@CaterinaI’m glad you enjoyed the screenshots. It’s really silly of me to do a story for a mere seven-day challenge, but the toddlers are so darn cute!
@cycloneic
The challenge creator declared that “money is no object” and made ample use of the motherlode cheat. So did I. This allowed Shinya to complete Fabulously Wealthy and the third milestone of Mansion Baron. After that, he went to Desert Bloom Park to start Curator. He also switched aspirations around and earned points from cooking, gardening, and fishing.
My goal is not to rise from abject poverty; I want to experience the different toddler traits and experiment with how to raise toddlers.
@wfgodotI’m trying very hard to avoid turning the challenge story into toddler spam, haha.
Poor Jesmina, indeed. I felt so bad about locking her inside the lot, but I’d assumed that allowing “employees” beyond the locked gates would include my caterer.
Yes, we lucked out with the nanny this time. We need to find out his traits.
@FrancescaFioriI wasn’t trying to be clever with the toddlers’ names. They help me remember the tots’ traits without having to constantly click their Simology tab to jog my memory. I’m not sure how much you’ll learn from my challenge—more like the blind leading the blind…
@PJHP1243Haha, this challenge is a little crazy but the toddlers are so cute. I did a practice run from Sunday to Friday, using a Gallery-imported daycare center which I remodeled. I figure if I can survive this challenge, dealing with one or two toddlers with parents (who are kitted out with all the skills and traits) would be a piece of cake.
1.2 7 Toddlers Challenge: Allure Exacts Retribution
Monday
Okay, it’s me again. I’m Ken, remember? The cutest toddler with the scruffy white hair?
So Papa and Gramps work really hard to teach all of us potty skills, but there’s only two adults.
Indiana lost out this time around. Papa has her “Use diaper,” so she doesn’t gain any potty skill.
Still, it’s better than a 4-hour Sad +2 Potty Accident moodlet! Four hours!
*whispers: 3 out of 6 of us end up with that moodlet because…boo-boos.
See that trashcan? We have, like, five around the house.
Papa likes them cuz he doesn’t have to empty the trash later. He even uses them for dirty dishes!
Awww, look at all of us sitting together. Papa says we’re multi-tasking.
We’re all listening to Papa read us a story, so we build Imagination while eating lunch.
W: Reading a story also fills their Attention bars which had tanked during our Potty Brigade.
After the story, we all stagger off to bed.
The supposedly independent Indiana still has a low Attention meter, so asks Gramps to tuck her in, the little wimp!
That’s me, the white kitty. Allure is the black kitty and Sillz is the brown cub.
On Monday morning, we all watched each other until reaching Thinking L2. Still, I wake up feeling very sad because of a nightmare.
Do I get comforted, like I want? No, Papa takes me to the potty instead.
But see my little smile? You’re looking at the first toddler to reach Potty L2! Now I can use the potty by myself!
But Papa, I’m still very sad. Would you comfort me, please?
Shinya: Since toddlers will sleep through the night after reaching Thinking L5, we’re hoping an early start on Thinking will help avoid the two-hour Sad +3 Had a Nightmare moodlet.
So, we’re prioritizing the Potty and Thinking skills.[/i]
Shinya: I confess I did something a little underhanded this evening. I asked our nanny to “Hang out” when he was about to go home.
Maybe I could start a club and invite him to join so our beloved Gramps would hardly ever leave?
Ken: Fussy Fuschia (in red) has a nightmare and wakes up around 10:30 pm. Her loud crying wakes the rest of us up, too.
And just when I’d finally fallen asleep, too! Thanks a lot!
Shinya: You can’t go back to sleep because you’re very sad, Fuschia?
Both Gramps and I are too busy to use the Comfort social on you now, so if you can’t sleep then take a nap, okay?
Tuesday
It’s past midnight but I wake up very sad after another nightmare. I blame Fuschia.
When I go to the bathroom looking for Papa, I see Gramps is still here. Why?
Shinya: Someone might have called a club gathering just as Gramps was leaving. *coughs
Gramps: Fussy Fuschia is still awake at 3 am. After her two-hour Sad +3 nightmare moodlet finally passes, she gets a three-hour Sad +1 Potty Accident moodlet.
Now I’m showing her the Basic Needs flash cards to boost her thinking.
And, yes, I’m still here. Strangely, I feel compelled to stay here, like I’m under a spell or something.
Shinya: Gramps, you didn’t need to stay in the bathroom for the flash cards! Ewww!
Shinya: Between my Dancing Machine and Never Weary traits, I hardly ever need sleep.
But, come to think of it, I should take a disco nap while Fuschia commands Gramps’ attention.
Gramps is a saint, I tell you!
Gramps: At 3:30 am, Fuschia finally releases me to waddle off to bed on her own.
You know, I’d been kneeling for hours on my bad knees on that filthy bathroom floor.
But can you guess what whim that brat rolls as she walks away?
“Ask Shinya to show flash cards…”
Shinya: I awake from my nap, but the sun still hasn't risen. *yawns
Would it be presumptuous of me to buy an extra bed for Gramps? Nah…
The plants in my mini-garden can be harvested finally.
Just like for older sims, toddlers can eat a veggie, fruit, or herb to gain a 4-hour Happy +1 moodlet.
And Happy is the best mood for leveling Communication or Thinking.
Since I’m a busy sim, I divvy up the plants directly into the toddlers’ personal inventories. Self-service ftw!
Shinya: Heading downstairs, I’m surprised to find four very sad but very awake toddlers because…you guessed it, nightmares.
Every toddler woke up crying because of a nightmare at least once, some even twice.
Maybe we need to try getting them all to Level 4 Thinking today. Maybe.
(For an independent toddler, Indiana sure follows Gramps around a lot!)
Deredere (purple): Angel (green) and I build Thinking by watching Sillz.
Sillz: Make them stop, Uncle Shinya! It’s creepy!
Shinya: By the way, Gramps’ traits are great! He’s an Active, Self-Assured Art Lover.
Since Gramps has been hanging out with us so much, I add Bathe/Shower to our club activities.
This prompts Gramps to take a bath with puzzling results.
Sillz: Gramps, are you cos-playing a deep-sea diver cuz of the wallpaper?
Shinya and Fuschia (in unison): You got something you wanna say?
Shinya: The maid arrives at last! Of course, he ignores the filthy bathroom!
Instead, he puts away all the toys and tablets that I deliberately left out. *sighs
Allure: Since our maid isn’t being that useful, I “invite” him to teach me Shapes on the nesting blocks.
Shinya: Good work, Allure! I’ll finish cleaning the bathroom in 15 minutes, but you can keep the maid busy for hours!
Hmmm, maybe add him to the club, too? Nah, that would be too much…
You can tell by the icons, but Shapes boosts thinking while Stack boosts Movement.
Allure: When we finish with Shapes, the maid prepares to leave so I can’t do any socials with him.
But I have an ace up my sleeve. I pull out my Charmer-exclusive move: <3 Share the love!
Allure: Now the maid’s accessible again, so I ask him to teach me Basic Needs using flash cards, also to boost Thinking.
Hudson Goode, you foolish man! You never stood a chance!
This story’s become more about how to cheese the challenge than how to actually raise toddlers, lol.
Gramps: As of 3 pm today, everyone has reached Potty L2. No more potty training!
Also, four out of seven toddlers reach Thinking L3: Allure, Fuschia, Indiana, and Ken.
Ultimately, Allure persuades the maid to teach her Shapes using the blocks twice and Basic Needs using flash cards once.
Way to wrap that lazy maid around your little finger, girl!
Ken: We’re all so excited! Papa says he has a surprise for us because we all learned to potty by ourselves!
What? We’re going to visit our second home? A home away from home? Where exactly are we?
Sillz: What are these things, Ken? Are they pigs with cat ears?
Ken: Duh, they are bats, Sillz! Haven’t you ever seen a bat before?
Sillz: They’re ugly! I want my Uni and Drago!
Shinya: Okay, Gramps is here, too, so let’s all go inside.
Ken: What the heck is this place, anyway?
Allure: I dunno, but I like it! Kinda matches my dress, don’t you think?
Angel: Where’s the potty?
Stay tuned for more skilling, cheesing, and silliness in the next update.
Author’s Notes
Scoresheet
I put together an Excel scoresheet for the 7 Toddler Challenge that conforms to the recently updated scoring of the toddler segment of Pinstar’s Wonder Child Challenge. Rather than using the scoresheet for high score, I find it useful for comparing the toddler’s relative skill levels. It shows at a glance how many skill points each toddler has, which helps me decide how to accommodate the different toddler traits and which traits fit my playing style better.
Anyway, I’ll leave my scoresheet attached to this post for a limited time, if you’re interested.
Be forewarned that I’m not an experienced spreadsheet designer, but the scoresheet seems to work okay for me.
There are drop-down lists for choosing traits. To check of a skill level, type 1; to clear the box, type 0 (zero). For the bonus traits, input the numerals provided.
TS4 7Toddler Challenge blank.zip
Forgotten Hollow
So I made this little house as a second home for the Thrive peeps because I wanted to play with the new vampire-related build/buy objects. Shinya bought the house as a retail store.
Someone cycloneic on our forum posted about a vampire gatecrashing their sim’s house and turning them drinking their sim's blood.
Do you know? Should I be worried about Shinya and Gramps staying here without garlic protection?
It’s just a change of scene for a bit of fun. The toddlers won’t be visiting Vlad or anything like that. No, probably nothing of the sort. That would be bizarre.
