* Guilty conscience

Seeing as Claire wasn't having much luck scaling the ladder of  Master Thiefdom - when the opportunity arose to do a side job in Champs Les Sims - she took it. She needed a break from the mundanity of Sunset Valley (and so did I)... being a doting mum was all well and good, but there were times when Claire really needed her space. The fact that toddlers are unable to go on holiday, was a welcome break for me too !!!

Although Claire did, in fact, complete a couple of adventures whilst on holiday, she decided not to take any snaps to share - as her newly married friend Betty Newbie, from Riverview, was always boring her with hers. When she wasn't adventuring, Claire found time to sit and read in the vineyards of The Nectary - brushing up on her fish bait knowledge...

.... she spent most evenings eating at the little cafe across from the village square - The Cantonia Cafe, or playing Gnubb and hoping that no one asked to join her.

It couldn't last, of course... her visa expired and it was time to go back to reality, and her daughter Beth - who had been cared for by the baby sitter, Davey Linell. He's actually a really good babysitter, but I do occasionally have to go into buy mode and remove Beth's bedroom door so that he'll let her sleep - he has a habit of getting her out of her crib, putting her on the floor, then picking her up and putting her back in the crib... but if there's no door, then Davey sits downstairs and reads a book...much less annoying.

As soon as she saw her daughter, Claire felt an abundance of love... followed immediately by guilt at having enjoyed her time away. So she set about making amends to the child that hadn't actually noticed that her mother had left her for a while.

Claire planned a day spent in Central Park, enjoying the sunshine and decided to walk there with Beth in her stroller... which was only fun when they were on a flat bit - when going up hill, the stroller magically disappeared into a bottomless pocket and Beth was carried instead. Kinda wonder what EA were thinking there?

Beth had a ride on a Pirate ship, and unlike most toddlers, didn't mind getting off when the ride was over. Even I mind getting off when the ride is over!!!

Claire spent some time teaching Beth how to walk too, with complete (but frustrating) success - a few days on from this, Beth still tended to get from A to B on her hands and knees.

Whilst Claire did a spot of fishing in the pond, Beth spent some quality time with her imaginary friend, Jellybean. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not as she's currently the only toddler that I've allowed to have one. I do hope that when she ages it up it doesn't hinder her at all, she does spend A LOT of time with him.

As the day began to wind down, Claire sat with Beth and read her a story before heading home... Spending the day in the park with Claire and Beth gave me plenty of opportunity to muck about with interactions that I've never bothered with before. Reading to a toddler was one of them.

 The following day when she went to work, Claire finally got promoted from Get Away Driver to Bag Woman (personally I'd rather drive a car very fast than hold a bag  -even if it had stolen goods in it... actually, if there were chocolate biscuits in the bag, it would be a definite fifty fifty...)). Hopefully Claire would fare better in her new role than in her previous one, driving fast obviously wasn't her forte, as she kept getting caught.

When she got home that day, she felt the sudden lack of a *Special Someone* to share the news of her promotion with. Her daughter was wonderful for cuddles and affection, but not as a shoulder to lean on, or a partner to celebrate with....

.... so I decided to do something about that. You can read about Claire's Valentines Date HERE.