Sims2: Toddlers

Roberto naps contentedly in the big, bright nursery at the new house.

I love toddlers.  They're my favourite in the game, just like they probably are in real life, too. At the infant stage, babies have so few things you can do with them that they aren't even selectable characters.  Toddlers are, though.  They don't have all the needs of adults; only six, instead of eight.  They're pretty chill in general - you just hand them a bottle when they're hungry, and you just put them in the crib - no sleep training needed!  When they first become toddlers, and every time they wake up, they'll have wants to be played with, snuggled, talked to, and read to by one of their parents.  After that their wants are generally to learn to walk, talk, use the potty, or learn a nursery rhyme.  There are a few toys that build skills in toddlers; the xylophone for creativity, a puzzle box for logic, and a rather alarming rabbit head that talks when they pull its ear, for charisma.  Once they have a skill point in any of these, they will often have a want to get more points.

Some more adorable things toddlers can do:

• If there are two toddlers with a good relationship, you can select one of them, then click on the other, and choose "Huggle" to make them hug and coo at each other.
• You can also direct a toddler to Huggle a cat or dog that gets within their grasp - also quite funny, especially the way the pets roll around and complain.
• If they are hungry and there is a pet bowl they can reach, they will play with and eat the pet food.
• If there is a visitor on the lot, you can direct the toddler to ask them for food or attention.  Whether or not they get it depends on how well they know the visitor, and I think their Aspiration as well - Family Sims are more likely to get them a bottle or play with them.
• You can use the changing table to dress them in different outfits, although I rarely bother with this.
• You can buy a high chair and use it to feed them, although I usually just stick to bottles, since it doesn't tie up the adult.
• Once an older Sim has taught them the nursery rhyme, they will sit and sing a garbled version of it by themselves.
• If there is a pet bed they can get to and they're tired, they will climb onto it and fall asleep.  (This is actually very handy for busy parents.  Not only does the kid go to sleep on their own, the pet beds restore their sleep needs very slowly, so the toddler naps for longer than in a crib.)
• As you probably gathered above, you can teach them to walk, talk, and use the potty.  If you don't bother, it's fine - they apparently figure it out themselves when they reach the child stage.
• They'll play with their toys autonomously, including ones that children leave out of the toy box.  They can't always see them if there isn't a direct line of sight, though, so you have to direct them to crawl to a place near them.
• Their sleepwear is either a fuzzy animal outfit or a footed sleeper, both of which I find very cute.
• You can have an adult Sim with a Gold sewing badge use a sewing machine to sew an outfit for your toddler.  There aren't a ton of options, but you get to choose from a bunch of patterns and colours.  And if you're really into this kind of thing, you can have separate outfits for them for everyday, formal, sleepwear, and outerwear.