#for toddlers and stuff are better in 3 - the toys and the interactions - I think the other elements of toddlers having skills and building

[vivalasthedas]

I like the sims 4 well enough, but there's always the question of 'is the fun i have worth the annoyance at how shitty it can be?' and often the answer is yes. If I'm building, or looking to make a character, or I want something easy to do a quick challenge in etc etc etc

but I remembered I have alternatives yesterday and booted up sims 3. omfg. It's so much more fun to just play if you care about gameplay over building or cas. There's so much more to do when it comes to what I personally want out of gameplay.

I'll take the zombies on the fullmoon over the welcome wagon and constant people walking into my house to ask me questions or vampire attacks every day.

ive got a mod that lets you select a new lifetime wish immediately after completing one, I'm going to see how long and how many generations it's going to take me to complete them all. I'm going to move to the worlds related to them as I go, leaving a trail of long distance friends in the relationship panel. I've got some more career ones but then we reach gold digger and that's gonna be fun to do.

[bunnivez]

hiii!!! is it okay if i request angell nsfw or sfw head canons if thats okay with you!!

The Housewife Way

જ⁀➴ Hello Nonnie! Seems like people really took a liking to Angell after the event happened lmao (๑>؂•̀๑) I had fun writing this, especially because I finally get an excuse to make a housewife reader its so cute AAAA. Enjoy! ⟢

જ⁀➴ Warning ! … This contains both NSFW and SFW content.

It took some time for her to fully open up to you, not necessarily because she didn’t trust you but more because she wasn’t sure how to be open. She is used to being alone, interacting isn’t something she is used to, especially when expressing her emotions or sometimes thoughts.

As months passed, she felt different around you. She was more comfortable around you and every day she would try her best to come back home as soon as possible just to see you again.

Her dreams have now become just about you. In every dream, her most peaceful ones, you are always there.

If she manages to find something she thinks you’ll like during her mission; she will definitely bring it home and gift it to you, just to see your eyes light up and lips curl into a smile.

Slowly things change in the relationship. She becomes more affectionate and a bit more talkative.

However it will also take time for Angell to understand her own feelings. She has never felt such emotions, at first she thought she was sick until she came to a conclusion that what she was feeling was love. Her confession was awkward, she didn’t exactly know what to say so she just told you how she has been feeling the past few weeks.

Oh the face she made when you told her you feel the same way, her eyes lit up like a kid it was adorable.

She loves sneaking hugs behind your back as you cook or wash the dishes, she stays there for a good while just observing you.

Gifts from her are more expected, as well as many calls from her if her mission is a bit long. She wants to make sure you are home safe and that no one is trying to getting inside.

Compliments your food a lot, she loves coming home to the smell of homemade food.

Cuddle with her PLEASE, she enjoys it, it brings comfort to her. Most times she is the big spoon, but on bad days she doesn’t mind being the little spoon.

Talking about bad days, it is easy to catch up when she is upset, sometimes it can be that the missions have tired her; but the best way to make her feel better is by helping her relax first to ease her mind, then ask about her day.

Shares her makeup products with you, she can help you do your makeup and you can help her with hers <3

Angell will definitely let you do her hair, she likes the feeling of you brushing it, occasionally she will let you do a different hairstyle on her (I feel like a ponytail would look great AAA, maybe a messy bun?).

Cuddle with her on the sofa while listening to music as you watch her pet fishes swim.

I feel like stroking her hair will make her sleep faster, sometimes she will stare at you if you automatically stop— as a silent ‘please keep going’.

Usually hides her wounds from you, or just says it’s nothing and it will heal quickly. Yet she cannot deny the way her heart melts when you start to treat her cuts and wounds, it shows how much you truly care and worry about her.

Got you two matching pijamas! She thought the idea was cute and that you would like it, she has seen couples do that after all.

Whenever she can she will bring already made food from a restaurant or something, just so you can relax a bit from cooking.

Takes you to simple dates, she prefers ones at night, if not, movie nights at home it is! You two can bake together too, teach her some skills and all.

That leaded to horrible disasters by the way… she cuts stuff with her dagger, she grabs spoons like a toddler would grab a crayon and drop any mixture everywhere.

Just be patient with her.. please </3

She is into bondage, see those handcuffs? They are for YOU.

She likes using toys, she has bought a few she would like to try on you, but when the moment comes she can’t find them… She knows it’s somewhere in her closet but it is pilled up with clothes and other stuff so good luck searching.

Shower sex. There are times she comes home from a mission covered in blood, so she suggests showering with you.

This leads to.. a heated up make out, she simply can’t resist you. So before you can think, you already find yourself pinned against the tiled wall by Angell.

Like she will literally eat you out in the shower.

She enjoys riding your face, she is gentle though, grinding gently and a bit slow, but she will pick up the pace once she is close to cumming.

Her moans are sweet and a bit quiet, mostly comes out as sighs of pleasure and small noises. She isn’t really the loud type.

With her strap though? OH SHE IS A MONSTER. She will fuck fast and make sure to hit the right spots.

Places a hand on your mouth or gags you, telling you to quiet down but how can you when she literally fucks you so good?

Other times she appreciates more gentle sex. Slow, passionate, and enjoyable. She loves seeing your face turn into one of pure pleasure, and hearing your sweet moans gets her even more heated.

She will also do it on the couch, you sitting on her lap grinding on it while she desperately kisses and marks you as hers. She will whispers ‘I love you’s ’ and ‘ you’re doing so good, keep going ’.

You know what? Why not fuck you from behind while you are washing dishes too. She will bend you over and use her strap on you, her fingers, or will kneel down and eat you out.

There was this one time she ate you out on top of the dining table, saying how you are the dessert.

Aftercare is very important. She makes sure you are okay and if she hurt you in any way. She will help you clean up and brings you water or snakes if you want. Later, she will cuddle with you in bed; quietly telling you praises and giving you kisses until you two fall asleep.

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

You know how small children, especially toddlers who just started walking and talking could be, so I'm curious how the turtles would handle their oldest kidd at this age especially since they never got to interact and take care of kids before this. From my personal experience, toddlers can be either innocent and cute little angels or annoying devils who bother everyone in public if they don't get what they want

First Steps or Words (Fluff)

Bayverse!Turtles x reader

A/N: I’m not fully sure what you mean with toddlers just having learned to walk and talk, as kids typically take their first step or say their first word during the infant stage, but it could very well be my limited English that is getting in the way here😅 Anyway, in my internship I work with kids in the age group of 3 - 5, so I agree and disagree. Kids have a limited knowledge, both of themselves and their surroundings. Oftentimes they don’t think of how their actions can affect others, which is then my job to help them understand, and at the same time help them verbalize their emotions in a better way. But boy, sometimes the last thing you need is 4 year old that’s crying over something so simple as a toy, even though to them it's their whole world at that moment😭 Enough of that, time for some cute stuff💙❤️💜🧡

Warnings: I already had baby fever before this, so I don’t know if you guys will get it too😭💚

Leonardo:

Never had Leo thought he would get to experience something like this. You and him in your shared bedroom, relaxing after a long day of working, with little baby Romeo smiling and giggling in the bed, kicking around in his little onesie. Your son had been a giggling delight all day, making all sorts of sounds from his play pen, almost distracting you, Leo and the first of the turtles in your work, building to extend the lair so that there would be space for your growing family.

Recently, Romeo had learned of a new sound to make, showing it off proudly with or  without a crowd to watch or hear him. Pressing his lips together with his tongue poking out, Romeo would blow out air, creating what sounded like a fart noise, with bubbles of spit forming where the air came out.

This was nothing new to you, having seen many human babies do things like that, either on the internet or in real life. You didn’t find it any less cute however, you had just known that Romeo would start doing it at some point. Leo however, was totally mesmerized. He had never seen nor heard a baby make noises like that, even though he watched hundreds of baby videos after the day he learned you were pregnant. But nothing prepared Leo for how fast it was going. In less than a year, Romeo had gotten from this little emobile green bean with big staring eyes, to this little bundle of loud noises and kicking limbs. Leo’s heart swelled, and as he watched Romeo kick around on your shared bed as you and Leo was cleaning up for the night, Leo couldn’t stop himself from hovering over your son, nuzzling his beak against his little stomach, causing the young boy to let out a high pitch scream of laughter. Leo lifted his head from Romeo’s stomach, looking down at his smiling son as he pressed his lips together around his tongue, kicking his legs as he made the noise he had been making for the last few days.

“Bbrrrrrrr”, Romeo let out, small bubbles forming around his mouth, making it impossible for Leo not to smile.

“Bbbrrrrrrrr”, Leo said back to your son, the small child laughing at his mimicking, reaching out for him, his small hands touching Leo’s face.

“Is daddy being silly?”, you asked in a baby voice, smiling with a chuckle as Romeo continued his small sounds, only for Leo to say them back to him. Romeo let out a high pitched shriek with a big smile, holding on to Leo’s face as his bright small eyes started at him. You wouldn’t help but smile as you watched the two of them, feeling warm throughout your body. It was wonderful to see Leo be so calm and loose around his child. He was truly at peace. “I think daddy’s being silly”, you teased, causing Leo to poke his tongue out at you as Romeo rambled on.

“No, daddy is having fun”, he said, turning his attention back towards the rambling Romeo.

“Brrrr, ba, babababa, dadadadada”.

You and Leo stared at each other in shock. Did you hear right? Did Romeo just say what you thought he said? All of your questions were soon answered when Romeo reached out for Leo once more, continuing his newly learned word.

“Dadadada”.

“That’s right!”, Leo exclaimed, picking up the happily screaming Romeo. “I’m dada! I’m your dada! Did you hear that mama?! He said dada!”

Raphael:

There was nothing more entertaining than watching Joan crawl around the floor, trying to get from one place to another, closely following behind either you or Raph as you walked around the lair. With her small arms and legs and what you could only describe as a happy battle cry, she tried to keep you the best she could, soon gaining very strong leg muscles that could push her around the floor with ease. It was just a matter of time before she would start walking, and Raph was more than ready for that.

Everyday, Raph watched Joan intently, waiting for the moment she would start walking around on her small legs. He was fully intended to see her first steps, especially after having heard Leo complain more than once that he wasn’t home to watch his own son’s first steps. Raph wouldn’t make the same mistake. He would be there with a front row view when his first born started walking. But so far, she had only been crawling or sitting on her but, screaming loudly before following people around.

But Raph never once gave up hope, continuing to watch Joan each and every day, for the moment she would start carrying herself around on only two limbs. Which was one of the many reasons why he now sat on your shared bedroom floor on Joan’s playmate, with the young child between his legs, hoping that she would support herself on him and start walking. You sat on the bed, watching them with a smile, feeling your heart swell as Raph baby talked with your daughter.

You could have stayed there and watched them for hours, had your parents not called, asking about the next time they could come and visit you and Raph, and see their adorable little granddaughter. Therefore you stood up with your mother on the phone, heading towards the living area, in order to hear the other turtles and their partners, if they were okay with your parents coming over that following weekend.

And just like any other time, when either you or Raph stood up around little Joan, she looked in your direction, let out a high pitch sound before following you, supporting herself on Raph’s legs. Raph held his breath, waiting for the moment Joan would let go, and follow without anything supporting her. But as soon as she let go of Raph, she fell to her knees and started crawling for the door.

Raph chuckled, only slightly disappointed that Joan didn’t walk, but highly amused by her determination. “Don’t worry sweetpea”, he said. “Mommy will be back in just a moment”.

Joan sat back on her butt, looking at Raph for a moment with her fingers in her mouth, before she let out another sound, crawling back towards him. Or that was what Raph thought she was going to do. As she placed her hands on the ground, just like she usually did when she crawled, she did not start to move forward. Instead she used them to push herself off the ground, before wopling on her own two feet.

Raph let out the biggest shriek you had never heard, making you stop and turn in the living area, your mother still on the phone. Flailing around on the ground with his arms open, as if to tell her to come to him, Raph called out for you. “Babe! She’s walking! (Y/N)! She’s walking!”

You almost fell back into the room at the sound of Raph’s shriek, almost forgetting about your mother on the phone, not hearing her concerned questions, fearing that the roof was falling down on top of Raph and Joan. So did you for a moment, not registering the words Raph had yelled, but the sight of Joan taking small hesitant steps towards Raph was almost enough to make you fall to your knees with your arms open as well.

“Mom!”, you yelled into the phone, turning on the camera so she could follow along. “She’s walking! Joan’s walking!”, you continued to yell, capturing the moment Joan walked straight into Raph’s arms with a bright smile.

Donatello:

Have you ever seen a baby get mad, when they can’t do the things people around them can? Well, that was Galileo when it came to walking. Watching his parents, uncles, ants, grandparents and cousins walk, while he was stuck on the floor was enough to make him angry, supporting himself on everything, trying his best to walk on his own. But it was the same story every time. As soon as Gali let go of whatever he was holding onto, he fell to the ground with a sad and angry expression. He wanted to walk!

You and Donnie did your best, lending him a helping hand whenever he wanted to walk, feeling pure happiness when you saw the big smile upon his face and heard his loud happy noises. But there were times where you couldn’t help him, or walk him in circles around the living area for hours. But Gali wanted that. He wanted to walk so bad, almost to the point where he got hysterical when he was tired. So you and Donnie did what you could do and helped him practice, enjoying his laughter and smile and how it brightened your world up.

One day, you and Donnie found yourselves sitting in the middle of the living area, sitting on the floor in front of each other with your legs out scratched. You held Gali’s hands in yours, his infectious laughter making both you and Donnie break out in bright smiles as you watched your son stand on his wobbly legs, holding onto you in order to stay up.

“Come on, Gali”, you said, fighting not to break into another fit of laughter. “Go over to daddy”.

You slowly guided Gali forward with the help of your arms, Gali laughing all the way, even as Donnie took his hands from yours, helping him all the way into his embrace.

“Hey, big boy!”, Donnie smiled, causing Gali to throw his head back in further laughter. It was adorable. Donnie held Gali close in a hug, looking at his hysterically laughing son, taking off his own glasses in order to rub his eyes, that had glossed over in tears due to his own laughter. “I’ll never get enough of this!”

“Imagine how much he will laugh when he can walk on his own”, you said, massaging your cheeks as they started to hurt from all that laughing.

“I can’t wait to find out”, Donnie said, turning Gali back towards you, holding him by the sides. Still smiling wide, Gali looked back over his shoulder, smiling at Donnie, a little bit of drool running from the side of his mouth. “Go to mommy, Gali. It’s mommy’s turn”.

Gali started laughing again, his legs giving out under him, letting him fall down into Donnie’s lap. However Gali kept laughing, causing Donnie to hide his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking from his own chuckles.

Gali stopped laughing, and grabbed onto Donnie’s arm, pulling himself up on his feet. Donnie quickly recovered, ready to hold on to his son once more, only to find that Gali had already taken a few steps away from him, still holding onto his arm. And then Gali let go. Both you and Donnie expected him to fall to the ground, followed by loud crying, but that did not happen. Instead Gali continued to walk towards you, laughing and screaming happily as he did so, before almost falling into your arms, you and Donnie staring at each other in shock.

“Gali’s walking!”, Donnie exclaimed, as if he did not fully believe it.

“He is”, you said, letting go of your young son, only for him to walk back to Donnie with more happy screaming.

“You’re walking!”, Donnie yelled excitedly, lifting Gali up for a bear hug, the young boy screaming and laughing all the way.

Michelangelo:

Nothing could beat mornings like this. You and Mikey in the kitchen with Sunny in her high chair, eating alone together before the rest of the family woke up. Who would have thought that you and Mikey ever would become morning people? Well, neither you nor Mikey, but then you gave birth to a daughter that tended to rise with the sun every day, and there was nothing that would make her go back to sleep. But both of you had to admit it was nice, sitting just you three in the kitchen, engaging Sunny in small conversation, her small sounds and her finger that kept pointing everywhere with curiosity, without the rest of the family around. It wasn’t because you didn’t want the others around, no not all, but because when Mikey’s brothers and their partners woke up, then so did their toddlers. And as much as you loved your nephews and niece, it was nice with some time only for your little family, enjoying your early breakfast together.

Once all of you had finished eating, you would stay in the kitchen for a moment, waiting for the rest of the lair to wake up. During those moments, Mikey tended to take Sunny out of her highchair and set her on his lap, letting her play with his hands, the tails of his bandana, or whatever caught her wandering attention that morning. And today it was his thumb, her small fingers holding onto it as she made all the sounds she could think of.

“Mmmmm”, Sunny hummed, her small hands grabbing onto Mikey’s thumb, before putting it into her mouth with a small grin. “Mmmmmm”.

“Do you think she’s about to say her first word?”, Mikey asked, wiggling his thumb a little, making Sunny giggle. “I think she’ll say her first word today”.

“Yesterday you thought she was going to say her first word”, you smiled, chuckling at the drool that dripped from her mouth.

“Mmmmmm”, she continued, her bright blue eyes looking up at her father.

“What’s that?”, he asked, bouncing his leg slightly, making her giggle once again. “Are you about to say mommy?”

You rolled your eyes. For the past few weeks, Mikey had tried and tried his best, wanting Sunny’s first words to be your parental title. And why exactly? Well, because Mikey thought you deserved it. You gave birth to her, so at least her first words could be mommy.

“Mikey, she isn’t going to say mommy”, you said with a smile, shaking your head at your husband.

“Bet”, Mikey said, lifting Sunny up so that she was standing on his thigh with both his hands under her arms. “Come on, Sunshine, say mommy”.

“Mmmmmm”.

“Mikey”, you said in a teasing warning.

“Mmmmmm”, Sunny continued.

“Nono babe, she almost got it”, he said, his eyes never leaving her small face. “Come on, Sunny, say mommy. I know you can do it”.

“Mmmmm”, she said one more time, and then, suddenly. “Mikey!”

Mikey stared at Sunny in confusion while you broke out in laughter, Sunny giggling in the way she always did.

“No, no, Sunshine”, Mikey said with a chuckle of disbelief. “I’m daddy, not Mikey”.

“Mikey!”, she said with a big and bright smile, giggling even more at his confused expression. This was definitely not what he had expected, nor did he fully know how to react. But for a long time afterwards, no one was allowed to call him Mikey, until Sunny started calling him daddy.

[glass-rose-paperweight]

Rosie Watson

I don’t see much talk about Rosie, which is understandable since she has so little screen time. However, a child is a pretty important part of anyone’s life. And I’m in a child psychology class right now, so this sort of stuff is on my mind. I often see her appear in fanfiction, usually inaccurately, which is understandable because writing children is hard. This post is going to talk about her development at the end of the show (about 18 months old), what her development would be like at 2 years old (a common age for her in fanfiction), and how Mary’s death might have affected her.

Physical Development

By 18 months old, the physical development of most babies is pretty well developed. They’re almost definitely going to be walking by this time, maybe still a little unsteadily, but most can get around pretty well without much assistance at 18 months. By two years old, most children can climb stairs, run, and jump. Other than growing bigger, their physical development is starting to come to a close. Fine motor skills are still developing at this age; gross motor skills are going to be more well developed. A common test used is stacking blocks. At 18 months, they can generally only stack about 3, but by 2 years, babies can usually stack 5 blocks. Their peripheral and color vision is basically completely developed by 2 years, and their eyes, unless there is something wrong with them, will probably be close to 20/20 vision. They have well developed depth perception and perceptual constancy (the idea that an object viewed from a different distance or a different angle is still the same object). By 18 months, their hearing is well developed, and babies of this age can locate the sources of sounds just as well as adults can. 

Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget came up with 6 stages for cognitive development in babies. By 18 months, Rosie would be in either stage 5 (12-18 months) or stage 6 (18-24 months). By this age, Rosie would be quite inquisitive about the world. Babies at this age are described as ‘miniature scientists’: they are exploring and trying to figure out how things work, often getting into things they shouldn’t. And since they can move around pretty well by this age, they’re able to get into a lot of things. They will be engaging in trial and error behaviors in order to accomplish something, though at 18, the baby might be able to start mentally representing some objects and able to manipulate them in their head and figure it out that way. The example Piaget gives is an experiment he did on his own kids. At (I think) 18 months, he gave his daughter a stick that she wanted to pull into her crib. She was able to get it into her crib only by repeated trial and error of repeatedly turning the stick until it was able to fit through the bars. He repeated this experiment with a different kid when they were about 24 months old, and they were able to sit there and think about it for a moment before turning the stick and pulling it into the crib because they were able to mentally manipulate the stick. Object permanence is fully established around 12 months, so Rosie at this age would fully grasp it and go after objects that have left her view or been hidden. Deferred imitation (the ability to repeat an observed action after a waiting period) is also well established by 12 months - children are able to repeat actions seen 4 weeks prior. So it would be easy for Rosie to repeat the actions of others at 18 months, definitely by 2 years. This is because memory starts solidifying around 12 months. Toddlers 1-3 years old require 12-14 hours of sleep each day.

Language

I think this is the biggest mistake I see when it comes to writing really young children. Your 2 year old will not be speaking complete sentences. At 18 months, babies only have a vocabulary of about 50 words (though, they can understand far more words than this - probably twice as many words). Between 18 and 22 months, babies have a vocabulary explosion, going from 50 words to about 300. About 75% of the words gained during this time are nouns. What is common at this age is overextension, which is use of words in situations where meaning is extended. This usually happens with function or form. For example, if a baby is shown a small dog and told that is a ‘doggie’ and then shown a cow and told that is a ‘cow’, they child might think anything bigger than the small dog is a cow, even if its actually a dog. So medium to large dogs, sheep, horses, moose, and cows might all get called cows. By extension, anything about the size of the dog, or maybe even smaller, might get called ‘doggie’. Or, maybe the baby has a toy train that it calls a ‘choo-choo’. The baby might end up calling anything with wheels a ‘choo-coo’. At 18-24 months, babies will be using 2 word sentences. However, they do seem to understand syntax pretty well at this age - if they want you to sit in a chair, they will tell you ‘sit chair’, not ‘chair sit’. At this age, they will be using Telegraphic Speech, which are brief expressions that contain the meaning of the sentence but only essential words are used. Adults use this in their everyday life, such as if we text someone ‘home Tuesday’ instead of ‘I will be home on Tuesday’.  If you want to go the route of showing Rosie as some sort of genius baby (or any baby of this age, for that matter), then you might have a baby using 3 word sentences with a vocabulary of 500 words. That would be a very smart baby. However, it’s almost impossible to tell how smart someone will be at this age. Baby’s brains are still developing, and even the smartest babies will have an upper limit on what they are capable of at this age. Most IQ tests can’t really start accurately predicting future intelligence until about 5 or 6. Even the tests that have been designed for babies 2 and younger are really only useful for telling if there’s some sort of cognitive impairment, not if the baby is exceptionally smart for its age. Even the ones that excel at the tests at that age might end up with only average intelligence. If you want Rosie to be a genius, it likely won’t really start showing until she is a little older.

Mary’s Death

Mary dies sometime between Rosie being about 6 months (when she throws the rattle at Sherlock) and 18 months (the end of TFP). We’ll just say 12 months for easy numbers. By this age, Rosie would have developed very strong attachments to her caregivers. Obviously John and Mary are her caregivers, but the scene where Rosie throws the rattle at Sherlock shows that Rosie has formed a strong attachment with Sherlock; 6 months is about the age where fear of strangers begins, and Rosie shows absolutely no discomfort with Sherlock, so he’s been around enough for the previous months to have a strong attachment with him. When Molly tells Sherlock that John doesn’t want to see him anymore at the end of T6T, we’re going to say that Rosie is about 12 months. This is about the time when fear of strangers starts declining, but if Rosie wasn’t pretty comfortable with Molly, she would be fussy at being taken away from her father, so it’s a pretty safe bet that Molly has also been pretty involved with taking care of Rosie. So, that’s 4 primary caregivers total. Some might think that, because Rosie is so young, Mary’s death wouldn’t affect her. And Rosie isn’t likely to remember Mary or that she died. However, babies are utterly dependent on those that take care of them. Consequently, they form very strong attachments to those that take care of them. As anyone who has been around a baby can tell you, they get upset when the person that takes care of them disappears and isn’t around to offer them safety and comfort. By 12, Rosie would have formed a very strong attachment with Mary; even with her other caregivers being around, she still would have noticed Mary’s absence and been affected by it. However, her other caregivers weren’t around. John tells Sherlock that he doesn’t want Sherlock around any more, and then Sherlock goes “off his tits” with drugs for a while. John is having to deal with his wife being dead and the anger he feels towards his friend over that. It’s shown that he’s not doing too well. He’s probably still Rosie’s primary caregiver, but he almost definitely wouldn’t be as involved as he was simply because he’s so emotionally distraught. Meaning that the person who was probably least involved with Rosie prior to Mary’s death (Molly) might have ended up becoming the main caregiver for Rosie for a little while there. She went from 4 to 1 and a half caregivers, more or less. And that would definitely have affected her.  The most obvious way would be in her attachment style. Babies form different attachments to their caregivers, partially dependent on the baby’s own temperament, but usually dependent a lot more on the kind of care they receive. Most babies have secure attachment. Securely attached babies will show mild distress at a caregiver’s departure and will want to interact with the caregiver upon their return. However, they are easily comforted by the caregiver and go back to being happy and content pretty soon after being comforted. They use their caregiver as a secure base to explore the world around them. As long as the caregiver is close by, and giving positive signals as the baby is exploring if the baby becomes uncertain, they will remain content and explore just about everything they can. Securely attached babies are happier and more sociable with strangers, more cooperative with parents, get along better with peers, are better at problem solving, and having higher attention spans and lower impulsive behaviors. Contrast that with insecure attachment. There are actually 3 different types of insecure attachments, but I’m not going to go into them because this post is long enough as it is, and the individual types isn’t really important. There are some consistencies. Insecurely attached babies will be more emotionally distressed and less easily comforted by caregiver’s departure. They may initially show confusion or be dazed and disoriented with the caregiver first leaves. They may show contradictory behavior when the caregiver returns, alternating between pulling the caregiver close and pushing them away (though, there is one form of insecure attachment where the baby basically just ... doesn’t care about the caregiver. They show the least distress out of all babies when the caregiver leaves and basically ignores them when the caregiver returns).  Rosie would most likely start out as a securely attached baby. She is surrounded by a lot of people that love her and engage with her and take very good care of her. Sherlock would absolutely encourage exploration and curiosity within Rosie. however, attachment styles can change, depending on the caregiving received. I think it likely that, after the events of T6T, her attachment style would change from secure to insecure. The good news is, that also means it can change back, from insecure to secure. Even though we see Sherlock and John interacting with her will at the end of TFP, she would likely still be insecurely attached. It takes time for anyone to get over that sort of thing. If you are writing her at 18-20 months, it would be completely believable to write her as being a bit of a ‘problem baby’, with all the issues that come from insecure attachment. However, by 2 years, she will likely have gone back to a secure attachment style, likely with no lasting consequences of what happened during season 4. Babies display a wonderful ability to bounce back from all sorts of harsh conditions they go through at a young age, showing almost no problems later in life as long as they are given the chance to have a better situation and improve.

I hope this helps anyone looking to write about Rosie or any babies about 18 to 24 months of age. 

[sunmoonsimming]

Better Toddler Toys + Gameplay

I agree with the decades (being overdramatic a touch) of criticism that babies in the Sims need to be so much better, but today I've been playing with toddlers and I still think that age could be improved too. The foundation is there and honestly, there are a lot of great mods + cc options now for toddlers out there. These are just some other things I'm itching for — as anyone who's dealt with a real toddler knows, you need lots of stuff to tire them out.

STROLLERS

Objects that can be placed in inventories and pulled out as needed, or be placed on porches or in front yards or really anywhere. There can be different kinds of strollers — one for babies, one for toddlers, one for one baby + one toddler, one for two of either, etc.

A teen or older Sim can interact with it to place a toddler or baby inside and then go on a walk (operating similarly to bikes). Positive moodlets galore. Ex. Strolling For Fresh Air. Ahhh, nothing like a stroll through the neighborhood. Just smooth riding as far as the eye can see.

Increases parenting skills for Teens and above + increases social need for all.

TRICYCLES

Objects that can be placed in or outside of inventories. There can be different styles. Toddlers can learn how to use them in stages depending on their motor skill level: (1) first with an older Sim pushing them, (2) then on their own slowly, and (3) then on their own faster.

Increases motor skill for Toddlers. Increases parenting skill for teens + older Sims who push them on the tricycle.

OTHER SIMILAR ACTIVITIES

Scooters, hula hoops, jump ropes, chalk to make hop scotch. These activities could apply to toddlers and children.

TABLETOP ACTIVITIES

See other concepts here and here and here.

HIDE AND SEEK

A gameplay interaction. Toddlers can initiate or older Sims can initiate. Once initiated, the toddler goes and "hides" behind some object, then the older Sim pretends to look for them until the interaction "find [Sim Name]" is selected. An animation for finding and being found follows.

TAG

A gameplay interaction for toddlers + children. Toddlers can initiate or children can initiate through "Play Tag". Once initiated, the toddler or child runs away and the chase ensues. This goes back and forth with tagging each other + running until one person cancels the animation or another need takes precedence. Playful moodlets are given for longer-lasting games of tag, sad moodlets when the Sim who is first tagged refuses to play. Ex. But You're Tagged. [Sim Name] tagged someone but they didn't chase them! What gives! That's not how you play!

SIMEON SAYS

A group gameplay interaction for toddlers + children. Toddlers or children can initiate with older Sims through "Ask to Lead Simeon Says." This will lead to a screen where other little Sims can be selected to join the game. (If a little Sims isn't chosen then, they can still click on someone who is playing and "Join Simeon Says Game.") All the little congregants will gather and then the leader will do different motions and the others will copy, until the leader points someone out who "lost" and they'll get a moodlet for losing the game + be released from the interaction. This will go on until only one player is left, the winner. This is similar to how group yoga functions.

GO PLAY AT FRIEND'S HOUSE

This one is crucial and so so simple and it's really more a child thing than a toddler thing, but whatever, I'm on a roll. This would be an interaction where a child can ask to go play at their friend's house, or ask to go sleepover at a friend's house and then disappear into a rabbithole until 3-4 hours later, or the next morning around 10am.

Do you know of cc similar to this? Send a message and I’ll post about it.

[champagne-bucky]

The Undoing: Three

Summary: The truth about a past life is unveiled.

Warnings: THIS IS A DARK STORY!! dark! Steve Rogers x reader, kidnapping, non con and dub con (or at least mentions of), dark! Bucky Barnes, Stockholm syndrome, grooming, mentions of pregnancy termination and suicide mentions (for one chapter), possibly more tags to be added!

Notes: Hahaha... remember this story? Lol so I finally can give to you Chapter 3!! I feel so bad that this was so late, but school really kicked my ass so hard and I’ve just been so unmotivated. I’m gonna try my hardest to give you guys this story and some other stuff I’ve been working on! I hope you guys enjoy this one! Please make sure to like, reblog, comment, inbox, and follow me for more!! Enjoy :)

PLEASE READ WARNINGS!!

Hell must be an eternal bliss. If it’s anything compared to how you’ve been living your life the past few years then Satan himself has nothing on Steve Rogers.

Life was never the same after that day in the hospital. From the moment you left that bed to the moment you arrived home with your little Sasha, Steve had already struck the fear of God into your soul. From the second you entered into your prison, Steve had wrestled the newborn out of your hands and into his. What followed after was a swift grab of your hair and a drag down the basement steps.

“You can leave when you learn,” Steve spat at you before locking your ankle back into place.

Those days were the darkest moments of your life. You never got to see Sasha, well you did interact with her you just couldn't physically see her. Steve made sure of that. Every time poor baby Sasha was hungry you were subjected to a blindfold around your eyes. Steve said it was part of your punishment. You tried to take away his family, he would take away yours, at least the sight of them.

That was all you got with precious Sasha. This punishment was real and it ended up fucking with your mental and physical health.

*a few months later*

How long has it been down here? Months, year? It couldn’t have been weeks. Life was going on all around you and you had missed it all.

Steve taunted you, he got off on your absence in Sasha’s life. The doctors had told Steve it was safe to start using bottled milk after a while which meant there was no chance of you to even feel Sasha and her touch. No more, you saw nothing, not even a shred of hope.

*18 months*

You had cracked, it had officially happened. That light you hoped would never fade has burned itself out. In its place a hollow bulb left with no purpose. The only difference between you and the bulb? Your purpose was to be solely Steve’s. You didn’t belong to anyone else, not even baby Sasha.

These last months had broken you down into the compilable puppet Steve wanted you to be. You missed everything in your baby’s first year of life all because of that stupid mistake the night of her birth. Steve tortured you even further by not even mentioning the baby one bit. It’s like there wasn’t even a baby at all. At one point, you feared that Steve might’ve given her away, but he accidentally slipped one night during your punishment by mentioning her. Sasha was your last source of joy and you couldn’t even see her.

“I wanna have another one,” Steve mentions to you while you eat the food he brought you. For the past months you were only given his scraps of food, it’s no wonder why he’s giving you full meals lately, he wants you strong for another baby.

The stubborn girl inside you wanted to scream no, but you knew what would happen if you did. If having another baby would make Steve happy, you would do it. Maybe you could wager your way out of the basement.

“I would like that too, Steve. A little sister or brother for Sasha,” Steve hid his shock. He was fully expecting you to have another outburst, but you seemed so compliant now.

“Why don’t we go upstairs and see little Sasha,” you gasped at Steve’s suggestion. You would finally be able to see your little girl after all this time.

Steve led you up the stairs for what would be the last time for a while now. The bright light of the upstairs hit your face and you needed to adjust to it. He led you over to the living room area and that’s when you saw her.

She was sitting with Bucky and playing with her toys. You had tears in your eyes as you broke away from Steve’s hold and ran to Sasha. Bucky eyed you up and down. You were dirty. Hair long overdue for a cut and your nails were grimey. You were a wreck. What had Steve done to you down there?

You picked up your daughter and held her close. She cried. In fact, she was wailing to the point where her face was turning beat red. Sasha started failing her limbs around and looked for her daddy. It took both Steve and Bucky to pry you away from your daughter. Steve took her into his arms and soothed her.

“I think she needs a nap,” Steve then handed your daughter to Bucky as he brought her upstairs.

“I don’t understand,” you were kneeling on the floor now looking at the staircase Bucky had just gone up.

“Oh, well she doesn’t know who you are. You're more a stranger to her than a mother,” you didn’t even want to turn around to see the grin on Steve’s face. He lifted you into his arms.

“Shhh, it’s okay,” you didn’t even realize you were crying, “she’ll come to know you soon enough. Now let’s get you upstairs and cleaned up. We have plans.”

-

*5 months later*

It was a brutal few months. Months filled with trial and error in regards to getting pregnant again. Months spent in a bathroom crying over another negative pregnancy test. Months spent living in Steve’s disappointment due to your failure to conceive a child. However, that silver lining came in at the five month mark. Finally, there were tears of celebration from both you and Steve. The latest addition to your family would be on their way soon enough.

During this time, you got to see Sasha, but barely. With every failure that came Steve would redact the amount of time you two would spend together. Some days he wouldn’t let you see each other at all because of your “unwillingness to commit to this family” and that broke your heart.

You were groomed to be the perfect wife and perfect mother to this family and goddammit were you sure not going to fail. Steve had taught you how a wife should serve and act around their husband and you followed his every command like an obedient dog. Now, you finally succeeded with this baby and were back in Steve’s perfect graces.

-

*a few years later*

The routine was always the same. Get up, get dressed, feed the babies, and make breakfast for your husband before he locked himself away in the office for the day. Take care of the babies and clean around the house. Make lunch for Steve and maybe have some alone time together if the babies are down for a nap. Not if, they better be down for a nap, Steve’s orders.

Grocery shopping is to be done on the weekends and weekends only. Steve will go out because only you can watch the babies. If you needed something you forgot to write on the list, too bad it would have to wait until next weekend.

It was a good system, a steady routine. You didn’t argue with Steve because you knew better than to question his ideas. Plus, you didn’t mind staying home with the babies. You loved taking care of them and spending so much time with them. To be honest, you even hated putting the little ones to bed because that meant you would be apart. The babies were keeping you in one piece.

Of course Steve was doing his part as well. The perfect husband. A man you didn’t know you needed in your life to be your provider. He truly was becoming an ideal man.

The babies were doing great. After Sasha you gave birth to another girl, Gwenyd. Sasha was a helpful big sister to her and you couldn't wait to tell them about the newest little one to join your perfect family.

-

Life for baby Sasha was as simple it could be for a toddler. She got naps and food and spent the whole day with her mommy. Needless to say she was living the ideal toddler life. However, past her toddler years she was taking up responsibilities that a little girl shouldn’t have.  

Ever since she turned 6, Sasha would help her mother out with the younger siblings. It was a sweet sight to see. You had taught Sasha how to feed the little ones, how to change them, how to dress them, like one big game of house. This was the bonding time you had always craved with your little girl.

Steve thought that it was endearing. A mother and daughter helping take care of his children. He really did have the perfect family.

As the years went on, Sasha had gotten older and she had more siblings to help take care of. You were burnt out by then. A new baby almost every year or two. Luckily, you had your daughter helping you out, but she shouldn't have to be subjected as a second parent when there was another perfectly capable one sitting locked in his office.

On top of that, you now have to homeschool these children while making sure the helpless little ones were being properly taken care of. Needles to say, you were on the verge of a breakdown and Steve wasn’t willing to help out with some of it.

Sure, he would have his bonding time with the babies, but when it came to the older ones and homeschooling he couldn't deal with that headache. After all, he did tell you that if you didn’t want them sent to a daycare then you would have to take up all the responsibilities while he was at work.

He knew you wouldn’t send the kids away, you were too attached to losing them like you had lost yourself. They were the only thing stringing your reality together and keeping the cracks from splitting further down the line. You were happy, he convinced himself, happy and compliant.

-

*a few years later*

Why didn’t you take that deal with Steve when the kids were younger? Why couldn’t you just let them thrive in a better learning environment? You are worried you’ll fail these kids. Worried that you’ll screw them up. You were close to shattering.

Being pregnant again and teaching your daughter how to do fractions, that not even you knew how to explain, was taking a toll on your mental state. You wanted a break. Just one day where you didn’t need to worry about what was for dinner or what’s tomorrow’s new lesson play. You NEEDED a break.

Steve wouldn’t let you go anywhere. The rules had never changed. You never even got to be in your backyard alone. Didn’t anyone realize that no one but Steve ever left the house?

The kids were sometimes allowed out, but only when Steve had the time to take them, which was rarely. Bucky never came around anymore. You didn’t know any details, but assumed they must’ve had a falling out. Steve never told you anything about his work or about family or friends. Frankly, you didn’t care as much either. This was your new life now and the past was in the past.

-

Steve was going to kill his wife. If it wasn’t him killing his wife then then it would be the first person who would cross his path. How could she be so careless? How could HE be so careless? He thought the locks he bought for the house were secure enough to keep his wife in, guess not. Turns out all it took was his 13 year old daughter swiping away a key he thought he misplaced for the total shit storm to come down on him.

It all started on a quiet afternoon, the wife was cooking in the kitchen and the kids were playing in their rooms. There was a knock on the door, Steve told his wife not to bother as he went to answer it. He remembers the feared look on the one agent's face as they announced they were CPS coming in for an investigation. Needless to say after they left, Steve went berserk. Not only on his wife, but on Sasha too.

“HOW COULD YOU BE SO CARELESS?” Sasha was clinging to her mother with tears streaming down her face.

“Steve please don’t be so hard on-”

“YOU STAY OUT OF IT. I’LL DEAL WITH YOU LATER,” well you knew better than to interrupt at that point.

Steve was pacing back and forth while yelling at how careless and stupid his daughter was. Sasha was scarred from that night on. She was afraid of disappointing her father and mother anymore. So, she became more quiet and reserved than usual. You thought it was awful the way Steve broke her down, Steve thought it would teach her to be better.

CPS wouldn’t let up on their investigation with the Rogers family. Steve noticed that someone was always watching them. Whether it was from across the street or an impromptu visit, they were always around.

He needed to get them off his back somehow. If they were to find out who his wife really was then it was to the prison cell for a long time. Of course the cops had been looking for you. In fact, your father offered to fund all the money in their pockets to keep their investigation going. The case ran cold a few years back, Bucky told him that before he departed for the next few years.

Steve did the most drastic, and most likely stupid, thing he could’ve thought of: he enrolled his eldest in high school.

It might backfire, but if Sasha just stuck to the carefully coordinated routine Steve laid out for her, then all would be fine...right?

Tags to be added in comments!!

[mollymauk-teafleak]

Help Wanted (chapter 3)

Huge thanks again to @minky-for-short and @spiky-lesbian who continue to be amazing beta readers!

Please consider leaving a comment on Ao3, it really helps

Chapters: 1, 2, 3

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Caduceus loved it when little kids would come into the Blooming Grove. It didn’t happen all that often, most of his customers were students from the academy or the nearby art school, coming in talking about their projects or dissertations, magic runes scrawled up their arms in biro and paint under their fingernails. But every so often, usually on sunny afternoons, parents would come in with strollers or tiny, pudgy hands held securely in their own, coming from the park or the fountain or the markets. The little ones would soon find themselves thoroughly spoiled, pressed with free cookies and cakes to go with their juice, the tall, nice man behind the counter always eager to listen to their nonsense and coo over whatever treasures they clutched. He kept a box of toys over in the corner for them to play with, picture books to read and there was always a napkin within reach when one was needed.

There were some skills you couldn’t shake, even if your siblings were miles away.

He was just helping a little drow toddler clean off some cookie crumbs before his mothers could notice when there was a yelp from behind the counter, accompanied by a loud hissing like some immense dragon.

“Caddy! Help! Emergency, Captain!”

“You don’t have to call me that!” Cad gave the little boy a pat on the head and went running over.

Fjord was being enveloped in bursts of steam that smelled like burnt coffee, belching from the ancient coffee brewer, coughing and waving his arms in an attempt to stave them off, “I told you, Caddy. Helga hates me.”

“She does not hate you,” Cad insisted, wading in and turning dials and pushing levers back up, slapping his palm against the sides in a particular rhythm.

Eventually it worked, the steam abating and the guttural hissing stuttering into silence. There was a final worrying rattle and a small tide of black, steaming, bitter sludge plopped from the dispenser into the waiting cup.

“Ew,” Cad’s ears flattened and his nose wrinkled, “Okay, maybe Helga does hate you. What did you do to her?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Fjord sounded indignant but clearly, like Cad, he was barely holding in laughter, “I tried to follow your instructions but I couldn’t remember them and I couldn’t find her manual…”

“She doesn’t have a manual, I bought her at a flea market,” Cad shook his head, slapping the immense bronze machine a few more times before nodding in a satisfied manner, “That should do it. What was the order?”

“Cinnamon coffee,” Fjord scratched at his jaw, still giving Helga a scandalised look.

“Right,” Cad moved to grab the right jars from the small, mismatched army of them that cluttered the bench, “Did you put the cinnamon in with the beans or did you add them separately?”

Fjord paused, eyes widening and jaw slackening in realisation, “Ah. The wrong one.”

Cad chuckled, nudging him lightly with a bony elbow, “Don’t worry. You’ll get it next time.”

For some reason, that seemed to make Fjord shrink a little, like he’d been expecting another step but his foot had found thin air instead. But only for a moment, then he was smiling again.

“Well, it’s my mess so I’m definitely cleaning Helga tonight.”

Cad let him have that, waving him back to work his usual magic with the customers so he could finish the drink. It had been a few months since he’d started working here and Fjord was clearly strongest when he was interacting with people, a relief seeing as conversation had never been Caduceus’ strong suit which he supposed came of growing up in the middle of the forest with only six other family members, talking to plants more than people.

In fact, Cad had learned a lot about Fjord, seeing him nearly every day, working elbow to elbow with him. He hummed while he worked. He didn’t like huge bits of onion in his food but if it was cut up small, he’d never notice. He’d gone to high school with Beau and Jester and become friends with Molly and Caleb and Veth through them. He’d been a sailor since he left school, speaking about the waves the same way Caduceus spoke about the forest. He always had a battered paperback in his bag, bought from a thrift store, even if there’d be no time in the day to read it. He woke up early and stayed up late, living on an amount of sleep that would have Cad wilting like a tulip in the heat. And he really needed a haircut but seemed in no hurry to get one.

Cad found himself filing away every new thing he learned, despite telling himself his crush had been a brief thing, just something silly his brain had spat up in amongst all the stress and change. Fjord was handsome, of course, but he was also becoming his friend on top of his employee which was way more important. He wasn’t going to put him in an awkward position by blushing like a teenager every time he opened his mouth. It wouldn’t be fair to him.

And besides, there was Avantika.

She was rarely in the cafe itself, which Caduceus couldn’t help but be grateful for, as selfish as he felt over it. Even so, her presence was felt almost every day, in the way Fjord would come in muttering under his breath, agitated and red faced, still reliving an argument he’d left behind. Or in the way he’d get calls sometimes that he would get anxious about taking, dropping whatever he was doing in the cafe to answer them coming back apologetic and shamefaced, with a tension in him that hadn’t been there before. Or the way clear up would run late- usually because the two of them were talking and laughing or Fjord was showing him a new song on the radio- and he’d sigh resignedly and head out for the bus stop rather than getting a lift from her. He never said anything directly about it but the pieces weren’t hard to put together. Fjord knew Cad would offer to drive him home and he also knew he wouldn’t be able to say no. And there would be something unacceptable about that, some rule broken by that action that he didn’t understand.

There seemed to be a lot of rules in Fjord’s...whatever he had with Avantika. One of them seemed to not be speaking about her at all, Cad had to base everything on what Fjord said with his muscles. He’d always been able to read that language better than anything, realising what people were trying not to say more than what they were actually saying. And he had learned shortly after that that people didn’t like it when you would state what it was out loud. He’d been working on that since coming to the city.

But no matter how many times he told himself it was none of his business one way or the other, that he needed to keep his broad, flat nose out of his new friend’s affairs, Caduceus did care. He did.

Fortunately, the rest of the Nein also cared and seemed determined to talk to him about it.

Beau and Caleb were in the cafe at the moment, as Caduceus tried to soothe Helga and get her back in working order by thumping his fist very carefully around her casing. They tended not to sit down when it was just the two of them, usually just on a pit stop in between class and a library session. They took different classes, of course, but they studied together which Cad found very strange, as they seemed to constantly bicker whenever they were within five meters of each other. Maybe they really didn’t know anyone else even remotely studious. Their significant others certainly wouldn’t qualify.

Fjord was taking orders, efficiently and smoothly, putting them together with barely a pause. He’d really been getting good at this, even in such a short space of time. Cad could see why he’d been so good on ships. Any task he was given, he threw himself into it fully until he’d mastered it and could move through it confidently. Cad barely ever had to show him something twice.

Thinking that he had this in hand- it was still an hour away from lunchtime, they were still in the ebb rather than the rush- Cad slipped over to Caleb and Beau, where they were leaning against the tall stools up against the counter, probably already arguing about something complicated to do with magic. Cad didn’t understand what there was for them to learn about magic for so many years. You just thought about it, asked nicely and it happened?

“Morning,” he rumbled congenially, setting their cups down in front of them. They came so often, he’d just started taking their own travel cups and filling them. Beau’s was scuffed and scratched from being shoved deep into her backpack with all her stuff, the logo of the Cobalt Soul still just about visible, clearly a freebie from her orientation nearly three years ago. Caleb’s was covered in cartoon kitty paw prints. Both were filled with black, incredibly strong study session grade coffee brew. Cad refused to sell them more than three cups a day, five cups a day during finals week.

“Hey, Cad,” Beau was bouncing on the balls of her feet, like she was shaking out all of her energy before having to stay still for an extended period of time.

“Good morning Caduceus,” Caleb had eyes only for his coffee, making grabby hands towards it before Cad had even passed it over.

“Only three, remember,” the firbolg warned him, not liking the look on his face, “I am keeping track.”

“I know,” Caleb said meekly, trying to look restrained and a little less like an addict, just taking one small sip before lowering the cup, as if to prove he could.

“Saw Fjord nearly send your coffee machine up in smoke,” Beau leaned a bandaged elbow on the counter, tipping her cup in the direction of the half orc, now chatting companionably with an elderly dragonborn woman as he put her granola bowl together.

“Easy mistake to make and no harm done,” Cad smiled in the same direction, just to himself, “He’s actually doing brilliantly. Starting to forget how I managed without him.”

Cad’s gaze was elsewhere, being much less subtle than he thought, so he missed the glance exchanged between Beau and Caleb.

“So, uh…” Beau leaned forward, bringing Cad’s eyes back her way, “You and Fjord, you get on well, huh?”

Cad was frowning over that, confused as to why she’d ask that when it was obvious, when they were both interrupted by a chime from Fjord’s apron pocket. The apron Cad had made him, done exactly to match his height, with waves stitched along the hem. He’d been delighted with it.

It went just as it always did. Fjord seemed to shrink in on himself a little, jaw tensing, teeth closing on his lower lip. He gave the woman her change quickly, eyes darting to Cad, gesturing apologetically and pointing at his pocket questioningly. Cad gave him a wave, there was no one else at the counter anyway.

Now Beau’s face was dark as thunder and even Caleb had a disapproving set to his jaw, like he’d swallowed something bitter other than his coffee.

“How many times a day does he get calls like that?” he asked, watching Fjord’s back disappear around the corner to the back room.

Cad shrugged, “A few. More some days than others. I’m not counting.” It wasn’t strictly a lie. He was trying not to count.

Beau muttered something into her cup that sounded unkind. When Caleb gave her a look she threw her hands in the air, nearly sloshing coffee on the wooden floor, “What? You know I’m right! She’s checking up on him like he’s a naughty kid!”

“I am aware,” Caleb sniffed, “And I don’t like it any more than you do. But we said we weren’t going to say that kind of stuff when he’s around.”

“Oh come on, he can’t hear us,” Beau rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

Cad looked between the two of them anxiously, already feeling guilty but too curious to go and do something else, “So...you guys know about his girlfriend? Avantika?”

“Girlfriend is a strong word,” Caleb allowed, while Beau snorted derisively in the background, “More like...force of mutual destruction. Part time nemesis. Live in life ruiner.”

Caduceus wrinkled his nose, “Oh…”

“They’ve been like this since high school,” Beau’s lip curled, “They both got deep into this really dodgy patron, you know, how most people do at that age? Neither of them had a great childhood and it kind of just happens that way. Fjord started to have second thoughts once he became friends with us but she kept dragging him down into it. We all thought they were done when Fjord signed up with the Tide’s Breath, the ship he worked on? But now he’s home and they’ve just fallen right back into making each other miserable and making our lives shitty into the bargain!”

“That doesn’t sound...healthy…” Cad said slowly, taking his tail in his hands and wringing it anxiously.

“It’s not!” Beau slapped Caleb’s arm, “See! Cad gets it!”

“Ow! I’m on your side!” Caleb protested, rubbing his arm, “We all are!”

“You’re ridiculous, I barely touched you.”

Cad sucked in a breath, “People sometimes do things that don’t make sense because they don’t see that it’s hurting them. Or because something else is hurting them more and listening to someone else is easier. Even if what they’re telling you is bad.”

That got him an eerily twin set of concerned looks. Cad realised that maybe that should have been something he kept to himself, one of those things that made conversations awkward.

“We sort of get why he’s doing it,” Beau eventually said, slowly, “I mean, we’re basically Team Gone Through Bad Shit. Doesn’t mean we like it.”

“No one does,” Cad said quietly, eyes casting down to his tail, still clutched tight in his long fingers, “But saving people from themselves is difficult.”

“Hence why they’re still together,” Caleb murmured, “We know we can’t just go telling Fjord all of this without upsetting him and making things worse.” At that, he gave Beau a very significant look. She gave him the finger in return.

When Caleb ignored it, she sighed and hopped down from the stool, “We need to head out. Just...help us keep an eye on him?”

Cad glanced over. Fjord was back behind the counter, tapping his fingers restlessly on the wood, looking red faced and anxious. Clearly the conversation hadn’t been a pleasant one. Cad thought of all the times Fjord would look uncomfortable when he reassured him or instantly forgave an error or mistake. The way he’d get awkward about compliments, like he didn’t know how to hold them or where to put them. The way he needed to hold his overgrown hair back with a band but every day his tusks were freshly filed down, right to where it had to be painful, just so they wouldn’t be visible past his lip.

He couldn’t have a crush on him, it wouldn’t be fair. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t care about him. Far too late for that.

“Of course I will,” he said softly.

Caduceus was starting to enjoy closing up more than any other part of the day. Everything slowed down, there seemed to be more space to breathe and the whole evening stretched out in front of them, feeling like forever. And it would suddenly be just him and Fjord in the quiet, able to choose their favourite songs on the speakers and talk across the freshly wiped down tables and sing and joke.

It had started off tentative, back in the first few days. Neither of them were hugely eager to talk about the usual ice breaking questions like family, home, where they both were before now. Instead they’d talked in the present, about their interests. Cad had talked for hours about his rooftop beehive before realising he was rambling, except Fjord had still been listening intently, almost as if he didn’t care how much time had gone by. Fjord talked about how he was getting back into the battered old acoustic guitar he played, whatever book he was reading, whatever podcast he was listening to.

But, as it often went, talk about small things became talk about big things without really meaning to.

Tonight, Fjord was wiping down the tables and Cad was moving from plant to plant, watering contentedly. As he worked, the half orc was explaining some interesting historical magic experiments he’d been reading about in a book Caleb had lent him.

“...I used to think that kind of stuff was so interesting when I was younger. How people know what they know now, how all these big ideas became fact, y’know? Used to have all these daydreams about being at the academy and seeing the places all this big thinking happened…”

Cad looked over his shoulder, interested, “You want to apply to the academy?”

And then suddenly Fjord was tense, awkward, ducking his eyes to focus on the already clean mosaic table top, acting like he’d said something he shouldn’t have.

“I mean, I used to. When I was younger. A lot younger.”

Cad felt the urge to back off, the sensation that they were suddenly standing on some kind of line. But he couldn’t help but feel letting it go would be breaking the promise he’d made to Beau.

“You still could,” he said quietly, “They take students of all ages.”

Fjord still didn’t look up, “I, uh...I don’t think that’s the path for me anymore. I mean, when would I fit it in now? Not gonna be long before I’m back out on the ocean.”

Cad frowned delicately. He had mentioned that a few times, the fact that this was temporary, a stop gap until he found hire on another ship. But there was always something so rehearsed about the way he said it. Like he was copying someone else’s words.

“Paths can change,” Cad allowed after a pause, “But sometimes you can think that way but old loves come back, ones you thought you’d outgrown. And they’re stronger than ever.”

“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience?” The attempt to change the subject was obvious but Cad let him have it. He wasn’t looking to make him uncomfortable.

He smiled softly, fingers gently brushing the almost silky leaves of his yucca plant, “My whole family worships Melora, the Wildmother. Have you heard of her?”

“I don’t think so,” the bridge of his nose scrunched up adorably when he was thinking.

“Not many people have,” Cad reassured him, “She’s mostly for the quiet places, where nature’s grown over the scars in the earth. Places like where I grew up...she was practically another family member growing up, you could feel her everywhere. She’s soft and gentle and kind and there’s nothing she can’t heal.”

Fjord’s expression softened, “She sounds nice.”

“She is,” Cad chuckled wryly, “And I was raised to be her cleric from the moment I was born.”

“Really?” Fjord’s eyebrows shot up and Caduceus could understand why, even as he cringed internally. He’d never mentioned having any kind of magic, he never used it around the cafe except in ways too small to notice. It was quite deliberate. Every time he reached for the well of power inside himself, the quiet place where he could smell damp moss and fresh grass and feel it under his feet no matter where he was, he’d feel a tug of homesickness. Even with the long conversations he’d had with the Wildmother, one sided conversations where he was answered by breezes and bird calls, even with his certainty that he had her support, his magic had a bitter taste to it these days.

“Really,” Cad murmured, hoping Fjord wouldn’t press the matter, “And there was a good few years where I resented the hell out of it.”

“Oh,” Fjord’s eyes widened.

Cad smiled coyly, “I had a full teenage tantrum. Pouting, breaking things, yelling. No one in my family yells… I made a complete fool of myself. It was a week out from my cleric initiation and suddenly I was tired of having all of my decisions made for me and wanted the world to know it.”

“How old were you?” Fjord grinned.

“Thirty five. Just a kid.”

“Oh…so what happened?”

“One night, I got it in my head that I was going to run away,” Cad turned back to his plant, practically petting it, “I packed a bag, climbed out of my window in the middle of the night...I told myself I was never coming back, without so much as a goodbye.”

Fjord had abandoned his table entirely, looking at Caduceus with his full attention, “Really?”

“Yep,” the memory of his own stupidity still made the fur on his neck stand up, “And I would have done it, if I hadn’t taken a wrong turn. I’d lived in those woods all my life and somehow I took a wrong turn, tell me how that happens without divine intervention. But all of a sudden, I wasn’t on the path anymore. I was in this beautiful clearing, waterfall gently bubbling...the place I was meant to take my initiation in a few hours, the very thing I was supposed to be running away from. And it occured to me that I’d been feeling all of this anger and sadness and confusion, it had been tearing me up inside for longer than I’d even realised...and I’d never talked to anyone about it. I couldn’t tell my family, not when they’d had this image of me as their perfect, devoted son. So...maybe I could tell her.”

“And you did?” Fjord sounded a million miles away, Cad lost in his own memory.

“I did. I talked until my voice ran out, until the sun came up. I told her everything and afterwards I felt so...so clean. People had been telling me all my life to follow the Wildmother and I had, because they’d told me to. That night was the night I decided to follow her because I chose to. I took my oath then and there.”

“Wow,” Fjord murmured, “I can’t imagine feeling that way about...anything, really.”

Cad was about to ask how come Fjord had his own patron then, before realising he’d have to explain how he knew that. And then realising he probably wouldn’t like the answer.

Instead he smiled, “It’s always waiting for you, Fjord. For all of us.”

That brought a laugh, the kind he only did when he wasn’t thinking because it would show his filed tusks, “That’s a nice idea, Caddy.”

He grinned back, moving to the next plant, caring for each of them as devotedly as he could manage, each one a growing, green prayer, “It is. Even nicer for being true...the Wildmother helped me realise I wasn’t happy at home, years after that night, when I was actually ready to make that decision. She brought me here, to this cafe and to the life I have now. She helped me not feel so lost. And there’s something out there that will help you feel the same, Fjord. Maybe it’s the academy. Maybe it’s your next ship.”

Maybe it’s here.

The words were on his lips without thinking, desperate to be spoken, straining to tumble into the air between them.

Caduceus swallowed them back. It wouldn’t be fair. And there was no guarantee that saying it would make it true.

“Thanks, Caddy. For sharing that with me,” Fjord’s voice seemed different somehow, in a way he couldn’t put his finger on. Maybe he was just tired.

“You’re welcome… you know you can talk to me anytime, right? About whatever you want... doesn’t have to be work stuff or, um…I mean anything.” Cad winced at himself. How had he gone from being so articulate to tripping over his own feet when he wanted to ask a simple question?

Fjord seemed on the verge of his usual tension when help was offered but then he seemed to shake it off, like rainwater, “Thanks. That means a lot, Caddy.”

Cad resisted the urge to clap his hands. He’d done exactly as Beau asked and made Fjord smile into the bargain.

“Why don’t you clean out Helga? That might make her like you. I can finish up the plants and tables.”

Fjord seemed grateful for the chance to move, like just accepting help had filled him with restless energy, “Oh, I’ll do that! She’s going to end up loving me, I swear.”

“I’m sure,” Cad chuckled quietly as he jumped up and headed for the counter.

He’d make sure they were wrapped up in time for him to get a ride home. One personal leap a day was enough, he felt.

Cad moved to the next plant, a terrarium full of mushrooms he’d taken from the grove, already softly starting to glow as the light dimmed. Just for a moment, he placed his palms on the smooth curve of the glass, the green luminescence filtering through the gaps between his fingers like he held a heart in his hands.

And all he could smell was fresh grass, new fallen rain on green things. He felt his nerves alight with power he’d had inside himself since that promise he’d made. And it felt right.

Cad smiled, leaning close and whispering just in case, “I’m going to keep an eye on him...but maybe you could too?”

The mushrooms immediately grew brighter in his hands, far brighter than they should be for the time of day.

Caduceus took that as a yes.

[midnight-circus]

another fucking meme bitch

literally nobody can stop me 

this is the 3rd one of these ive answered for logan i really should give someone else a look-in

w e l p

Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?

Morgan’s three years younger than him, so close enough to the same age group. They didn’t get on very well at all growing up – Logan was jealous and Morgan was spoilt, which resulted in friction a little beyond regular sibling rivalry – but their relationship has improved with age. They’re not close and there’s still some definite tension, but it’s generally healthy as long as they don’t start talking about their parents. Or anything too personal.

Morgan’s never done anything wrong, that’s the thing. That’s probably what irritates Logan the most. He has no genuine reason to resent his brother and he knows it’s unfair, but he struggles to find a way to redirect the feeling because he’s already embittered towards their parents so like … where the fuck else can it go? He still struggles with it, and tries extremely hard to temper his feelings towards his younger brother mainly out of guilt. It’s not Morgan’s fault. Nonetheless, it is undeniably disheartening to watch his parents dote upon someone who, at the end of the day, is really not all that different to him in the long run.

What is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like?

Distant. Logan is an eternal disappointment to his mother, who had big dreams for her eldest son – indeed, he was meant to be her only son, before a little mistake came along three years later. From the beginning Morgan was an easier baby than Logan, and Madeleine subsequently funnelled her energy into the happy, bouncy infant rather than the rather aloof, introspective toddler. Logan was quiet, anxious and didn’t smile easily, and the more Madeleine withdrew the more he got the message – in childhood he would rather manage his independence and rely on himself than come to her for support, and as such her attentions on Morgan only intensified until it became uncomfortably clear to everyone that she had a very definite favourite.

In a nutshell, as far as Madeleine is concerned Logan can’t do anything right. There is criticism for everything, and if she can’t think of a snippy comment now then she’ll think of if later and ring him up to tell him. She is emotionally abusive, though she’ll never understand that – after all, she does love him (and in her mind, he hasn’t made that easy), but in all honesty she doesn’t like him very much, and he is more than aware of it.

It’s damaged him pretty badly, and as he grows older he distances himself more and more, reducing his contact with her to phonecalls and the occasional special occasion visit. Christmases are miserable. Madeleine, however, is a cakewalk compared to Edward.

What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?

Non-existent. Edward is vile. A bitter, egotistical narcissist who is profoundly aware that his wife has more money than him and cannot let it go. Logan began butting heads with him at a young age and suffered for it (there is no contention over corporal punishment in the English aristocracy), and he honestly feels nothing but distaste and resentment for the man, verging into hatred. The feeling is mutual – Madeleine might be disappointed in her son’s life and sexuality, but Edward is actively disgusted in him, and he has no problem telling him that. Their relationship ultimately exploded in Logan’s late teens, on the night he was outed – after many years of belittlement and abuse, physical and otherwise, he lost his temper entirely and punched his father in the jaw. Edward put him through a glass coffee table for his pains, leaving him with his facial scars, and he left the house that night and never really went back. Probably should’ve gone to A&E, tbh.

Anyway, they don’t speak. Or rather, Logan doesn’t speak to him. On the few occasions they’re forced to be in the same room (Christmases are m i s e r a b l e ), Edward will attempt to goad his eldest into retaliation, but fortunately in those situations Elrick is generally there too and he is MORE than happy to engage on Logan’s behalf.

The very last time they interact is at Madeleine’s funeral, and it ends in an extremely public, extremely loud argument in front of the entire congregation that results in Logan storming out halfway through (‘causing a scene’, is how Edward later puts it to his fellows at the country club). They never speak again, and he does not attend his father’s funeral five years later.

On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?

Not a great deal. His phone, his wallet, his keys – usual shit. He doesn’t cart stuff around for the sake of it and will remove anything superfluous before he goes out, so there’s nothing crazy in there.

Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams?

I’m no dream-diviner, but whatever relates to feeling like a complete and total fuckup. That’s a recurring theme.

Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?

He’s very claustrophobic and that tends to be a feature of his nightmares. In a modern setting, though, he’s not plagued by the constant nightmares he experiences in his original incarnation – they’re much more sinister in that verse, and they’re brutal. It’s a major factor in why his insomnia is so intense.

Has your character ever fired a gun? If so, what was their first target?

Depends on the AU. In a modern setting, which I’m pretty much answering for here, nope – shooting is a popular hobby for his mother and father, but he never participated. In most fantasy AUs, he knows how to use one, but he’s a pretty abysmal shot – he’s really only good with a gun in a few very select circumstances when it’s absolutely necessary. Original Logan is the absolute worst with a gun, hence why he doesn’t fucking carry one because it would definitely make more sense than carting a sword around if people keep on trying to assassinate you all the time.

Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up?

It’s fluctuated. He grew up rich. Like … aristocratically rich. His family are Old Money. He wasn’t spoilt as a kid (that little honour went to Morgan), but he went to an expensive private school and certainly didn’t know discomfort.

When he left the home, that all stopped. He had no access to funds and his parents certainly weren’t prepared to give him any, so he made his own way. Ultimately, through a great deal of hard grafting and years of work, he clawed his way into Oxford, manhandled himself through law school and now earns a very comfortable living. He rejected any and all of Morgan’s attempts to help him (Morgan, who was given a ~small loan~ by his mother to start a business and has been a millionaire for pretty much all his adult life) and subsequently it took a long-ass time, but he’s proud of it.

Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?

Generally more. He’s certainly not the type to fuckin chill around the house half-naked. Like what’s the point. Get your fuckin ass off that expensive sofa and go and put some trousers on for fucks sake.

In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

In a modern situation, the night he was outed. That PALES in comparison to his original incarnation’s Most Terrifying Moments 3 Day Compilation Storytime W/ Hi-Res Visuals & Audio, but still.

Is your character bothered by the sight of blood? If so, in what way?

Nope. He’s fine with blood – his, other people’s, whatever. It’s not an issue.

Does your character remember names or faces easier?

Definitely names. He tends to forget faces because he doesn’t really care much about them lmao but names stick in his mind as ‘data’, almost.

Is your character preoccupied with money or material possession? Why or why not?

Not preoccupied, but he does value money and possessions – he sees it as a status-marker. Old habits and all that.

Which does your character idealize most: happiness or success?

Success for sure.

What was your character’s favourite toy as a child?

Honestly, he didn’t really play much. He tended to occupy himself with puzzles rather than toys, even when young – colours and shapes as an infant, then on to shit like jigsaws and building blocks as he got a little older, things he could occupy himself very independently with. He used to draw a lot as a young kid, but incidentally is absolutely shit at it as an adult so who knows what happened there. He did have a stuffed toy lion that he carted around as a toddler, but Edward put a stop to his kids having comfort items by the time they were 4 so he didn’t have it for very long.

Is your character more likely to admire wisdom, or ambition in others?

Ambition. It’s the Slytherin in him.

What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw? Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before?

He’s too independent, which translates to coming across as cold. He can’t bear relying on other people because he knows damn well he can manage on his own, and it takes him a very long time to delegate trust in a relationship. This has caused friction with people in the past, often alongside accusations of being too cold, too indifferent, too distant. In the three years that he and Elrick spent broken up, his self-reliance was pretty much the final straw for the rebound-relationship he was in for those years – in amongst a nest of other issues, the man in question (sorry Jaeger) simply got fed up of trying to break down a wall that clearly was never going to come down on its own.

In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?

Oh, only ever self-criticism. Everyone is doing better than he is in one way or another, and he will find that one way.

If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others?

Externally he’ll assign blame to others, but he internalises every second of it as his own fault. It’s the inferiority complex. He knows he deserves it, but he doesn’t want everyone else to know that.

What does your character like in other people?

Integrity, which is pretty rich coming from him as he is no stranger to the odd lie here and there. He also appreciates a practical, realistic outlook on life – relentless optimism irritates him to no end. Sometimes things are really shitty, there’s no use painting it fuckin gold and calling it wonderful. He likes someone he can occasionally bitch and moan with (or more than occasionally), who will either contribute their own grievances or simply let him get on with it without trying to force him to feel better.

What does your character dislike in other people?

Literally we’ll be here forever. He has no patience for what he considers to be ‘stupidity’. A lack of punctuality. Bad spelling. Bad grammar. A lack of self-care. An obnoxious laugh. Anything that reminds him too much of his mother. More than two middle names. Weak handshakes. I could keep going. Best not to.

How quick is your character to trust someone else?

Months, if not years. Really only Elrick and Kat enjoy his full and total confidence. He wants to trust Morgan, but to be entirely honest he can’t shed the fear that Morgan’s going to go parroting it all back to Madeleine the first chance he gets, which is probably a very unfair assumption to make. He knows this. It doesn’t change it, though.

How quick is your character to suspect someone else? Does this change if they are close with that person?

He’ll suspect anyone of anything, given the right motivation. He doesn’t trust easily at all. More than once in the early years of the relationship he suspected Elrick of sleeping with his ex, for no other reason than the fact that he had an ex – he kept that particular concern entirely to himself, but it took a long time to shed.

How does your character behave around children?

Responsible. By the time he knew of Bastian’s existence the boy was already about seven, but he’s been babysitting Rowan since birth so he’s pretty comfortable by now.

How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation?

It’s an absolute last resort.

In the face of criticism, is your character defensive, self-deprecating, or willing to improve?

Externally defensive, but internally he absorbs it.

Is your character more likely to keep trying a solution/method that didn’t work the first time, or immediately move on to a different solution/method?

No point repeating something if it’s clearly not working. A second try might not be a bad idea, just in case a mistake was made in the first opportunity, but any more than two repeats is just setting yourself up for failure.

How does your character behave around people they dislike?

Oh bitch if he doesn’t like you, you will Know About It. He really doesn’t see the point in pretending to like somebody he doesn’t – it’s a waste of time and energy, and why bother giving that person false hope? Better to nip it in the bud.

Is your character more concerned with defending their honour, or protecting their status?

His honour’s all shot to the four fuckin winds anyway, but he will protect his status fiercely.

Has your character ever been bitten by an animal? How were they affected (or unaffected)?

His mother’s ancient African Grey parrot used to bite him on the regular, and as such he hates parrots.

How does your character treat people in service jobs?

It could be better. It could be worse, but it could be much better. He’s still kind of a classist snob at times.

Has your character ever had a parental figure who was not related to them?

Nope. He’s never really had a paternal figure at all. Or at least not a positive one.

Has your character ever had a dependent figure who was not related to them?

Not really – his only two dependents would be Bastian and Rowan, both of whom are blood relations.

How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it?

It’s easy to say it when he doesn’t mean it (which he has done, in the past). It’s much harder to say when he does.

What does your character believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them?

He has no idea whatsoever. He was raised Catholic, but has considered himself an atheist since his mid-teens – however, it’s extremely hard to shed the guilt and fear of damnation when it’s all you’ve heard for a huge chunk of your childhood. He likes to think that life just stops and then that’s it, you’re done, but he can’t quite get rid of the little chirp of paranoia that says he’s going to Hell.

[nahastips]

Sims 3 pregnant belly slider

#Sims 3 pregnant belly slider mods

#Sims 3 pregnant belly slider simulator

This post is all about the best sims 4 pregnancy mods.

#Sims 3 pregnant belly slider mods

Meaning that some of these mods overlap and you can choose which one you want/need to have in your game. So, for your convenience, I’ve included a few smaller mods that do things that may be included in the bigger mods. Or some of us just don’t want our entire gameplay to change. Some of these mods are HUGE with tons of features, which is awesome, but not always great for people’s computers. I didn’t want to overwhelm you (and your computer!) with mods, so I’ve included only the top 15 that I find to be the most essential & overall, best pregnancy mods. They are perfect for storytelling and creating more realistic pregnancies. You’ll need variety to keep it interesting and these sims 4 pregnancy mods will do just that! Pregnancies in the sims 4 can get super boring, especially if you’re playing something like the 100 baby challenge. Want to save this list? Click here to pin it! I think it is hard to do since its an adult game.Do you want your sims to have more interesting and realistic pregnancies for fun gameplay and better storytelling? Here are the absolute best sims 4 pregnancy mods you need in your game. adding the baby / todler can be disabled until you get creampied ^^ and also can be based on a 50/50 chance so it resembles real life in a better way So that way, you will roleplay pregnancy, then change your body type in the characters editor for sometime. add items in that zone like a play area, bed / baby crib and you can interact with the baby. Now imagine the same exact thing for a baby / toddler in your room. in addition you can interact with the cat like pet the cat or play with it. so randomly if you visit that area you will find the cat sometimes sleeping, sometimes playing, sometimes jumping and so on. like a cat tree, cat scratch pads, cat bed, toys and so on to be placed inside that zone. also maybe introduce shelters and items to add in that area. the game should limit the area of movement for that item like lets say the game will ask you to mark an area where that thing will be living / roaming and all. now in my imagination and to do that smoothly without any problems. The devs might want to introduce new living objects / items in our rooms like cats, dogs etc. Well I would like to approach it in another way. as for the eventual offspring (which i truly deem impossible to pull off) they might be birth as 18 years old, alltho i don't know how they will manage to get out! And as the possibility for this to happen i know it never will, as many on this forum i will be more than happy just to have the ability to give bjs with my clothes on. as i told it's just an idiotic idea came to my mind and further developed with a friend of mine. Pair that in with this would basically be something just for pregnancy kink lovers, if this been life sim with optional sex I imagine it may been a different thing entirely, like sims 4 with sex mods but I doubt they're going to add anything like that for sex game.Īt very best you're likely to maybe get ability to put on Belly and pretend, but I somehow doubt that is even going to become any option here.

#Sims 3 pregnant belly slider simulator

But doubt developers are going to allow and child stuff onto sex simulator chat, especially given how much controversy it would likely cause. Not really sure what you're hoping to achieve, I know some how pregnancy kinks etc.

[earthenfay]

The Year I Became so Productive I Wasn’t Productive at All.

How often do you recall reflecting on your day, thinking “Wow, I was busy all day. I feel so productive. But boy, am I tired!” (“And I happened to avoid the one/two/three things I was REALLY supposed to accomplish, like my taxes or that important project..oops.”)

2018 was that year for me. No, it’s not over, but why not reflect on my habits now rather than December 31st? Why not shift the end of this year as if the dates on the calendar don’t matter. Well, that is because in this situation they don’t matter. Why save resolutions until January 1st? 

Anyways, I was driving to one of my photography appointments the other day and I was listening to a podcast from The Minimalists (these guys). There was a specific thought that stood out to me, the issue of being “busy” is not the same as “productive”. 

Let’s put this into context.

Almost every single day this year, or at least between February and now, I have felt really busy. Luckily I no longer call it productive, as to not fool myself into thinking so. I have been so proud of myself for all my efforts. I wake up at 6 or 7am, start dishes and coffee right away. Make breakfast. Tidy as I go. Wipe the kitchen down. Remember that email I was supposed to reply to last night. Put my toddler in his chair with his food. Write down some work appointments I had forgotten to put into my calendar. Book a few more. Remember my toddler needs his face washed, put him down. Finish the dishes I had forgotten about. Move rooms and clean the foyer & living room until lunch. Try to squeeze in vacuuming. Go back and see if people had emailed me back, find more dishes in the living room. Do dishes. Tidy the shoes. The fridge. Do the grocery list. 

The list goes on and on until it’s 8pm and my feet hurt from running around all day. Curse myself for forgetting to feed the dogs dinner. Try to squeeze in more laundry and sweeping and mopping and the vacuuming I really wanted to do but didn’t have the time for. Oops, it’s 10pm and my two year old is tugging on my pants, “Mama, go for nap!”

My life felt out of control. But I was being productive, right? It wasn’t me, it was my crazy life! I was doing the best I could!

Fast forward to August 2018. Jamie and I had been fighting more, and neither of us could remember the last time we went on a date or had sex. My toddler became ecstatic when daddy came home from work and I was hurt he wasn’t as excited about me ever coming home from anything. I thought the fighting was about me not doing enough, not contributing. Some days I would be so busy that Jamie would come home and I’d completely forgot about dinner (or feeding myself the entire day), laundry piled up on the couch to fold; “I’ve just been so BUSY!” I’d say. And he would become exasperated “What did you DO the entire day?!” and I would feel like I’m not the supermom or superwife I wanted to be.  

I wanted to prove to myself I could be even better so we wouldn’t fight.

I got another job. I started University.

It’s ironic, though. This job should have made my life more busy. But this job allowed me to drive around every workday and listen to podcasts. I had that quiet time to reflect, and I realized a few things. What the problem was. And how to ease it.

The problem: I was too busy doing whatever I saw needed done. No planning, no rhythm. This is why I would do dishes three times a day or the laundry would get washed and never folded. Nothing was really done. Just started and left there. Jamie and I fought about me not giving him or my toddler enough attention, because I was so “busy”. But when I took time from being “busy” I felt I had lost time during the day and was behind. I was stressed. 

The things I did to alleviate that “I’m to busy and I am going to fall down and drown!” feeling: 

1. I MINIMIZED our possessions. No, we don’t live with nothing in our home. But less stuff means less to clean. We have 5 plates in our kitchen. 5 glasses. ONE set of cutlery (not 3 random sets mixed together). An intentional amount of toys for my son, not a mass to clean every day. We have 4 pens in the entire house! And they go in ONE pen holder cup! Talk about “putting things away!” when they actually have one place to go. Pens run out? Buy another, or ask a friend if you can split purchasing a pack so it’s cheaper and you don’t get 6 pens, you get 3. No clutter. Less brain clutter comes with the territory.

2. I made a list. I am a lover of lists. List on the fridge for groceries. List in the office for daily tasks. List in the pantry for food stocked. It’s glorious. We recently acquired a chest freezer for those school year/winter meals. I have a list ready for that too, so we know what is going on. Less time is spent rummaging through your own stuff, and less time thinking “What am I supposed to do today?”

3. I keep a calendar/planner. Now this goes along with #2. I LOVE my planner. I currently use a 2018 planner from ban.do and adore it. Every morning I get a coffee, set the bub up with breakfast in the office with me, and my planner is one of the only items I keep intentionally on my desk and open to the calendar page. I make it a goal to NOT jump into housework immediately, which seems counterproductive but taking those 15-20 minutes in the morning to relax and look over your day is actually the best first step. I’ve missed doctor/dentist/you-name-it appointments because I got lost in housework!! Take a moment, take a deep breathe. Eat some breakfast and NOT while you are on your feet and on the go! Eating your breakfast sitting down and while it’s warm, looking over your day, will make a world of difference. Plus I noticed my toddler looks forward to sitting with me because we are very chit-chatty in the morning. :) 

4. I learned to say NO. I have been really bad for this in the summer. Overbooking myself or just leaving myself no time for error or gaps in between appointments and work and coffee dates and just ME time. I’ve had to cancel more times than a good friend should and it really affected my relationships with my friends and family. I needed to learn to calm down and leave some gaps in my schedule, or else I would always feel rushed and stressed. I finally have gotten to a place where I can say, “No, Monday I have school and an appointment after, can we have coffee Thursday when I have nothing going on?” I used to try to put coffee before or after those obligations I already had and it would stack up, fast. I would end up burnt out or have to reschedule because I’m running late. Just say no if it doesn’t work (and be honest with yourself)!

5. Finally, I realized (and this is another from The Minimalists podcast I believe) that if everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. I learned that taking time out of my day to play with my toddler instead of doing those 5 dishes or wiping the fridge out is important sometimes. I prioritized. My son became more excited to see me because he knew that I was going to interact with his world a lot more, and I learned when to put the rag/broom/mop/mouse/phone down and just say “I’ll get to this later. I’m going to take a break”. Jamie appreciates it too, I hadn’t realized how much I was prioritizing keeping myself busy with my two jobs/the house/my school. And that’s not to say those things aren’t important, I just didn’t understand how to balance those different areas of my life and prioritizing helped (making a list to clarify priorities is amazing as well!). 

The interesting thing is I have more going on in my life than I have in many years. But it’s something to note that I feel more in control and at peace with daily life more than I have in a very long time. 

Here is to a productive few last months of 2018. 

xoxo

Rosie

[lovingtrance]

I got dumped

On December 21st my partner of 5 years, who I lived with for 2 and a half, told me he’s no longer attracted to me and only views me as a best friend. He said there’s more in store for him than “just a safe relationship.”

While we were together I was keeping a running list of all the reasons I loved him. But for my own well-being I’ve decided to start keeping a running list of annoying and toxic things about him. I’m posting it here for your viewing pleasures:

1. I had to constantly remind a grown man he had to brush his teeth. Often times having to convince him to not skip it bc he would sometimes go days without brushing. And this was NOT due to depression. Truly. It was just laziness and a lack of urgency to practice basic hygiene.

2. He would pick his nose and wipe it on just about anything. Furniture, his clothes, his side of the bed, my side of the bed, his car seat no matter whose car, etc.

3. He’d constantly ask “are you gay” as if it was a joke.

4. In general he reveled in pushing my buttons and saying things that I found boarderline offensive.

5. Near the end especially, but in general it was like pulling teeth to get him to spend time with me doing something he didn’t have a personal investment in. If it wasn’t an activity he enjoyed he didn’t want to do it with me.

6. When I would try to spend time with him 9/10 he’d say “I’d rather play call of duty.” His call of duty playing was a daily occueance. On weeknights it was from the time he got home from work until bed. He’d stop just to spend about 30 minutes with me for the dinner I made. This was EVERY NIGHT. And on weekends it would be about 3/4 of the weekend every time.

7. A few days before NYE of 2019 (to celebrate the start of 2020) he went out with a few of his friends to drink. Apparently someone said they didn’t like my plan for NYE and another person agreed. He took offense to that and came home drunk and angry. He ranted about how much he hates them, hates our home town, and how mad he was. I tried to calm him down and he got mad I wasn’t on his side and threw a chair across the room while yelling so loud it woke his parents and sister. He then went to his bedroom and I tried to calm him and he got mad I was “taking their side” and tried to physically kick me off the bed. As if he was a toddler.

8. When I said “no you will not treat me that way. I’m not your punching bag” and called a friend to pick me up he tried every manipulation tactic in the book. First he called to apologize. Then when that didn’t work he tried to plead and promised he didn’t mean it and he wasn’t trying to hurt me. Then he turned and said it was typical that I left bc everyone leaves him and I don’t care. I’ve never cared. After that tactic didn’t work he said he was going to kill himself. All while his sister was texting me saying he was just eating chicken strips on the couch watching TV.

9. The next day he gave me the silent treatment and treated me like I was the one who hurt him and I was the problem. He was trying to give me the cold shoulder so I’d break down, beg for his forgiveness, and beg him to open up and forgive me and talk to me. This was a typical thing for him in the past. If I ever told him he hurt me or tried to put up a boundary for my own mental and physical well being he’d flip it and put up a wall so I’d have to beg him to open up and I’d end up being the one apologizing.

10. He cheated on me in 2016 with women he’d meet up with from Craigslist for casual hook ups. He then insisted we were never exclusive even though we absolutely were and had already said I love you to each other.

11. On my 22nd birthday we went out to bars together. He had a list of bars he wanted to stop at. We’re from MO and were in San Francisco. The 3rd or 4th bar had a bouncer who saw his MO ID and insisted it was fake. I was using my passport since my ID expired on my birthday. When I told the bouncer I’m also from MO and the ID is legit they gave it back but turned us away. That made him mad so we went home and then he got upset I didn’t want sex. I sort of agreed anyway but then withdrew consent. He got SO mad about that. He started screaming and shouting about how I was jerking him around and he was upset and confused. He threw his fan at the wall and broke a hole in the wall. He started pacing around the room and then I called a friend and said I was leaving for my safety. That made him even more upset and he started pacing around the hallway of his apartment building while NAKED. I convinced him to cover up but the manic episode continued and he paced in the street as well. The cops were called by a neighbor. I was mortified. But we stayed together bc I couldn’t find my ID to be able to leave that night. Then we slept it off in separate buildings and came back together the next day to talk it out. We both apologized and stayed together.

12. About a year before that he got upset I couldn’t have Skype sex with him every night even though I was a full time student working a full time job. He frame it as though he was willing to make compromises for me but I refused to do the same for him. Even though I’d already forgiven him for the Craigslist cheating caused by his “sex addiction”

13. He said he was breaking up with me bc he wanted more “intimacy” and knew that he was meant to have a relationship that had more spark basically. He made it seem like yet again I was the problem for not having enough sex with him. Despite the fact I tried to initiate sex with him many times over the last few months and we would reject me almost every time. Often times saying he would rather play call of duty.

14. When we first moved in together I did some laundry. A few days later he realized a few random things were missing. A pair of underwear or two, a shirt. He accused me of losing them by forgetting them in the apartment laundry room. I swore I didn’t but he didn’t believe me and yelled at me. I told him they’re just clothes and I’ll replace them and he still yelled. I suggested maybe he forgot them back at his parents’ house but he swore he didn’t. A few days later a package arrived from his parents containing all the “lost” clothes. I did not receive an apology until I requested one.

15. We were long distance for the first few years of our relationship. I would go to visit him every spring break and fall break (my school had fall break). Once when I went to visit we went over to his frat house for a party for st. Patrick’s day. I was having a good time getting two know two foreign students (one girl and one guy). When we walked back to his place we were sitting outside the building while he smoked a cigarette and he got mad at me and asked me why I acted the way I did at the party. I was confused bc I didn’t think I was acting differently than usual. He said by making friends with those people I was basically being obnoxious and annoying- like I was trying too hard. It broke my heart. It was like he expected me to just be a wall flower or hang on his hip the whole night. It was so unfair bc obviously I didn’t know anyone there it’s not my school. So did he just expect me not to have a good time?

16. The one other time he had me go to a party at the house I went to the bathroom on my own. I remembered where it was and told him “I’m going to the bathroom” and got up from my seat. When I came back he was being weird to me and basically implied he thought I walked away to go cheat on him?... even though I was gone less than 5 minutes and I knew no one there!

17. Once in late 2017 early 2018 one of my close friends came over to hang out and drink wine in my living room. She mentioned she’d done this app called Cake where you live stream whatever and people pay you. We decided to just sit around in our underwear and drink wine to make her some extra money. I told him about it and he freaked out. He contacted her on FB and went off on her telling her she disrespected our relationship and manipulated me. He told me I was drunk and let my friend manipulate me. I told him that’s not true at all and everything I did I did bc I wanted to and was comfortable doing so. I never crossed a line. I never even interacted with a person. We just set up a camera and barely acknowledged the comments. He was acting like I was his child or property and I didn’t have agency of my own. He also told me I cheated and I needed to admit I cheated so we could move on. As if it’s not my body and my choice who I allow to see me wearing the equivalent of a bikini. And he definitely had no right to contact my friend and scold her and shame her. He acted like I was his to control and I was a toy my friend took and misused without his permission. It was disgusting and so painful to deal with. I felt awful about myself for days.

18. He was and is such a hypocrite. He even admitted to me before the Cake incident that he once did cam stuff but quit bc he was bothered by how many men tuned in and barely any women. He was also hypocritical about spending money. He would criticize me for spending $50 on new clothes at target or wanting to spend $30 every few weeks to splurge on eating out. But then he’d spend $100s-$1000s of dollars at a time on his hobbies like gaming, bowling, his guitar, etc.

19. In April of 2020 I told him I wanted us to be more romantic. I wanted us both to be better about making an effort to show each other we had a romantic attraction to one another. He told me “you expect too much. You ask for too much.” This is the same man who 8 months later told me he was leaving me bc there was no more “spark.” I EXPLICITLY asked him to work with me to keep the spark going and he said “you ask for too much.”

20. Also in April of 2020 he got upset the recycling bin was starting to smell. Over time some of the containers had leaked the small bit of contents they had left and created a film on the bottom of the bin. He blamed me because he “always rinses containers before recycling them.” I tried to explain “yeah but that’s just because you leave them sitting on the counter to be rinsed and then never rinse them. I too am bad about not rinsing, so I just put your pile and my stuff straight in the bin.” I explained that technically yes, I recycle more items, but only because he leaves me to do it. He told me I HAD to clean the bin. I said “I’m not your servant. I’m not at your beck and call and I don’t HAVE to do anything.” That made him angry so he said “maybe I should just pour milk all over your clothes then?” Shocked I of course asked “why would you do that?” I also wondered “what clothes? The clothes I have on the drying rack next to the kitchen? Or the clothes in the closet? The ones I’m wearing?” He said “you pour milk in the recycling bin. It’s the same thing.” Like truly- what a manipulative, illogical ASSHOLE.

21. When breaking up with me he told me “I’m sure you’ve noticed I haven’t wanted to have sex with you the past few months.” I said “yes I thought it was stress from work.” Then he said “no I’m just no longer physically attracted to you.” I asked what we could do. Should we spice things up? Should we go to a sex therapist? He said there was no point. But fear not reader- it’s not that he’s gay (yes he felt the need to clarify that) it’s just that he’s not attracted me specifically. He said honestly he just wasn’t happy because there was no spark. And there was this (apparently) indescribable element that had never really had been in all 6 years. There had always been something missing that he had in other relationships. I said THERE WAS ONLY ONE OTHER RELATIONSHIP WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! He had one other serious girlfriend before me and they were together between the ages of 15-18. Yes he’d had other flings and sexual partners obviously, but nothing that even came close to the level of commitment or sheer length of relationship we had. But sure- go ahead and compare what we have to a high school relationship and a handful of college hookups.

[apertedevueblog]

Safe Skies | A Short Story by Danielle Nicole Santiago

It was March 15, 2019 when I said yes to a commitment with a man named Mike. It was the easiest decision that I’ve made for myself so far. We’re so full of emotion that I cannot put into words how many butterflies I felt in my stomach. The feeling was indeed superb. I met mike in a dance group before, when our eyes met, I was stunned by his brown eyes. I do not believe at love at first sight, but since that day, I think I do. Everything was going so smooth and completely fine. I enjoyed the weekend hangouts at his house, we enjoyed every slice of pizza that we shared, as well as every movie that we both chuckled, cry and laugh at. I treasure those late night walks that are full of shared stories, those dates that we made at park. Enjoying the swing and running around like 5-year-old toddlers. But not until the day when Mike seems to control every move and things that I make. It was September 2019 when I felt that something is different. On September 13,2019 it was just a normal school day where I woke up at six in the morning, brushed my teeth, took a shower, chewed on granola bars and packed my school stuff. On that day that I opened my eyes and got up for school, I knew that there was something wrong. It was a normal day at school where my feelings and emotions were strange, and was not normal. I was daydreaming the whole math class, until the bell rang. It was a typical morning break were Mike used to wait for me at the canteen. But since I am not emotionally well that day, I refused to meet him. I texted him right away so he didn’t have to wait, I said “Cannot meet you, maybe later at lunch” he texted back in a few seconds saying “Sure, I’ll meet you there”. I was waiting for myself to feel a little better so that I could meet him at lunch. But to my disappointment, the bell rang again. Yes, It’s lunch and still I cannot help but to overthink. I texted him again and said, “I’m sorry, I cannot make it to lunch, maybe dismissal” he texted back, “Are you okay? You are acting a bit strange” I replied, “I am. I think I’ll have my period real soon, I am not feeling well.” Then he texted me back in a minute, “Do you want me to grab you some lunch? “ I replied so fast in a panicky manner “No, It’s fine, maybe I can meet you later”. I badly wanted to go home, I do not feel so good at that time. I easily get irritated, I find everything and everyone so annoying. I just want to spend the rest of the day on my bed with dash. And if you are wondering who is dash, he is my dog shaped stuffed toy that I cannot live without. Dash is a gift given by my grandparents on my 10th birthday. He’s been with me for 9 years now and I literally bring him during sleepovers or whenever I travel. They said I am too old for a toy, but I said that I am not too old for a best friend, right? I cannot sleep without hugging my dust full stuffed toy best friend. Anyways, it is 2:55 pm, five minutes more until I can finally get to go home. I was still undecided whether if I’ll meet mike or not. I am still skeptical. I forced myself to make a decision in a span of 30 seconds. Then I finally made my final judgement, I met I mike at the hallway, he attempted to hold my hand but I avoided it. He asked me right away, “Are you sure that you’re okay?” I replied, “Yes I am.” Then he offered, “ I can drive you home” then I refused, “ No, thanks. You don’t really have to” then he stuttered, “But..” I replied immediately, “No buts, I’ll see you tomorrow at the park near the subdivision at twelve noon, bye” then I left immediately and walked as fast as I could. He waved me goodbye and yelled “See you!”. I am finally home, I cannot describe into words how comforting it is to be finally home after a mentally and emotionally tiring day. I went upstairs and changed my clothes, then I laid on my bed and hugged dash. The moment I rested, millions of thoughts were bothering me. Why mike tried to control everything. From the clothes I wore, social media posts that I posted, to the people that interacted with, I could no longer talk to my guy friends either. And what I am worried about the most is that he controlled every decision that I made for myself. Little by little, I lost my passion. Right from the start, I knew that I had a passion in running a business. Maybe it is because I am a daughter of entrepreneurs, or maybe I just like the feeling of having money in my pocket. Kidding aside, almost everyone knew me as an independent person. My parents saw that at an early age of mine. I did not seek for help with my home works because I do believe in myself that I can do it without anyone by my side. I did not need my mom to assist me in baking cookies at the age of 9. And before I met mike, I ran my own business. It was a small business of mine where I sold personalized stuffs. The business was doing good, but I needed to stop. Because Mike demanded for time and attention as much as I did to my business. I did not really have any regrets till the day that I realized I lost a lot of the opportunities. It was the 14th of September at 12 noon when I was supposed to meet mike at the park. But this time, I stood up for myself and made a decision. I refused to meet him. Because every time that I face him, the harder it was for me to choose whether to stay in our relationship or live my independent life. I texted him instead, I said “I’m sorry, I cannot make it today, do not attempt to visit me because I am not ready to see you.” I am glad that he listened. As soon as he got home, I texted him this, “ Hello. I know it is a bit confusing, but let me get it straight. Few days ago, I had a thought, not a random one, but a serious one. I noticed that you managed to control everything that I do, from the way I dress, to the way I talk to people, you made me stop my business because you said that I did not have enough time for you as much as I did with my business ventures. Before I entertained you, you knew it yourself that I am not a typical girl. I am an independent young lady who has her own business and managed to make big decisions on her own. I do not know why I let these things to happen, but all I know is that I wanted to be a best version of myself. Remember the day that I told you that I do not want you to be a pilot because I am afraid that if something bad happens, I will lose you. You would have enrolled to your flying school this year but I refused to agree with your decisions. I am really sorry for that, I should’ve understand. Just like you, who wants to be a pilot, I also want to be an entrepreneur. I can see that it is not healthy for us to stay in this relationship with these kinds of differences. Know that I am grateful for all the things that we shared, and I believe that our relationship had a purpose. It made us realize that we are the pilot of our own planes. We have personal lives outside our relationship. It is not realistic that we think that the world only revolves around us. Thank you for making me appreciate of how independent I am, and of how successful I am prior our relationship. Surely, this lesson will stay with me for the rest of my life. Safe skies, Captain.” After I sent him a message, I blocked him on my social media accounts, I did not wait for is reply. Because I believe that it will be more painful for me if I read those. Fast forward of who I am now, and how far I became, I am now the CEO of our family’s company, and managing various businesses such as hotels and restaurants. Did I forget to tell you about our family business? It was just last 3 years when this company was offered to us, My parents and I gave it a go. And now, I am a CEO of an airline here in the Philippines. And I am engaged to a pilot who used to stop me on my businesses years ago. I am amazed on how destiny played its role in our relationship. Sometimes, we need to choose a path. A path that we think is best for us. Enjoy the moment and live with it, let destiny do its job.

[creativeserendipity]

I look to my left and laundry is overflowing from our theee basket hamper. I did two loads two days ago of all the kids clothes, but somehow those have piled back up too. Jacob, our oldest has started begrudgingly doing his own laundry once a week, a task that usually spreads out over the span of three days between the complaining, temper tantrums, flat out refusals and then final surrender so he can go play his video game or be glued to a mind craft “how to” video on YouTube, which is basically a kid watching another kid play a video game. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to grasp that one. Or why our toddler is infatuated with watching other kids play with paw patrol toys on You Tube as much or more so than actually playing with the giant paw patrol look out tower, paw patrol truck and all of the characters that are sitting in our living room.

My perfect little princess is on the left of me blissfully asleep. I managed not to eat or drink any dairy products today so she’s not in any pain. My brother In laws words ring in my ear “at least your not like those asshole parents that keep eating and drinking the stuff that hurts their babies!” Yes I am, some days, I forget and I’m that asshole parent and I feel like shit about it. But not tonight, I analyzed everything I put in my mouth all day and aside from a small amount of whip on my coffee I avoided all the “danger foods”. Little to no dairy, no wheat, no broccoli, can’t have beans and just to be safe I google most things to make sure they don’t cause gas... because the screams, her screams when I accidentally slip tear at my heart. Not just once but a few times, but I’m getting better. I’ll do better tomorrow ..

Pictures cascade over my tv of memories, cute days when I dressed the kids up, birthdays, baseball, pregnancy days, life before kids. It’s a reminder of how fast this all goes. How every second matters. I’m trying to pack in all the activities I can be a part of into the last month and a half of my maternity leave. Swimming, soccer, bricks with kids, alisons art bus, coding class. Will this be the last time I ever get to dedicate so much of myself to them? I hope not.

And then there’s me. “Can’t pour from an empty cup”. “Gotta take care of myself too or I won’t have energy to take care of anyone else.” My own advice I’ve given so much to other people and previously to myself playing ironically In my head.

Listening to a book on audio, spending time watching shows with my husband once the kids are in bed, planning visits with friends on weekends in between chores and activities. Planning date nights to the theater or a cooking class months in advance because if I don’t then it’ll never happen. Drinking a glass of bailies over ice or a glass or two of wine because, well, balance.

Tomorrow I should get up and do 3 loads of laundry before lunch, diaper changes, nursing breaks, picking up j from school, changing the boys into swim outfits, packing the swim and diaper bag, taking the boys to swim class, making dinner and then starting the night routine; but instead I’m going to take Ethan to the park in the morning and relax. It’s not the first time I’ve chosen to relax instead of doing chores but I’m going to practice doing it without the guilt this time. I’m going to practice “choosing joy”. I’m going to breath in the fresh air and take in the moments with my kids. Because if life has taught me anything, it’s that there’s no rewind button, there’s no pause button and you can’t replay it back. So, instead of worrying about what I’m not doing, l’m going to focus in on what I would have missed instead.

It’s a whirl wind, and it’s messy. There’s tantrums and tears (sometimes my own) and guilt, oh there’s lots of that. There’s days that feel like the domino effect is never going to end. But, there’s also the best moments in those days, the hugs with the warmest most unconditional love in the world, the “Mama your my best friend”, the trusting conversations about today’s interaction on the playground, the look in my daughters eyes as she lights up when she sees me. Those moments make it all worth it and those are the moments I’m going to do my best to live in, one day at a time.

[words-and-fangirling-wonder]

K is for Kids

The next installment of this story is here! And in a somewhat timely manner, too! Fair warning, it’s pretty long for me, and there’s a lot of kid-speak. The twins are also my own characters, and I’m really nervous posting something that focuses so heavily on them because OCs are scary aaaaahhhhhh.

Also, interesting fact. Did you know that 8 out of 10 three-year-olds can say “Eustass” perfectly, yet only 3 out of 10 can say “Law” clearly? (Who would’ve thought working with kids would help me write fanfic, huh?)

Anyway, here it is!

Author: fangirlwonder (wordsandwonder on AO3)

Pairing: Kid/Law

Prompt: Kids

Rating: Teen?

Unbeta’d, so please excuse and/or point out any glaring mistakes!

“Mr. Eustass, do you know why I chose not to specialize in pediatric medicine?” Law asked in the quiet, even voice that Kid had come to realize meant he was in deep shit.

“Well, considering your bedside manner I’m guessing they wouldn’t let you?” Kid snarked, hoping that a joke might lessen the tension currently thick in the air between them.

He was an idiot. He knew Law wasn’t exactly crazy about children, but he’d gone and agreed to babysitting at their apartment without even consulting the other man, and now it was painfully clear that Law was pissed.

“Hilarious though I’m sure you find yourself, Eustass, I am in no mood for your attempts at humor right now,” the definitely-not-less-tense surgeon warned. “I did not pursue pediatrics because I find children rather … difficult. And while I don’t exactly mind spending time with your brothers at your family functions and such, I’m not sure at all why you agreed to babysit them here rather than at your mother’s house where they live.”

“Aw, c’mon, Law –“

“Without discussing it with me,” Law interrupted.

Kid stared dumbly at his seething boyfriend and tried to decide if it would be better or worse to tell him the truth. Which was that he liked seeing Law interact with children and wanted the chance to see how he handled it when he had a more active, caregiver-type role. But only because it was funny, and not for any other heart-fluttery reason at all. Obviously.

“Well? Please, Eustass, I cannot wait to hear your reasoning on this.”

Yeah, the truth definitely wasn’t an option right now. “Well, just … you were good with them at Christmas and my birthday dinner so, I dunno, I thought it’d be okay,” he finally replied lamely.

“Both events which were held at your mother’s house, and at which I was not expected to provide any level of care. I assume since you scheduled this for my day off, my only day off for a week and a half, that you are expecting assistance with them?”

“I mean, it’d be nice,” Kid agreed sheepishly. “But you don’t have to.”

Law scanned the living room he had been obsessively cleaning and reorganizing all afternoon in an attempt to make it more “child friendly” and ran a hand through his hair. “Well obviously I’ll help, I know they’re a handful,” he muttered. “And it’s not as though I’d just hide in the bedroom all night. They’ll be in bed by nine, right?”

Kid nodded eagerly. “Probably before. And they sleep like the dead, so it’ll be like they aren’t even here. And I’ll owe you one.”

“Oh, Mr. Eustass, you will owe me so much more than one,” Law growled.

“Whatever you want, doc. I’ll even do that thing you’ve been wanting.”

That got Law’s attention. “Really?” he narrowed his eyes. “You’ll really wear it?”

“Yeah, I’ll wear it,” Kid promised. “I’ll wear it and do whatever you want me to in it, I swear. All you have to do is kinda help me herd them and act like you like them, and I’ll do it all without a single complaint.”

Law considered that for a moment, but then had to shake his head to clear his mind of the images of Eustass that were popping up and putting him in a less than babysitting-ready mood. “Fine, fine,” he snapped eventually. “When will they be arriving?”

The buzzer sounding answered Law’s question before Kid could, but it wasn’t like the doctor didn’t know when they were coming anyway. He’d been anxiously counting down since Kid had told him the plan at breakfast.

“Shit. I mean shoot,” Law corrected under his breath (which Kid found hilarious considering the twins were still downstairs) before hitting the talk button. “Hello?”

“Law! How are you, honey? Thanks so much for taking the boys!”

“Uh, not a problem, Annie. The door should be open, please come on up. Unless you need assistance?”

“No, no, I’ve got it. C’mon boys, let’s go play with your brother and Law!”

Releasing the talk button, Law rounded on Kid with wide eyes. “Toys!” he whisper shouted, clearly panicked at the sudden realization that his apartment was completely devoid of child-appropriate entertainment. “Children require toys. We don’t have anything for them to play with. Damnit, Eustass, if you had told me earlier I could have purchased them some toys!”

“Law, relax. They’re three. If you bought them a toy they’d probably play more with the box it came in.”

Law lit up at that. “I have a box! It has some old photo albums in it, but I could empty it and then they would have a box.”

Laughing at Law right now would be a very big mistake, Kid knew. But the temptation was overwhelming, especially as Law looked at him with such sincere, if slightly freaked out, eyes. “Nah, mom probably brought some with her. Worst case scenario we give them a spoon and a pot to bang it on and both suffer through a headache. They’ll be fine.”

“Helloooooo!” Annie called cheerfully from the hallway. “A little help, please? My hands are full out here, boys!”

Kid gave Law one last reassuring smile and opened the door, only to immediately stumble back as two energetic toddlers collided with his legs.

“Bubba!” they cried in unison, hugging tightly to his thighs.

“Hey Austin. Hey Kyler. How’s it going?”

“We – we gonna stay with you! An’ play!” Austin replied enthusiastically.

“We saw a old person,” Kyler informed him solemnly.

“Let me help you with that, Annie,” Law offered, bypassing Kid, who was trying and failing to keep up with all the information his brothers were trying to share with him at once.

By the time Kid looked back up from his extremely jumbled conversation with the boys, his mom had slipped back out and Law was staring, perplexed, at a small rock with googly eyes glued onto it.

“That’s Dig,” Kid answered Law’s unspoken question. “Kyler won’t go anywhere without him.”

Kyler detached himself from Kid’s leg and went to the pile of things his mother had left behind, rummaging around until he found a step stool, which he then brought over to Law. He climbed up, which still didn’t put him anywhere near Law’s eye level, and reached a hand out for his rock.

“Dig not a person,” he assured Law. “Only pretend. He jus’ a rock.” With Dig safely tucked into the palm of his hand, Kyler jumped down from his stool and carried it dutifully off to the side of the room where it wouldn’t be tripped over.

“I … I see,” Law replied, though his face showed very plainly that he did not see. Turning to Kid, he asked, “Your mother brought him a step stool?”

Kid shrugged. “He likes to be tall. He climbs on stuff that isn’t sturdy if he doesn’t have it. The stool is a hassle, but it’s safer.” The redhead clapped his hands together. “Okay! So, what d’you hooligans wanna do?”

“We not!” Austin protested indignantly.

“Only Austin a hooligan. I not,” Kyler insisted.

“Oh, I think you both are hooligans. Do you know what we do to hooligans in this house?” Kid asked, slowly crouching down and raising his hands with his fingers splayed apart like claws.

Both boys started giggling, watching Kid creep slowly closer and closer. When he was almost close enough to touch them Kid let out a playful growl and both boys scampered away, shrieking with laughter as Kid chased them around the room.

Law stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, watching his boyfriend chase the squealing three-year-olds around and around, and tried to ignore the warmth spreading in his chest. Because he was mad at Eustass, and that man was absolutely, by no stretch of the imagination, completely adorable.

A loud thunk followed by deafening silence drew Law sharply out of his denial. The silence lasted only a moment before being replaced by an ear-piercing wail and Kid’s hurried sounds of comfort.

“Shit, Austin, it’s okay, buddy. You’re okay. Can I see it?”

“N-N-N-NOOOOOOO!” the boy screamed into Kid’s chest, refusing to move so the mechanic could inspect where he’d hit his head.

“What happened, Eustass?”

“He tripped and bashed his head right into the corner of the coffee table,” Kid replied, not looking away from his brother and trying hard not to let his panic creep into his voice. Shit, what if the kid was really hurt? Fuck.

He was too busy trying to coax Austin into letting him get a look at the injured area to notice Law step out of the room, but when a cool hand replaced his on Austin’s head he glanced up. Law had on his doctor face, and had laid out a first aid kit next to him where he knelt by the boy.

“Austin,” he said calmly. “This is very important. I need you to do something for me, do you think you can try?”

Austin shook his head violently and tried to bury his face further into Kid’s chest. “I don’t think that’s gonna –“

“Hush, Eustass. Austin, I know it hurts, and it was probably quite startling, but it’s very important that you take a deep breath and let me look at your head, understand?”

Austin did take a deep, stuttering breath, which reduced his sobs to quieter, hiccuped whimpers. But he still refused to turn fully toward Law, instead only peeking at him with one watery eye.

“C’mon, big guy, you can do it. Law’s a doctor, y’know. He’ll take really good care of you.”

Austin still wasn’t convinced. He’d always been warier of Law than Kyler, and now that he was hurt he was naturally being extra clingy toward Kid.

“Do you know how I met Eustass, Austin?” Law asked in that same unshakably calm voice. Austin shook his head slightly. “He hit his head, just like you. And he came to my hospital to get fixed up. Do you think I did a good job fixing his head?”

Kid tried to hide a smile as Austin very seriously examined his face, as if looking for any indication that Kid’s head was damaged. After a moment he seemed to decide that Kid was okay, so he nodded and finally turned to face the doctor.

“Good. Do you think I could do a good job fixing your head too?”

The boy nodded slowly and walked a step closer so that Law could look at his wound. There was a shallow cut on his forehead, but it wasn’t really bleeding. There would definitely be a bump there, though. Law took out a small flashlight and gently talked Austin through the steps of checking for a concussion. Kid suspected Law was adding in a few extra things, because he was pretty sure he’d remember if he’d had to pull a face and waggle his fingers at a nurse or something like Law was having Austin do to him, but it made the boy giggle, so he really didn’t mind.

“Alright, Austin. Thank you for helping me with that. You did very well. Now I just need to get a band-aid on you, and then we need to put some ice on your head for a bit, okay?”

Austin nodded and leaned his head forward to receive his band-aid like it was a medal of honor. “I brave?” he asked earnestly.

“Very brave,” Law confirmed. “Eustass, if you could get the ice?”

Once Austin was situated comfortably on the couch with an ice pack and Wallykazam streaming on Law’s smart TV, Kid pulled the surgeon to the side.

“How the hell did you do that? Last time Austin got hurt he cried for two hours, and that was with my mom comforting him.”

Law raised an eyebrow. “It is literally my job, Eustass.”

“Yeah, but you said you weren’t good with kids.”

“I’m not,” Law agreed. “But when I work in the ER I do come across quite a few highly intoxicated individuals. They’re remarkably similar, wouldn’t you say?”

“You … You used drunk people techniques on my three-year-old brother?” Kid asked incredulously.

Law frowned. “Well, it worked, didn’t it? And I did make some modifications that I felt fit the situation.”

“Like having him make faces at me?”

Law’s smirk was all the answer Kid needed. “It seemed appropriate. He did get hurt because of your roughhousing, after all.”

“He got hurt because he’s three and uncoordinated!” Kid defended hotly.

Law chuckled and nudged his boyfriend fondly. “I know that, Eustass. You’re a good brother.”

The praise caught Kid off guard, but he quickly schooled his expression into one of disinterest. “Whatever,” he grumbled. “I’m gonna make dinner. Watch them, huh?”

The smirk fell off Law’s fast so fast it was comical. “By myself?”

“What, can’t handle that, Trafalgar?” Kid challenged. “Just keep pretending they’re drunk people.”

The death glare that got him was totally worth it, and Kid just grinned in return as he backed toward the kitchen. “Oh, by the way,” he added, “we’re having spaghetti.”

“I am going to actually murder you, Eustass Kid, and they will never find your body,” Law hissed quietly.

“Love you too, babe.”

Law turned on his heel to storm back into the living room, but was immediately stopped in his tracks so abruptly that he nearly fell backwards. Because standing behind him, he hoped not for very long, was Kyler, on his step stool, looking quite proud of himself.

“Oh, uh … pardon me, Kyler.”

The boy simply looked up at the surgeon with wide, unreadable eyes.

“Did you – uh, do you need something?” he asked after an uncomfortable silence had stretched between them.

Instead of answering, Kyler leaned forward, his expression so solemn that Law felt himself starting to panic a little. “Did you know …” the boy asked lowly, “I very fast?”

“I …” Law knew he was blinking like an idiot right now, but he really had no idea how to respond to this child. “Uh … I suppose … I do now?” he finally managed to sputter.

Kyler gave a nod, got down off his stool, and raced in a circle around Law. “See?”

“Yes, uh … very fast, Kyler. Why don’t we, uh … go join your brother?”

“He hiding,” the boy informed with a shrug.

“He’s … hiding?” Law asked stupidly.

“Yup! Him hide sometimes. But it okay! Him come out for food.” The boy paused and looked at Law calculatingly for a moment. “Waw?”

“Yes?”

“Why Bubba say “wuve you too, babe?”

Law felt the heated blush spread across his face and added several more things to the long list he’d already made of what exactly Eustass was going to do to make this up to him. He really shouldn’t have been surprised by the question. If anything it was probably overdue. The twins had surely noticed by now that he and Eustass were more than friends, though they were careful to keep displays of affection to a minimum when the children were present. But Law had attended enough family functions and holidays for them to realize he was different from, say, Killer, or any of Kid’s other friends.

“Uh, well, because … uh … because he loves me?” Law offered somewhat lamely. He had no idea how much the boys knew about relationships, especially same-sex relationships, and he didn’t want to overstep his bounds with them. Not that he thought Annie and Al would really care. They were nothing but supportive, after all. But still. He did not sign up to educate a three-year-old about his sexuality.

“Like mommy wuves daddy?”

“Yes, something like that,” Law agreed gratefully.

Kyler cocked his head to the side and grabbed Law’s hands, inspecting them closely. “Where you wing?”

“My … wing?”

“Mommy and daddy has wings,” Kyler explained, pointing to Law’s tattooed but otherwise unadorned fingers.

“Ohh,” Law breathed, understanding. “Ring.”

Kid, hearing voices still in the hallway, took that moment to pop his head out of the kitchen to investigate. A choice he almost immediately regretted as he heard Kyler repeat slowly, as if what he was saying was completely obvious, “Yeah, wing. Where you wing?”

“Ah, Kyler do you want to, uh-“ Kid fumbled from the doorway, trying to redirect the conversation to something he, and no doubt Law, would be more comfortable with.

But Law, being the devious little fuck that he was, smirked evilly up at his boyfriend. “Yeah, Eustass, where’s my ring?”

It was meant as a joke. Kid knew it was meant as a joke. But he still felt all the blood drain from his face as he choked on his own spit. “Uh, I mean,” he coughed. “Do you … do you want one?”

Now it was Law’s turn to go pale. “I … well, we haven’t really discussed it.”

“Waw, you wuve Bubba too?”

Both men turned their attention back to the boy, who continued to stare at them critically.

“I … yes, of course,” Law replied quietly.

“Where Bubba wing?”

“Look, this is silly-“ Kid began.

“Really more complicated than that,” Law muttered.

“But you in wuve?”

“Yeah,” the now highly embarrassed couple agreed simultaneously.

“Then you get wings,” the boy said decisively. “Just wike mommy and daddy.”

Kid and Law exchanged a look before both smiling somewhat awkwardly.

“Well, we’ll get right on that, Kyler. Why don’t you go show Law what toys your brought while I finish dinner, okay?”

“’kay! Come, Waw.”

Law dutifully followed the three-year-old into the living room, only to remember what Kyler had said about his brother.

“Uh, Kyler? Where exactly is Austin hiding?” he asked, trying to mask his apprehension. There were a lot of things around this apartment that were dangerous for children to get in to, and Law knew he hadn’t been able to put all of them out of reach, and probably forgot some of them entirely.

The boy shrugged. “He jus hiding.”

“Yes, but … where?”

“We find him?”

“Uh, yes, I think that would be good,” Law agreed, already scanning the room for any sign of the child. “Eustass, your brother is hiding somewhere!”

Kid stuck his head out of the kitchen again. “Look in cabinets. He likes cabinets.”

“Does he do this often?” Law demanded, kneeling down to check under the couch.

“Yeah, sorry. Forgot to warn you.”

Thinking about several things that he would “forget” to warn Eustass about when the redhead was paying him back for this absurd evening helped Law to calm his frustration enough to search for the missing boy.  His stomach dropped when it became clear that Austin was not in the living room. If he’d gone into Kid and Law’s bedroom … into the closet …

“If he’s found any of our toys I really will kill Eustass,” he seethed under his breath as he raced to their room.

“You has toys too?” Kyler asked.

Law choked on air and cursed himself for forgetting that Kyler was there. “Uh, yes, but they are only for Eustass and me,” he explained.

“You gotta learn share, Waw,” the boy reprimanded. “Or you not make fwiends.”

“Austin!” the surgeon called a little too loudly. “Uh, dinner’s ready!”

“Yay!” a small voice cried happily from the bathroom. Law nearly collapsed in relief. Until the boy emerged from his hiding place carrying several … balloons?

“Look! I find balloons!” he announced proudly, holding them up for Law to inspect. “They slippery.”

“EUSTASS!”

Kid rushed out of the kitchen upon hearing his boyfriend’s distress, but the sight that greeted him in the hallway had him nearly choking trying to hold back his laughter. There was Law, blushing furiously and pointing at Austin, who was excitedly showing his brother the “balloons” he’d found and blown up (all by himself!) in the bathroom.

“This is not funny, Eustass!” Law hissed.

“Oh come on, Law, we barely use them anymore. At least someone is getting some use out of them.”

“Your brother has blown up our condoms like balloons and you are making jokes?! He’s playing with them! Look at him, he’s covered in lube! What would your mother say?”

“She’d probably laugh and tell you about the time Bonney wore her anal beads like a necklace.”

“Oh my god.”

“C’mon, guys, lets wash hands for dinner. I made spaghetti, how’s that sound?”

The twins cheered and rushed back into the bathroom to wash their hands while Law grudgingly helped Kid set the table.

“I made you a salad,” Kid offered cautiously, holding the plate out like an olive branch.

Law glared at him and didn’t reply, but he did take the salad, which Kid figured was a good sign.

Kid got the boys situated at the table, placed between him and Law so that Kid could help Kyler and Law could help Austin as needed. Kid couldn’t help but smile as he watched Law relax a little in the familiar territory to eating with the twins. He’d shared plenty of meals with them, starting way back when Kid was still in the hospital, so he was more comfortable passing them things and encouraging them to eat veggies and such. Kyler excitedly told them more about the old person he saw in the hallway coming up to the apartment, but Austin was uncharacteristically quiet, staring intently at Law’s salad.

“Waw, you not eat?” he finally blurted out.

Law looked confused. “What? Yes, I’m eating. I have salad.”

“No, you not eat bascetti?”

“Ah. No, I not – ah – I don’t eat spaghetti.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not fond of pasta,” Law explained gently. Kid was impressed by his patience, honestly. He knew that Law had explained his dislike of pasta to the boys several times, and Law wasn’t one to repeat himself.

“No, it not pasta, it bascetti.”

“Right,” Law acquiesced slowly. “But spaghetti is a type of pasta. And I don’t particularly care for it.”

“Oh.” The boy looked troubled for a moment before brightening up significantly. “But, Waw? It not bascetti! It ice cream, see? You jus … you use the-the pointy one? An’ eat it!”

The laughter Kid had been holding back escaped him in a loud guffaw that had Law glaring halfheartedly at him. “Well, kiddo, that was a good try, but Law doesn’t eat ice cream either. It ruins his figure.”

Law discretely kicked Kid in the shin under the table. “I’m afraid he’s partially right, Austin. I don’t eat ice cream or spaghetti. So either way, I think I’ll just eat my salad.”

The boy looked so dejected that Law briefly considered sucking it up and eating the pasta, but a flashback to the loaf of bread meltdown had him shaking the thought away. He was perfectly content with his greens.

“Alright, boys, I think it’s time we clean up, huh?” Kid asked when they’d finished eating. Admittedly, he was pretty sure that more spaghetti had ended up on the twins than had gone in them, but they both seemed satisfied with the meal, so he wasn’t too worried about it. Law had already begun clearing the dishes, so Kid jumped up to help him. Law, however, had other plans.

“No. You stop right there and take those two to the bathroom immediately. And for the love of god, don’t let them touch anything. I’ll clean up this mess. You clean up that one.”

Now that he looked at them, Kid did see where Law was coming from. He made a point to keep the apartment obsessively clean, after all, and two spaghetti-covered three-year-olds running around all over would definitely cause some damage.

“Alright, hooligans! To the bath!”

Austin giggled and tried to escape, so Kid wrapped him up under his arm and carried him, but Kyler seemed more resigned to his fate and let Kid simply lead him by the hand. He got them set up in the tub with these weird little fizzy things his mom had sent that made the whole bathroom smell like lavender and chamomile. Apparently the boys would be impossible to get to sleep without them, and Kid definitely didn’t want that. Law had been great so far, and aside from being a bit frazzled by the condom thing, he hadn’t seemed terribly unhappy about spending time with the boys. Kid didn’t want that to get messed up by Austin and Kyler fighting sleep with all their cranky might. He’d seen it before, and it was not pretty.

Man, Law really had been great, though. The way he handled Austin’s injury had Kid’s heart skipping a beat. He could say it was just his experience with drunk people, but Kid knew better. And seeing his boyfriend engaging with the kids, especially getting Austin to smile through his tears, well … it had Kid feeling things he wasn’t sure he was really prepared to feel.

And then there was the ring thing. Shit, that had been unexpected. Maybe …

“Eustass? Is everything alright in there? There seems to be quite a bit of splashing.”

Kid jerked out of his thoughts just in time to get hit by a massive tidal wave of fragrant water. “Ah shit, you guys, seriously?!” he cursed, leaping to his feet and wiping the water out of his eyes.

“Sorry, Bubba,” Kyler giggled remorselessly.

“Yeah, Bubba. Sooooorrrrrry.”

“Oh you aren’t sorry at all, you little-“

“Eustass!”

Scowling, Kid opened the door and glared at Law. He expected Law to be pissed about the messy bathroom, to snark at him for not paying close enough attention, but instead the surgeon smirked.

“Now who’s the cat?” he asked, obviously far more amused than he should be at Kid’s predicament.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure it’s still you, doc. How about a hug?”

“Don’t you dare,” Law warned, backing away and pointing a finger at him.

Kid grinned. “See? Still you.”

Law clicked his tongue dismissively, but still kept his distance from his soaking wet boyfriend. “Are the boys clean? It’s nearly nine.”

“We clean!”

“Alright, let’s get you dried off and then we can show you where you’re sleeping,” Kid suggested. “And maybe, if you ask really, really nicely, Law will read you a story.”

Kid ignored the raised eyebrow that got him and proceeded to help the boys dry themselves and get into their pajamas. He was kind of excited to see their reaction to the “big boy” bed they’d be sharing. It was huge and soft and he knew from experience that it made for a great night’s sleep. But when he opened the door with a flourish he was surprised to see both boys shrink away at the sight of it.

“What’s wrong, boys?” Law inquired, concern etched into his features.

“Too wisky,” Kyler announced.

“Yeah,” Austin agreed. “It too wisky. We too small.”

“Whisky?” Law mouthed to Kid, confused.

“You guys, it’s not risky. It’s just a bed. Look, it’s really comfy!” Kid threw himself down on it, bouncing slightly before settling into the luxurious sheets.

“Nope,” Kyler insisted. “Too wisky. We sleep wif you.”

“Yeah! We sleep wif Bubba an Waw.”

Shit. Kid knew Law was never going to –

“Alright, then, if you’re that frightened. Come on. But our bed is just as big, you know.”

What the fuck. “Law, you know they want us to sleep with them, right? Like, not just change which bed. They want us to go to bed with them … right now.”

“I understand that, Eustass. But if they’re scared to sleep in the bed alone there’s not much we can do, is there?”

“Well, no, but … I mean, you don’t have to. I can just go to bed with them. You can go do whatever.”

“No! Waw gotta sleep too!” Austin insisted, wrapping his arms tightly, and uncomfortably high, around Law’s thigh.

“Yup,” Kyler confirmed solemnly from their bedroom door.

Kid looked helplessly from his brothers to his boyfriend, but was once again shocked to see no trace of annoyance on Law’s face. Okay then. Apparently they were all going to bed … at nine o’clock at night.

“We can just stay there until they fall asleep and then get up,” Kid assured Law quietly as they changed.

“Mmmhmm,” Law murmured, watching closely as Kyler and Austin helped each other climb onto the bed.

“You really surprised me today, you know.”

Law shot him a quick glance. “Yes, well, I do have some rather enticing motivation. Don’t forget your promise, Mr. Eustass.”

Kid smirked partially at the thought of that motivation, but mostly because he and Law both knew it was more than the promise of Kid doing that that made him so cooperative today.

After their fourth rendition of Pete the Cat: I Love my White Shoes, Kid and Law finally turned off the bedside lamps and laid in the dark, waiting for the boys between them to settle down.

“Pet him,” Kid whispered.

“I’m sorry?”

“Austin. If you kinda … pet him, he falls asleep.”

“You want me to pet your brother.”

“I’m telling you, he’ll fall asleep way faster if you do it.”

Law reached a tentative hand out and ran his fingers through the unruly mop of hair currently using his arm as a pillow. Austin sighed and tucked himself closer to Law, so the surgeon continued to smooth his hair back. Sure enough, within a few moments the boy’s breathing was slow and even, just like his brother’s.

“You wanna get up?” Kid asked.

“I am currently a human pillow.”

“Right.” Kid let the silence stretch comfortably between them for a moment, thinking. “Hey Law?”

“Hmm?”

“Would it be like, cliché rom-com levels of cheesy if I said I love you right now?”

“Yes,” Law whispered back curtly. “Just go to sleep.”

Kid shrugged and shifted to let Kyler snuggle closer in his sleep, resigned to the fact that he was going to bed for real after all. His eyelids grew heavy in the darkness and he felt the irresistible pull of sleep washing over him.

“I love you too, asshole,” Law murmured, his voice so soft Kid almost thought he’d dreamed it.

He fell asleep smiling.

[yestheyaretwins]

June 2017 / 4 years! We’ve been talking about their birthday for months, mostly so I could figure out what they wanted on their birthday cake, which seemed to change weekly (pink and purple butterflies with sparkles, Wonder Woman, a kitty, and a list of every stuffed animal they own). They were getting VERY excited to turn four! We had a small get together at the park – kids played in the pool and the playground, we had snacks pizza and cake (which featured a giraffe and a parrot, the two most beloved stuffed animals the eventual winners). Lots of big girl gifts this year! New bikes with training wheels from Grandma J and Grandpa G – they had those strider/balance bikes for over a year, but never really “got it”. However, they hopped on these pink retro schwinns and were riding in minutes. They also got new big girl beds from Grandma P and Grandpa T, so we ditched their toddler/convertible beds and made the big switch! They were SO excited, new sheets and quilts, and lots more room to hoard books, toys, stuffed animals and other various treasures. Plenty of room for both beds in their bedroom and I’m standing by my no-bunk-bed rule for a while, reinforced by the fact that J has fallen out of her bed a few times since it arrived. Award for most controversial gift goes to the Barbie dream house… I’ve tried to keep princess stuff and other overtly gendered toys off their radar, but didn’t realize that I’d have to be thinking about Barbie already. The TV show was already banned after I sat through an episode where Barbie and the other woman fought over boys (are you effing kidding me?!). Anyway, a moment of redemption when B took them to Target to buy dolls for the house and they picked Darth Vader and Wonder Woman. On their Big Day, B brought them downtown and we had our annual doughnut date – a fun tradition that I hope we can continue. We had a girls-only weekend this month when B was out of town for some shows – we called it Girl Power Weekend and we had a ton of fun with just the 3 of us, kind of a treat for me. We got to celebrate B for Father’s Day when his band played an afternoon show at an art festival – the girlies love watching him on stage and dancing along to the music. They had their first week of summer camp this month – they’re doing 4 day programs at a pre-school in the area, all with a focus on a specific art or project. This month was Monet-inspired painting, which they both loved. They really like art projects and the dining room table is constantly covered with paints, markers, glue sticks, beads, tons of paper and other decorations. It was funny to hear them talk about these camps – they were confused about the difference between going camping and going to summer camp… people seemed a bit surprised to hear them say “we’re going camping next week”. I’ve noticed some fun little quirks with each of the girlies lately… J refers to V almost exclusively as “sister” as she finds it hard to say her full name – she even told me once that she likes to call her sister better because it’s not hard to say and that’s what she is (lol). They’ve picked up little bits of language from us – the other day V said “papa is going to freak out when I tell him ___” – so funny to hear my own words / adult things come out of their mouths. We’ve also been working more on manners and how they can ask for things nicely, as I was getting tired of them constantly barking directions at us. If I don’t hear a please, I’ll say “can you try to ask me again?” and they’ll say “please mama can I have ___” – but sometimes getting confused about what the most important word is. In one interaction, in response to me telling her to try again, J said “mama get me ___ mama” and when I told her to try again, she said “but I said mama! twice!!”

[thesims4blogger]

The Sims 4: New Game Patch (January 12th. 2017)

Remove all MODS and Custom Content before updating your game!

Update: 01/12/2017 – PC Version 1.26.96.1010 / Mac Version 1.26.96.1210

Hey Simmers and Simmodlers,

What’s New?

Toddlers.

Wait you skipped right to the what’s ne… what the whaaat?! Toddlers? Toddler toddlers… toddlers? Um, did you just say toddlers?

Perhaps. But the long standing ‘no talk’ of toddlers talk may be toddler blocking me. And, as such I can neither confirm nor deny their tiny toddler toddling presence in this release. I can however, say that any resemblance to a toddler in this toddler release is purely todd-idental… ler.

I am also required by the Toddler Coalition for the Betterment and Care of Toddlerhood to provide a few disclaimers:

For you and your toddler’s safety, please keep all toddlers at least 5 feet from all toddler messaging about toddlers.

In case of fire do not break glass, but grab the nearest toddler and exit the building in an orderly fashion.

Also, for a toddler lasting more than 9 days, turn aging on.

Batteries not included, so feed your toddler.

For identification purposes, this is a toddler: o>-<

Once safe, please take a moment to find the toddlers parents if the toddler was not yours.

Not actual size

Well whew! We’ve just had 24 toddlers already born in these release notes (make that 25). I feel there may be more toddlers on the way… so Woohoo*!

*Woohoo will not directly produce a toddler, but provide for the groundwork for a future toddler.

Argh! So… TELL ME ABOUT TODDLERS already!!!

Ok, ok alright. All things Toddlers…

Let’s start with

“How do you get a Toddler”?

Add your toddler in Create a Sim!

You can add them to a new or existing household through Create a Sim. And customize them as you would any other Sim:

Ok, now that the Caregiver bit is over with… let’s get into the other customization options.

Select their voice, gender, and ASSIGN A RELATIONSHIP

Sorry for the caps, but this is kind of important. Toddlers have a special relationship with caregivers.

Mothers, brothers, fathers, sisters, or anyone you choose via the in game interaction Adopt as Caregiver (found under the toddlers Help… interaction menu) are caregivers.

Being a Caregiver will ensure that the caregiver Sim cares for the toddler, while other Sims may be less inclined to answer the crying calls of your average toddler.

8 new traits to pick from!

Presets for the various toddler body and head parts to assist in your customization, as well as the same ability to modify the body and face parts that other Sims have.

All the same skin tones as adults (yes, Aliens too!)

Plenty of Styled Looks to choose from.

And of course all the usual stuff…

Angelic, Fussy, Silly, Charmer, Independent, Wild, Clingy, and Inquisitive

Does it make sense that that toddler wears an alien sized diaper?

No, no it doesn’t. But, it’s really cute!

Full body outfits, tops, bottoms, socks, leggings, and shoes.

Glasses, hats, hairs (and hair colors), freckles, and teeth.

Did we talk about the new teeth yet?

Yes, teeth for all ages! Head in to Create a Sim, click on your Sims head, click the Face category, and then Teeth to customize your Sims smile.

I like the braces.

Adopt your toddler!

Choose the Household… Adopt option on the computer, to adopt your very own toddler!

They come fully toddler-ized, ready for your snuggles.

Or, if you want to do things the old fashioned way, age up your baby!

It starts with… look it’s a birds and bees thing. There’s a flower, some pollen, and the bee… um, go ask your mom.

So, now you have a toddler…

How do you care for them?

Bathe, and Bubble Bathe them. Be aware of the possible splash back.

With a Potty Chair they can Go Potty, and Ask for Potty Help… or just use their diaper.

Sleep, Nap, Ask to be Read to Sleep or Tucked in, Sit and Chat all on a Toddler Bed.

Toddlers prefer the high chair where they can Ask for Food or Drink, and of course Eat.

Be hugged, snuggled, talked or played with, or listened to.

And of course, non-toddlers will have to Clean the Potty, and Change the Diaper.

But they may find their food more fun than edible.

And as they do ‘things’ they learn skills like communication, movement, thinking, imagination, and potty.

And their caregivers can be available to mentor and help them along.

But they want to have fun to, right?

Of course, and there are many ways for toddlers to have fun, or… not.

They can cry, laugh, yell, and throw a tantrum. Or babble in the mirror, tell stories, talk about dinosaurs, princesses, superheroes, parties, art, the day, their favorite animals, or just Ask Why… over and over and over.

Or play in things, find out what that is, splash in the toilet (hopefully you are a neat Sim), ask to be picked up, or talk to strangers (stranger danger).

Maybe they want to watch toddler videos, play Simshape or Blicblock Baby, draw with llama on the Wabbit Tablet. Or build a tower, study shapes, or ask others to help them build and study with the Nesting Blocks.

They can hit, hug, or talk to their giant stuffed animals.

Read or ask to be read a toddler book.

Look at flash cards, and learn animals, basic needs, letters, or objects.

Play with the toybox toys, and the dollhouse. Dance and listen to music (including the new Lullaby and Kids radio station).

Just to name a few…

Woah, ok… um, I hate to ask but can toddlers…

No, toddlers do not die. They are fireproof.

No, no... NO! I wasn’t… look, I just wanted to know can toddlers…

Yes, they can climb stairs, run and walk – but you’ll have to improve their movement skill.

Stop that, I just wanted to know can toddlers do anything else?

Yes, toddlers can…

…be your little sister or brother, son or daughter. Try your patience. Be loving but a handful. They can take all your time, or be ignored. They can travel with you, or go to daycare. Or you can stay at home, and hire a nanny. They can provide special moments for you and your Sims. And they can grow and learn, as they age up into children, teens, young adults, adults, and eventually elders. They can’t die, but they can be taken away. And ultimately, they can be part of your Sims family, and your stories.

Anything else?

Yes, in addition to toddlers, and I strongly suggest you pick up a couple of these if you intend to have a toddler, you can find the following items in Build Mode under the Kids Room sort (just click on the 3 blocks in the image):

2 Toddler Beds

3 High Chairs

Wabbit Tablet

Nesting Blocks

Chomper the Devourer toy box

A toddler sized Dollhouse

A Bookshelf and 12 toddler books

2 Potty Chairs

6 new toy box toys (bus, kitty, bear, ducky, butterfly, and Tentacle Tom)

And…

2 Curtains, 5 wall decals, a light for floors and a light for ceilings, a dresser, a rug, a wall shelf, an end table, a wall sculpture, a living chair, 4 decorated toddler doors, AND 7 walls and 2 floors.

That sure is a lot. Did you address any issues?

Just a couple, er some, er what is five in the verbal shorthand? And is couple really short for two? It has three extra letters. I’m so confused…

You can now use the Design Tool on a bassinet containing a baby, because sometimes your baby just doesn’t match your room.

Walls can now be built along all four edges of penthouse lots, rather than just three.

We addressed an issue that could cause the game to freeze while playing the Doctor Career or when hiring a Nanny in some languages.

Confident children will no longer get a whim to practice pick-up lines.

We addressed an issue that could cause doors to be stuck ajar.

And you can’t change the baby. Put down the baby safe paint and brush, and just back away.

*childish moment* Playing doctor, hehe.

Your door is ajar.

No, it’s a door.

And on that toddler’ish joke, that’s the update folks. In the time it took you to read these release notes, the following toddlers came to be in the Sims…

Abigail a toddler, Aidan a toddler, Alex a toddler, Alexander a toddler, Allison a toddler, Alyssa a toddler, Andrew a toddler, Anna a toddler, Anthony a toddler, Archer a hog of war, Ariana a venti-toddler, Ashley a toddler, Austin a toddler, Ava a toddler, Avery a toddler, Benjamin a toddler button, Brandon a toddler, Brayden a toddler, Brianna a toddler, Brian not a toddler because he turned aging off and stayed a baby, Caden a toddler, Caleb a toddler, Cameron a toddler, Chloe a toddler danced the tables, Christian a toddler, Christopher a toddler, Connor a toddler, Cruz a toddler, Daniel a toddler, David vs toddler-iath, Dylan a toddler, Elijah would a toddler?, Elizabeth a toddler, Ella a toddler, Emily a toddler, Emma a toddler, Ethan a toddler, Etta at last a toddler, Evan a toddler, Gabriel a toddler, Gavin a toddler, Grace a toddler, Hailey a toddler, Hannah a toddler and her sisters, Hunter a toddler, India a toddler, Isabella-watcha-doin-toddler, Isabelle a toddler, Jack o’toddler, Jackson a toddler, Jacob a climber, James a toddler, Jasmine a toddler, Jayden a toddler, John a toddler, Jonathan a toddler, Jordan a toddler, Joseph a toddler, Joshua a toddler, Julia a toddler, Kaitlyn a toddler, Katherine a toddler, Kayla a toddler, Kaylee a toddler, Kylie a toddler, Kyra a toddler, Lauren a toddler, Lily a toddler, Logan a toddler also known as James, Lucas a toddler, Luke – use the toddler, Mackenzie a toddler, Madeline a toddler made with flour, eggs, lemon, sugar, and vanilla, Madison a toddler and an avenue in a popular board game, Makayla a toddler, Mason a free-toddler, Matthew a toddler, Maya a toddler, Megan a toddler, Mia a toddler, Michael a toddler, Morgan a toddler, Natalie a toddler, Nathan an uncharted toddler, Nicolas a toddler, Noah a toddler on an ark, Olivia a toddler-newton-john, Owen a toddler, Plum a toddler, Rachel we miss you a toddler, Riley a toddler, Rosemary’s toddler, Ryan a toddler, Samantha b toddler, Samuel a toddler on snakes, Sarah a toddler, Savanna a plain toddler, Sean a toddler, Sophia a toddler, Sydney a toddler-mate, Taylor a toddler, Thomas a toddler, TK-421 a trooper, Toddler a toddler, Tyler a toddler, William a tell-toddler, Zachary a toddler, and Zoe a toddler.

We look forward to your stories, and we wonder who your toddler will be?

-SimGuruGnome’dler