Thank you.
I enjoy playing in them, I want to be thrilled by the house because that's what keeps a long save going. And there's often a bit of quirkiness, and I'm not sure if others would accept the compromises I make. I just got good at decorating boxes. The Ward Den is 50x40? The house I've got in Newcrest would fit there. Twin Oracle Point. Neo classical, more of a modern vibe inside.
As I write, it's the last day of the twins as children, and they've got teeth falling out all over the place. I know there was that bug, I hope it really is fixed. Anywho.
_____
Chapter 2. Part 4.Lettuce begin on the first full day of childhood. Top Notch Toddler + Top Notch Infant + New Skill Day. Just after midday, Phoebe has maxed her creativity skill while starting her creativity aspiration.
And some time after midnight, Ros has maxed
all her child skills.
Already.
And unlike grandma Maxine who was a mildly insecure sausage, assuring us she wasn't smart enough, Ros and Phoebe have no such qualms. This is the confidence problem.
It's hard to overpower that to do homework while focused, even in this house. But when the confidence was super high it was always possible to switch to another activity, and childhood progressed smoothly.
Ros and Phoebe now each have their own (giant) bedrooms.
This one in the east wing hadn't been used for a while, and got a makeover with a lot of HSY things. I'm such a fan of the bed, but it is a cheap one. Herbert is seen here upgrading the beds which obviously makes a massive difference to energy recovery, but Phoebe (this is her room - Ros has the red one that was their nursery as infants / toddlers) has nevertheless complained of having a cheap bed. A little too entitled, miss! I know you're a Landgraab, but come on. (And Phoebe is the nice one! Not to tease a big reveal later on, but Rosalind has some... suboptimal... character traits.)
The girls joined scouting as soon as they aged up, as evidenced by Phoebe in her uniform. I think this properly belongs to the Sunday before they started school. It's out of sequence. Let's call it a flashback.
Elsewhere, Janelle learned yoga so she can teleport to the roof to clean it from lightning strike scorches.
And Herbert spent some time in the dumpster.
See! He found a lovely bicycle... that he rode into the kitchen! That's obviously what he was doing in the dumpster! There's no other explanation.
But if you were to ask who that other sim is -- clearly another bicycle enthusiast -- it's Danielle Holding. I think she was a roommate of Maxine at university, and... no, I don't know why she's in a towel. Or I won't say. It's one of the two. Obviously there's sauna, but you knew that.
Obligatory Winterfest pic!
And it's also a good day to work on some aspiration milestones. This completed the "become bffs" requirement for both of them, I always wanted it this way. Sure they could befriend someone in the park instantly, but that won't do. They've also had a few deep interactions and they are officially "close" in the new Growing Together system thinggum. I still have no idea who the heir is.
Uh... new Father Winter is an interesting chap.
The basegame 4 child aspirations were now done for both girls. At record speed, even. The new aspirations were queued up. I knew I'd have to have the treehouse where the fountain normally is so that was removed, and rose bushes were dug up. But before the treehouse was delivered the following day while the kids were at school, dad put up a splash pad which was a big hit. It is still winter, but kids are
dumb tough, and it's a mild evening here in the desert.
When the treehouse was built, Janelle and Herbert had to test how robust their handiwork was.
That Friday evening, so the end of the first school week for the girls, they had a slumber party. Once that gets queued up, it immediately completes the first part of the aspiration. Then the girls exchange friendship bracelets, and just like that we're already on the next stage of the aspiration which is to tell stories from the sleeping bag at such a party. (Any skill requirements are irrelevant to Ros and Phoebe who maxed them all so quickly, and had already completed the basegame 4 aspirations.) I thought I might have to have two slumber parties, because they each have to tell 3 stories, and that eats up time while almost no other party goals were completed.
And there they are, telling stories. Other guests were invited, but set up in the dining room, and were playing computer games. We had completed very little in the way of party goals, but when we said it was "time for bed" that counted for so much progress it took us all the way to gold. So that whole aspiration was done in one event.
With more aspirations to juggle, school projects took a back seat. There wasn't a whole lot of time for them, and they aren't remotely necessary for Ros or Phoebe to get good grades or raise skills.
Yup, Janelle is in her underwear but sims are forever in their sleepwear. Cool. This is the less formal lounge (there are three in the house if you include the library), and is the space designated for projects. Janelle is doing the parenting aspiration and helping with projects completes that goal. I also thought it would help with the "scholarly aptitude" scouting badge. Both girls needed progress there, especially Rosalind, and so they all made a solar system. Perhaps I was misremembering. Having a parent help with homework is the best way to get that badge quickly, and that's what ended up happening. Ultimately, I'm not sure the project achieved what I wanted. But I always like having stuff made by my sims around the house, so it's all good.
I'm sure the last two scouting badges I get are always "good deeds" and "get fit".
Phoebe on the left, Ros on the right. For "get fit", dancing for half an hour seems to be enough for one level. And that's what they're doing here. I usually play it safe and let them dance for about 45 minutes, then cancel it. They both have decided they have a Passion for dancing.
This is the state of Rosalind's traits about 9 days into the child stage.
Empathy and emotional control are not doing well. She's mean to her sister sometimes, and it's taking extra effort to get all traits positive. On the plus side, her conflict resolution is much better than Phoebe's. Phoebe's character traits are all green, she has good empathy. She's an angel. But hasn't got into as much conflict, nor resolved it, and her skill at conflict resolution is much lower than Rosalind's. So there's an interesting balance between the twins and maybe their infant and toddler stages have affected their later development. I'm spending their satisfaction points in the same way. That's the same for both of them. Their "main" traits are of course different. Rosalind is lazy, and Phoebe is creative.
Riding a bike for 4 hours seemed like something that was a bad fit for our small desert neighborhood of two lots. So the family went to the coffee shoppe. The girls could ride around a lot more easily.
San Sequoia is beautiful. The sunsets are amazing. But I'm one who doesn't need the world to entertain me with dozens of lots, and I happily bounce around all worlds, and tend to have a lot of activities on the home lot.
While Herbert was having his photo taken, a different paparazzo noticed Janelle.
And I love the expression on the paparazzo's face. That's why this is here.
With bike riding done, which completes "Creative Genius", the remaining aspirations were "Mind and Body" and "Playtime Captain". Avoiding negative need moodlets for 12 hours just takes good sim management, easily done.
That left only the infamous treehouse. It's pretty, but it blocks the view.
Two sims can't sleep there at the same time, so the girls took turns. But no matter how much they slept there that aspiration milestone didn't trigger. After finding an open bug report, I did use aspirations.complete_current_milestone and with that, completed all 8 aspirations for both girls.
On the Tuesday in Spring, the twins completed their scouting badges and signed up for Drama Club. A promotion a day would see them reach level 4, but it doesn't work out like that. They both reached level 3 of drama on Friday, their last school day as children.
Much effort is now put into raising character traits as high as possible before aging to teen. (We're quite excited about that.)
Conflict resolution in particular is better to have maxed out as a child. A teen will usually get enough chance cards while at school to raise it, but it's no guarantee. So although Rosalind has some bad streaks in her, she's higher in the trait that matters the most. Yes, Love Day was a disaster for everyone.
Phoebe Landgraab, child, 18 traits (with about 3000 spare points).
Days to aging up: 0
