Tuesday 15 April 2014

Pressed in a book

Round 35: June 2041 (Winter)



Aaron and Calvin Clarke are 38, Amy is 6, Natalie is 4 and Curtis is 2. 
(Lake is 84, Kendal is 65, Josie is 39, Troy is 38, Jude is 9 and Andrew is 5.)
Narrated by Calvin Clarke

I thought I’d miss playing when I retired but I've been coaching for a couple of years now and I just don’t.



It helps that coaching means I'm still in the basketball world, so I haven’t really had much of a chance to miss it.

I coach a really great team and it’s nice to be on the other side, after so many years on the court.

I'm still under pressure but it’s a different kind of pressure nowadays.

Of course, the pay bump was nice too. It let Aaron and I buy this new place, with a fourth bedroom for Curtis.

The bedrooms are all pretty small, especially Curtis’s room, but we all make it work.

When we decided to adopt again, we’d planned on moving Amy and Natalie in together but in this house, they each have their own rooms.

Not that that has meant they spend much time alone. They’re in and out of each other’s rooms constantly.

Amy was pretty thrilled about the idea of sharing with Natalie but I think there will come a time when they’re both thankful to have the option of some privacy.

I hope they stay close like they are but who knows what will happen when hormones hit? For now though, Natalie idolises Amy and Amy is quite content to let her.

The girls are both very good with Curtis. Even Amy, who was so insistent that she didn't want a brother.

Curtis is very quiet but so far, Natalie’s in-your-face-ness doesn’t seem to be bothering him too much.

She knows she has to be gentle with him and leave him be if he looks like he’s had enough for a while.


Curtis has fit right into our family. It’s just like he’s always been with us.

Having three children under 7 is definitely difficult at times. We feel like we earn every second of sleep we can get!

Fortunately, both sets of grandparents are more than happy to babysit when we need a break.

We don’t like to impose too often but Mum and Lake did come over and watch the kids for the night recently.

Aaron and I were both really worn out and needed a night off but we also think it’s good for Curtis to have time away from us.

He’s very clingy at the moment, so we’re trying to get him used to being cared for by people other than Aaron and me. It’ll have to happen at some point anyway, so he may as well learn to cope early.


So the kids had a great time with their grandparents, while Aaron and I got to go out to eat at a new-to-us restaurant.

It was fantastic to talk without being interrupted by one of the kids needing something.

Aaron’s so happy at the paper right now but this was the first chance we've really had to talk about it in quite a while.

He was reporting on sports for so long (which is not a passion for Aaron like it is for me) and he’s so excited to be doing the kind of stories he really wants to do now.

I’d rather be on sports than the investigative stuff, personally, but I'm proud of Aaron and thrilled for him.

We really needed a relaxing night like that and I'm glad we got it.

The next day wasn't quite so relaxing. My brother Troy came over with Josie, Jude and Andrew.

Any time Andrew visits, I'm basically guaranteed to end the day with a headache. He’s very full-on!

The four of us spend the whole time scolding him for one thing or another, not that he seems at all bothered by it. He just shrugs it off and does what he likes anyway.

I don’t get it. He seems keen to play with Natalie but he always ends up making her cry instead.

We try to keep Andrew and Curtis separated, at least for the mean time. Even when he’s behaving, he’s very rough and Curtis is a little young to deal with that.

When he does get near Curtis, he’s usually snatching toys off him and dangling them where he can’t get to them.

He thinks it’s hilarious; Curtis doesn't agree and neither do we.

Jude is Andrew’s polar opposite and gets along famously with all our kids.

It’s amazing that two boys raised in the same house, by the same parents, could turn out so differently.

Jude's nature was a bit of a surprise to Josie and Troy. They were always expecting a kid more like Andrew, not that it makes him any easier to deal with.

Apparently, the teachers at school think Andrew might need to see someone about his “issues”, an idea Josie isn't particularly keen on.

Aaron and I both think they should probably just go ahead and hear the school out but there’s not much we can really say. Hopefully, the school can change her mind. If Andrew could get his aggression in check, he might actually get to build a nice relationship with his cousins.

Notes:

  • Title is from Pressed in a Book by the Shins.
  • I know basketball is five-a-side (more accurately, I was pretty sure it was but just looked it up then to check!), so ignore the fact that there are only four guys pictured on Calvin's team. Let's pretend there are other guys off camera. ;)
  • Andrew is truly this obnoxious without any prompting for me. I had Jude talking to Amy, only to swing around and find him making Natalie cry. Then I was thinking "Aaron and Calvin would probably want to protect little Curtis from Andrew, only to spot Andrew dangling a toy rocket over Curtis's head, completely autonomously. Little brat. Wish I had a school right now, so I could write it in, lol!

12 comments:

  1. It certainly adds variety (and realism) to have a kid like Andrew in your game!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When so many of my kids were turning out with 1 nice point, I would have disagreed. But now that I reassign personality points with my system and a kid like Andrew actually does provide some variety, I'm happy for someone a bit different. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  2. Wow, Andrew really a handfull! I'm very much looking forward to reading more about him :)
    I think Troy and Josie were lucky to have Jude as well!

    I love seeing Amy and Natalie together, they are very sweet, it would be really nice if they stayed this close when they are older as well. It's great that Amy plays with Curtis as well, even though she didn't want a brother.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Probably Josie and Troy's update will be the next place you hear about Andrew, seeing I don't have a school right now! Maybe I'll use my business lot for the principal's office again, like I did with Kendal in the last update.

      Well, you know I really like playing sisters in the game. I'm already excited to see how their relationship will change and grow as they get older. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  3. Andrew seems like a real brat! Maybe he will mature a bit as he gets older? If he does, I think he will be able to have decent relationships with his cousins. I love seeing all the kids of different ages playing together and hanging out, even when it's not going so well. Great update!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrew is a huge brat! It's mainly caused by his one nice point, so I fear he'll just move on from tormenting and teasing to noogies as a teen and then poking as an adult! But not all my grouchy sims act like that, so we'll see, I guess.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  4. I love seeing the different interpretations of the nice points, or lack thereof. He really is a brat and I don't think he would fare too well when he meets another bratty kid at school. When do you think you'll get your school back?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interpreting the points in various ways keeps it interesting for me! It's not so pleasant for Andrew's family but I guess we'll see how he develops as he gets older.

      No clue on the school! Not even close to being finished with the hospital and I do want to get that done first. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  5. ooh not having a school, what a bummer. I know you don't, but I keep forgetting since you've pretty much always had one. I was reading about him, and thinking what a headache he would be to his teachers. I hope that they can help him calm down, Lewis did it to Bea but I thought it was from his Mom dying, since he's not particularly mean. The girls are super adorable, as is Curtis. I really like the diversity in their kids, from hair colors, and facial features, and the girls playing in the bedroom is too cute. It will be exciting to see them having families in the far future. I think their new house looks nice, I know you didn't share the tour at n99. I don't think that Kendal would be put out at all to watch her grandkids! I can only imagine how eager and happy she would be!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I'm definitely missing a school! It'll be my next project after the hospital, though I'm not yet sure whether I'll do the high school or primary school first.

      I like the diversity with the Clarke kids, though I do wish Natalie hadn't ended up with a Maxis face. :\ She shouldn't have, because I've had template replacements for as long as I've had Sullivan. But they should all give me some interesting offspring in the years to come.

      The house looks okay in this update but you can't see it all. The big picture is really not as attractive, I promise you. I can decorate small lots but I didn't do well with this one, for whatever reason. I have a couple of ideas for things I might switch around, so I'll see if I like it any better after that.

      Kendal is more than happy to babysit any time she's asked! Calvin being considerate with how often he asks his mum and Lake to babysit is more for Lake's benefit than Kendal's. ;) Lake loves his grandkids but he's not willing to babysit quite as frequently as Kendal would be!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  6. Wow, it's kinda insane to think of you not having a school to write in a bratty Andrew! I imagine he'd just be a male Josie.
    I'm glad those two are making three kids work. I was wondering about Natalie's face myself, thinking that she definitely looked different, but I couldn't think of how.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And kicking some poor current-day version of Patience in the head? Yeah, probably! He's a little terror. It's interesting that Josie and Troy are identical in personality points, yet I never had much of an issue with him when he was a kid.

      Every time I get used to Natalie's face, I go "but it's so Maxis!" and get annoyed all over again. I had templates, she shouldn't look like that! Argh. Anyway, I do like her as a sim and she fits into the family so well. I might get over it one day but I'm fairly shallow. ;)

      Delete