Harder Than Training Pokemon

MADDIE: AGE 1 1/2

I rubbed my tired eyes, hoping by some miracle I could wipe the exhaustion out of them. Regardless of the fact that on my journey I would stay up late and wake up early, I don't think I had ever felt this tired. Taking a sip of my coffee, I set it back down and stared into space waiting for it to finally take affect. I couldn't even concentrate I was so tired.

"Ash!" I heard someone's voice break through my mind.

My reply was somewhere between a grunt of acknowledgement and an attempted yes. For added effect, I set my head down on the table to try and take just a small nap. I just couldn't keep my eyes open no matter how hard I try.

"Ash!" I heard the voice again this time more powerful.

"What?" I finally answered trying to look up.

"Did you hear what I said?" my wife asked from across the table. She looked just as tired as I was with dark rings around her eyes.

"No."

She sighed and put her head in her hand, closing her eyes for a second. She probably knew if she had closed them any longer she might just fall asleep. "This is all your fault," she told me before taking a sip of her own coffee.

"My fault?" I asked her, barely getting the words out.

"Your stupid genetics," she explained. I just started at her blankly, having no idea what she meant by that statement. "Your mother warned me about this. She said you were just like this as a kid."

"Oh." I had actually known what she was talking about. She was referring to the sleeping patterns of our new daughter, the source of our exhaustion. Not even Pokemon training was this demanding. For what seemed like ages, our daughter would wake up constantly in the middle of the night, preventing anyone form getting a good nights rest. She had been like this when we first had her, but now that she was over a year old, we thought she would have grown out of it. We had tried everything those stupid books told us, even sometimes letting her cry herself to sleep. We quickly realized, though, that didn't work out like we hoped. And apparently, according to my mom, I was the exact same way as a baby. I was starting to regret ever having a kid.

"Brock's coming over today, though. He said he'd take her for the day," Misty told me.

"Oh thank god," I exclaimed, smacking my head on the kitchen table. Maybe I could finally get some sleep.

Misty snickered from across the table, a small smile appearing on her tired face. Looking up, I glanced at her smiling face and couldn't help smile myself. It made me wonder how, even when she was this exhausted, she still managed to look beautiful? I myself probably looked like crap, but she had this warm glow about her. For the first time that morning, I felt a sudden wave of peace. That is, before the peaceful moment was interrupted by some crying coming from upstairs.

Before I even said anything, I heard the chair across from me move and Misty groan in annoyance. "I'll get her," she said, pushing in the chair.

"No," I told her, standing up myself. "I'll get her." Before she could protest (not that I think she would) I pushed in my chair and headed upstairs.

When I opened the door to the nursery, I picked up my daughter and rocked her from side to side, hoping that would at least calm her down. It didn't matter, though, because she continued to cry even louder. It was then that I would pay anything for her to be able to speak and tell me what she wanted instead of me having to guess. She couldn't have been hungry because Misty had fed her the last time she went to get her. And after that, I had changed her. So what did she want?

Giving it one last shot, I carried her over to the rocking chair where I sat down and started to move it back and forth. Sometimes this worked, and I was praying that this was one of those times. Please fall asleep, I begged her, staring at her as if that only could transmit my pleas. It didn't work, though, as she continued to cry some more. Since I couldn't sing a lullaby due to my horrible voice, I resorted for the more humorous route.

"Maddie," I told her. "If you don't fall asleep and let Mommy and Daddy get some sleep I won't let you go on your Pokemon journey when you're older." Like she even knew what I was talking about. But out of some miracle, her crying quieted down to only small whimpers. I knew there was no way she actually understood what I said, so what was it? Just to make sure this wasn't a fluke, I opted for a story. I racked my tired brain for some kind of story before I settled for the story about the day I met Misty.

As I told the story, I saw my daughter's eyes slowly close into sleep. Finally! It had worked out of some miracle. Setting her back in her crib, I sat back down for a few minutes to make sure she was really asleep.

I felt something nuzzle my cheek and lick my face. Opening my eyes, I found Pikachu sitting in my lap. I must have fallen asleep when I sat down. In a quick panic, I glanced at the clock and saw that I had only been asleep for twenty minutes. Phew.

"Thanks, Pikachu," I told him before standing up to go find Misty. She was probably wondering where I was.

When I headed back to the kitchen, though, Misty wasn't sitting there anymore. Having my suspicions, I headed to the family room where I found my wife sleeping soundly on the couch. I smiled at the scene before me, taking in how pretty she looked when she slept. Picking her up while trying not to disturb her at the same time, I carried her upstairs to our room where I placed her on the bed and tucked her in.

"Mmm. . .Ash?" I heard her mumble in her sleep. "How's Maddie?"

"She's asleep." I told her. "Don't worry."

"How? What did you do?"

"Nothing. Just told her a little story about how this girl I knew stole my bike and never gave it back."

"Mmm. Okay. Make sure she gives it back." Man was she tired. She didn't even pick up on what I had said. I wonder what else I could get away with.

"Okay, I will dear." I kissed her on the forehead before she drifted back to sleep. Closing the door quietly behind me, I headed back downstairs to wait for Brock and feed Pikachu, but not before taking one last peak at Maddie to make sure she was in fact still asleep.