It has been a LONG week..

But at the same time it flew by!! We got back from Kanoya yesterday and it was a crazy race to go to Aira for my class and then onto my Friday evening class that I have only actually twice so far. Last time was a total disaster because Joey was running a fever and refused to let my student`s Mum play with him. This week was more of a success although it took him a little bit of time to warm up to her. He LOVED my student`s little sister though! (She is 12!) Kanoya was fun but a bit crazy because my niece is kind of hard work. She has been like that since she was born but as she spends most of the time alone with my SIL (BIL is working away at the moment, he is in the SDF) she is not only really hard work but takes a LONG time to get used to new people/ surroundings. At 14 months this is not such an unusual thing but as she woke up and cried alot at night, all of us had our sleep disturbed so I am quite tired. I didn`t mind the sleep deprivation so much but I was surprised by how little my SIL disciplines my niece. I am not a particularly strict Mum but I think it is very important that Joey knows his boundaries and lately I feel like I say "no" about 3 thousand times a day but i figure one day he will "get" it and things will be easier. My SIL never seems to say "no" to my niece. When we eat, I expect Joey to sit down for as much of the meal as possible. I know he will try and move about (especially as Japanese syle tables are so close to the floor and just asking for kids to be able to roam) but I try and encourage him to stay seated as much as possible. My SIL doesn`t even try with my niece and she was all over the place and climbing on the table even though there was food there. My SIL didn`t try and say "no", she just shrugged, laughed and commented on how naughty Aoi-chan is. I know everyone has their own parenting style but I was surprised to see how easy parents are on their kids here and how spoilt my niece is at such a tender age. This morning I had class so Daisuke and Joey hung out. Then Daisuke went off to play pachinko and Joey and I chilled out at home. I was hoping he would nap so I could get some rest but apart from 20 minutes in the car at lunchtime, he hasn`t slept at all!! It is 9pm and I thought he was getting sleepy but he has revived and seems to be raring to go!! Fingers crossed that he will go to bed soon because I have a JALT meeting tomorrow afternoon so I could do with an early night! I am looking forward tomorrow because we are planning to go out for dinner afterwards and it will be good to hang out and catch up with people.