
Yeah, we’ll need to think of some way he can obtain the garlic objects without studying Vampire Lore.
Shinya: I jog quickly to the plaza to check the Sixam Mosquito Plant. I guess I can’t harvest that plant, but I do get to watch it catch a mosquito. Say, “Ahhhhhh.”
Shinya: When I get home, Watchette and I share a momentous epiphany!!!
Remember how I bought the garlic seed packets for $100 each? Each packet contains 2 seeds. And remember how I whined about waiting to harvest the wild garlic and not having enough garlic bulbs?
Well, the garlic “seeds” in the packet are actually garlic bulbs. Doh!
If buying the seed packets, two garlic braids cost $500, one garlic wreath costs $500, and one garlic garland costs $800. Affordable enough.
I can’t believe it took me so long to figure that out. *facepalms
Shinya: One more quick run to harvest the wild garlic then we bid farewell to Forgotten Hollow.
I don’t know how much coming here set back my 7 Toddlers Challenge but it was an entertaining diversion. Like, how many screenshots do we need of toddlers using nesting blocks or flash cards?
Shinya: As soon as we get back, I plant my garlic, wolfsbane, and plasmafruit seeds.
It feels so good to be back at Thrive. It feels like home, you know?
And nothing beats the view of the ocean at sunset!
Shinya: Some things never change. Fuschia is constantly fussing. Here, she’s angry about having danced for too long. Seriously? Eat some sage, little girl, and get over yourself. I’m not a fan of the Fussy trait at all.
Shinya: Obviously, some things must change. I made more garlic objects to protect Thrive. I still regret not meeting Caleb.
Sorry, Shinya, but we had to leave Forgotten Hollow to focus on finishing this challenge.
That Caleb even had me calculating if you’d be able to ace this challenge as a turned vampire.
*shakes head to dispel the bout of momentary weakness
Shinya: Watchette has me go fishing so I can craft a plasma pack to satisfy her curiosity.
The toddlers? Most of them have gone to bed so I have the time to catch one fish.
Just before this, I helped Allure max her Potty skill so now all seven are Happy Toddlers. Yay!
Shinya: After fishing, I return home to find Angel the only toddler awake.
I have him ask me to read him a story. I figure they won’t be defiant about teaching they’d personally requested. Also, it slightly boosts Communication. Every little bit helps, right?
Saturday
Shinya: It’s 1:30 am so we seem to be safe on the vampire front tonight. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I love that I can read multiple toddlers a story while they eat.
Independent Indiana is angry about having to listen to a story (she didn’t ask for?).
On the other hand, inquisitive Ken is the first toddler to max Imagination.
Shinya: I’m having Fuschia walk around and “watch” everyone, one at a time.
Because she’s fussy, she gets angry about doing any structured activity for too long.
But I’ve not seen her get mad yet about watching. Also, walking around boosts her movement.
As we leave Thrive at 1 pm on Saturday, the toddlers have two more days until their birthdays.
A few aren’t far from becoming Top-Notch Toddlers. Ken needs only 3 more skill points and will no doubt be our first Top-Notch Toddler. Depending on how the game counts “two days,” though, he may be our only one.
Silly Sillz, our slowest toddler, needs 6 more skill points to max all her skills. Not surprisingly, Sillz is the only one who still suffers from nightmares.
Independent Indiana, who doesn’t like being taught, is the second slowest learner. She needs 5 more skill points but isn’t that far behind the rest.
She’s looking so cute here and even color-coordinating with the décor!
Angel, Allure, Deredere, and Fuschia are each four points away from maxing all their skills.
Up in my garden, I’m excited to see that my plasmafruit seed has grown into a sapling.
Immediately, I plant another plasmafruit to keep it company because both trees are completely irrelevant to my seven toddlers.
And for the record? I’m kinda missing all the drama of Forgotten Hollow…
Author’s Notes
This challenge will be over soon–one or two more sim-days, I believe. I’ve learned a lot about what to expect from toddlers through this challenge.
It makes raising two toddlers in a household with at least two adults seem like a breeze, comparatively speaking.
Initially, I’d planned to do this 7 Toddlers Challenge, followed by the updated Wonder Child Challenge. I’ve changed my mind after dealing with seven toddlers.
Instead, I’ll just wait for the Challenges Team at Carl’s Forum to reach a decision about the inclusion of vampires in the Rival Dynasties Challenge. *crosses fingers
Thank you for reading! I realize it’s not a riveting story but I wanted to share the toddler love!
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