7 Toddler Challenge:Fare Thee Well, Toddlers! [Completed]

[cyclonenic]

Cuteness overload with the toddlers! Doing great so far with bringing them up Shinya. Sillz in the bear onesie is adorable.

But OMG, i'm on the edge of my seat now, Caleb's doing the same walk that signalled Vlad was out for Mitch's blood...will those garlic protections be enough.

[wfgodot]

Your toddlers getting the best of everyone is so funny.  Vlad's kinda creepy just standing over the beds and watching them sleep, eh?

I love the pictures where the whole crew is walking around.  LOL so cute just circling the fountain.  Oh, the little outings of toddlers.

Well, I certainly don't mind if you forget it's a challenge.  I enjoy the story parts most.

[PJHP1243]

AH! Creepy vampire! It's a bit strange that they text you when they come to your house, isn't it? If I were a vampire, I would be more secretive.

[oshizu]

@FrancescaFiori
Because I haven’t delved into the Vampires Game Pack yet, I didn’t know what to expect from a visit from Vladislaus. But since he just snuck into our house, I imagined he didn’t come to share fruitcake.
Vlad really freaked me out but, luckily, toddlers to the rescue! He was a bit of a trooper in the end, lol.
For me, every shot of Ken is the cutest yet, haha.

@Caterina
Thank you. This is actually just toddler spam, very thinly disguised as a challenge-based story.

@cyclonenic
If not for you, Shinya and gang would have been caught totally unprepared!
You’re the only one who noticed that a break-in was about to take place.

@wfgodot
There’s actually a cheesing strategy behind the toddlers manipulating adult sims. The caregiver and nanny can’t train all seven toddlers, so the toddlers are forced to “out-source,” as it were.

@PJHP1234
Vlad’s text message was hardly an advance warning! As soon as I read his message, I locked the front door then realized that Vlad was already in the house.
Unless we get a new career, Vampire Slayer, I think it’s currently more fun to play a vampire than vampire food, hehe.




1.4 7 Toddlers Challenge: Forgetting Forgotten Hollow

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 for me.
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.
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 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!

[Caterina]

Caleb is definitely a gorgeous distraction.  He makes me think that I would like to stay in Midnight Hollow and hope for a break in.

Good job on figuring out about the Garlic.  I don't think I would have figured that one out at all.

Congrats on 7 happy toddlers!

[cyclonenic]

Whilst i am a bit sad you are not doing the Wonder Child Challenge, i am looking forward to a Rival Dynasty challenge with maybe some Shinya and Caleb love 

Thank you for also doing this challenge, it has helped with toddlers my end- for example showing inquisitive toddlers are the fastest learners. In regards to independent toddlers- i have found that even though they like to learn skills on their own, they actually skill faster with help, and i only had one incident where the toddler threw a tantrum. I think if they are happy enough and in a good friends relationship with the adult they don't really mind.

re: Caleb's attempted break in:One of the vampire perks enables them to unlock and lock doors so i also am not sure if you locking the door had anything to do with it. I'm playing my townie dynasty again today so i will try it if any vamps come visiting. It may be the door or the garlic or maybe even just script- the background for Caleb and his sister is they don't really like drinking from sims.

[Alex]

Seven toddlers. Wow. That's either incredibly brave or utterly insane .

Congrats on your happy toddlers

[PJHP1243]

I'm very impressed. I got so stressed playing with seven toddlers that I went back down to... uno. One. Uh or however you spell it in French.
Toddler spam for the win! (Crosses fingers for a vampire rival dynasty)

[wfgodot]

Yes, I'll be missing the drama of Forgotten Hollow also.  I'm glad you're considering the RDC.  Hopefully the vampires are a go.  I think it'll be a lot more fun, especially as you've already done the WCC.  As for the story, I think you've done really well at making it interesting!  I enjoyed it, and the toddlers are very cute.  Will you show them aged up in the end?

Love the obliviousness to the lurking Caleb.  Shinya, so dedicated.  Nothing will stop that guy from his gardening.  And you're so cute with your wandering curiosity about everything, Watchette.

Note to self:  Stay away from the fussy trait.   

[FrancescaFiori]

I have to say, I loved the back-and-forth struggle of toddler care vs. vampire allure. The kids don't seem to have suffered at all from the distraction (quite the opposite!).

The mosquito trap takes FOREVER to become harvestable, but buying the seeds costs $300 a pop so it's worth the wait. Even so, harvested pods only sell for 10 simoleons, so I'm struggling to understand their point, other than being super duper neat. Maybe that's enough of a point. I wish they were an ingredient for something, though.

I'm a little bummed that Shota's Wonder Child project isn't going forward, but only because I really like Shota. Maybe he'll pop up somewhere else . . .? *hopes*

[oshizu]

@Caterina
I totally agree with you about Caleb. At first, I was terrified that he was about to break in. Then he stopped and I felt so disappointed and empty inside, haha.

@cyclonenic
After non-stop skilling of the toddlers, I don’t think I could sustain interest in more non-stop skilling of the Wonder Child and his siblings. I’m actually just looking for structured, goal-oriented Sims 4 gameplay until the decision about the RDC is reached.
Regarding the shipping of Shinya and Caleb, MarianT has declared that Vampire Bloodline and Vampire Hunter options will be added to the Rival Dynasty Challenge, but I'm using Shota in that challenge, so maybe an Immortal Dynasty speed run with Shinya/Caleb if vampires are allowed in an IDC much later this year...
As for Caleb, I played him a bit last night and he doesn’t have the “Eternally Welcome” power so the locked door is what stopped him.

Also, Inquisitive toddlers aren’t necessarily the fastest at skilling. I favored little Ken very heavily in this challenge for reasons you may one day learn (or not, lol).
But I still like the Inquisitive trait because he skills Thinking faster and that means fewer nightmares. Thanks for your tip about Independent!

@Alex
Thanks for reading! The challenge requires a pretty even balance of courage and insanity. It also taught me some tricks on how to cheese toddler care, hehe.
Also, the caregiver was blessed with a super-nanny!

@PJHP1243
Thanks for dropping by! Besides our super-nanny, the toddlers also got some skilling help from the maid, Vladislaus Straus, and the caterer, though not all toddlers could get past the Stranger Danger thing.
The challenge was a good learning experience—I have a better sense now of which skilling methods are more effective (Stacks/Tower using nesting blocks > dancing, for example).

@wfgodot
Thank you for coming along for this short ride! I get bored extremely fast with just-for-fun gameplay so, yes, I’m hoping we’ll soon learn whether or not vampires are permitted in the RDC.
Ahhh, Forgotten Hollow drama! If vampires are a no-go for the RDC, I might eventually take my Shota sim and do another vampire-based challenge. Though it’s hard to beat this forum’s challenges in terms of their structure, milestones, and so forth.

@FrancescaFiori
Can you tell that I’ve been simply itching to play the Vampires Game Pack? But I’m still glad I did this challenge first—I feel ready for toddlers now. Bring it on!
I’m still looking around for a good Sims 4 challenge that allows bin clones, though. Just don’t want to do another skill-grind (the Wonder Child Challenge) at the moment. Never fear, Shota will star in his own story eventually, lol. (I've re-read the enter RDC thread this morning and learned I'm permitted to use an unskilled, traitless bin clone in the RDC, so Shota will be the restaurant bloodline founder. He thanks you for his support!)



1.5  7 Toddlers Challenge: Farewell Thee Well, Toddlers!

Sunday

Indiana: Very early in the morning, I’m playing with the dollhouse when our caterer comes to chat.
Uncle Shinya, shouldn’t she be….um, catering?
Shinya: Well, you know what happens to service NPCs who don’t do their job, right?
Indiana: Ask her to show me Flash Cards to boost my Thinking?
Shinya: Good girl!


Shinya: Watchette claims that every screenshot of Ken is the cutest.
Ken: Papa, please teach me Numbers with the flash cards?


Shinya: Ken is the first to max Thinking. That comes as no surprise. By nature, Inquisitive toddlers boost Thinking slightly faster than other toddlers.


Ken: Papa and Gramps finally let Deredere and me go potty and stumble off to bed.
Papa’s really started pushing me to complete my last one-and-a-half skills.
I’m pretty sure it’s possible!


Shinya: Just past 8 am, we get a succession of “Almost xx’s birthday” notices.
So I’m assuming that we’ll be getting their “Celebrate xx’s birthday” notices tomorrow at the same time.

Sillz doesn’t have a bat’s chance of becoming a Top-Notch Toddler with her two L3 skills, so she’s being left on her own.
Gramps and I are more likely to raise a Top-Notch toddler or two by teaching the other six.
 

Vampire bat #1: Yo! What’s with the negative stereotype about bats? That hurts!!!
Vampire bat #2: Word. Don’t you know we vampire bats regurgitate blood for bats who didn’t get to feed?
Vampire bat #3: And we’re not actually blind, either!


Gramps: Thanks to her fussiness, Fuschia ends up getting more attention than the others.
In fact, she has a really good chance of maxing all her skills.

Shinya: Gramps and I are thinking that we might be total meanies and not get birthday cakes for the toddlers.
Gramps: Yeah, we’ll keep them skilling until they age up naturally. Mwahahaha!!!


Allure: So, Gramps, would you read me a book after I’m done eating?
Gramps: Sure, sweetheart.
Allure: Thank you! I’m gonna try really hard to finish my last 2.5 skills!

Gramps: You know, readers, it’s not just the toddlers who are being worked to the bone!
Until we met you, Gramps, we’d decided that all nannies are completely useless, but you’re really incredible.
Gramps: I know, right? But Shinya has been very generous with my wages.
When this gig is over, I’ll be retiring to a little beachfront cottage in Tahiti.


Shinya: Uh, Gramps…you walked all the way upstairs to read to her?
Allure: Where did Gramps go? Just how many stairs are there, anyway?


Shinya: Kind of a jerk move, don’t you think, Gramps? You two were already sitting together downstairs.
I might have to lock you out of the upstairs bedroom and bathroom!
Gramps: …
Allure: It’s okay, Uncle Shinya. I got some exercise and, wow, this view’s totally worth it!


Shinya: Great, just great! Now Fuschia’s crawling upstairs, too.
Gramps, you’re officially locked out of the upstairs rooms.

Fuschia: Really!? I climb all the way to the top of the stairs and you tell me to go back down?
Shinya: Sorry, Fuschia but you need to eat! *uses “Go here together” downstairs to summon Gramps from upstairs


Monday

Shinya: I’m helping Ken build Movement and Communication at the same time.
While teaching him to dance, I ask him questions.

Ken: In the end, though, I have to switch to asking Papa for help with the Tower blocks.
How can I build Communication if he makes me listen to his dumb stories instead of letting me talk?

Maybe I should rename this challenge to “Ken and the 6 Toddlers Challenge”?


Indiana: I'm going to finish! I only have the Movement skill left...


Deredere: I’ve had a bath so I’m playful and I finally get Uncle Shinya all to myself.
Shinya: Sure, I’ll read to you, kiddo! I wonder if you’ll be done with Movement in time…
I’m sure some of you have already noticed, but the toddler Deredere and young adult Shinya are the same sim.


Gramps: We start receiving the “Celebrate birthday” notices a little past 8 am, as expected.
Shinya: By that time, we have three Top-Notch Toddlers: Ken (first), Allure (second), and Indiana (third).
Looks like I should make a few birthday cakes after all!


Meanwhile, back in Forgotten Hollow…

Gramps: Hey, Shinya! You better come down from the kitchen and take a look at this? *shows an image on his phone
Shinya: Whaaaaat!? Who is that hussy with the puncture wounds on her neck?
And what’s she doing with mah Caleb in what looks to be a boudoir?
Watchette, what exactly is going on there?

Uhhhhh, it’s a different save file from last night… *coughs*
Anyway, you need to focus, Shinya! Three toddlers are ready to age up this very minute!
Shinya: *trudges back up to the kitchen dejectedly


Ken: After I cake up, Allure blows out the birthday candles next.
Meanwhile, I go and hide until later because the game gives me such a hideous outfit and hair!


Ken: Indiana is the third Top-Notch Toddler, so she cakes up next.
If you’ve played toddlers, you’ve seen this menu beafore, but it’s a first for us here!
And although it looks like we start all children skills at Level 2, they’re actually all at 94%. That’s pretty cool, right?


Indiana: Something else we all find pretty cool: as children, we can now teach toddlers how to dance and use the nesting blocks.
But I don’t get the option to show flash cards. Poo!

Indiana (blond): So, Uncle Shinya…you teach Angel and I’ll teach Fuschia?
Shinya: That’s smart since Angel will be a Top-Notch Toddler soon, but not Fuschia.
Indiana: Didn’t she have the second highest skills last night?
Shinya: Yeah, but she woke up grumpy and she’s been sad and gloomy all day, so she’s taking forever to level her last skill.
Indiana: Actually, the big question is: Do I get my turquoise hair back?


Angel: I’m in the zone, dancing in Energized mood with Uncle Shinya teaching me.
Then he goes and tells me a funny story, which makes me playful. Darn him!
Now I see why Ken says to ask Uncle Shinya to help build a Tower with blocks, instead of teaching dance.
I’ll be the fifth and last Top-Notch Toddler of this challenge.


Sillz (left): Fuschia and I get woken up and we cake up, one after another.
Fuschia (right): Well, it would have been hard to max our skills, even if we’d kept leveling, Sillz.
Sillz: I guess Uncle Shinya wants to rush to the end of the challenge.
Angel (blond): Ken says Uncle Shinya needs to hurry back to Forgotten Hollow or something.
Ken: Yeah, or something.

Sillz: I’m sad that Fuschia and I are the only ones who didn’t become Top-Notch Toddlers.
Fuschia: It’s fine, Sillz. We’re Happy Toddlers and that’s all right, too!


Shinya: Well, folks we have reached the end of our challenge by ageing up all the toddlers a little early.
Because I don’t have the patience to get everyone lined up for a lovely group shot, here’s a household shot from the Gallery.
Yes, it’s blurry. Sorry about that!



And finally portraits of the Thrive gang, in order of their skilling prowess from left to right.



As I mentioned earlier, Fuschia had only 60 more percentage points to max her last skill, but was busy fussing.
Sillz was missing 5 skill levels.
It’s not that Silly is the worst trait, but Sillz did seem to be sleeping a lot when the other toddlers were forging ahead.
So ultimately, Shinya ends up with five Top-Notch Toddlers and two Happy Toddlers.



Shinya: Hey, Watchette! What about you make me and Caleb a couple, then he turns me and we do a “6 Vampire Toddlers Challenge" in Forgotten Hollow?
Thanks but no thanks, Shinya. *waves him away dismissively
Shinya: Okay. I'll go water the plasmafruit or something.


Thanks so much for reading! The kids all turned out pretty nice-looking, even that annoyingly fussy Fuschia!

[Caterina]

Congrats!  So you had five toddlers max all skills?  Well done.

A few of your toddlers look like other sims from your Legacy, Ken -> Ze and Indiana -> Miko, Allure -> Rukia.
Allure looks super cute as a child...love the hair! 
It's interesting that Deredere's cheeks thin out as he ages and becomes Shinya.  I think Shinya would make an attractive female. 

I can't wait to see what you do next. 

Thank you for another very entertaining story and for sharing your creativity and your Sims with us.

[Alex]

Ooooh, that's a lot of top-notch toddlers - congratulations

[cyclonenic]

Well Done @oshizu . Allure's my fave. Glad she got them all done. Fuschia also grew up very pretty, i like her hairstyle.

Just curious by gallery do you mean your own personal one or is there some # i can use to download them?

[wfgodot]

All the toddlers grew up to be good looking kids!  Look at Ken's big eyes and pouty lips. 

I'm very surprised Angel was one of the last because I thought for sure he'd be one of the first.

I have now experienced my first toddler.  Plumbob is pretty much always red, heh.  So to me, this challenge is pretty impressive.  I salute you.  I'm glad I read it because it has helped me.  I was trying to keep food in the inventory for mine to eat and the kid's been eating apples like crazy but it barely budges the hunger bar.  I've resorted to a high chair, sheesh.