Running Away

Today was the tenth day of school, not that I'm counting down to summer! But Akila has a new thing this year she is trying out. She comes home every day wanting to know where we are going. And most of the time the answer is no where, and she does not like this answer. She especially did not like this answer today, so she decided she was going to run away. I have a hard time knowing how to respond to this one. She doesn't do it too often, I would say every few months, usually.

She packed up her bag, got her dolls, needed a target bag for her winter coat in case she got cold (who said FASD kids can't plan ahead?) and was ready to go. I told her I didn't want her to go and that I would miss her too much. She left. I watched her from a hidden window, as she rounded the corner into North Mpls. I sighed. I followed her to the corner behind our block, which is not a place she should be alone. She did not want to come back home, or so she said. I actually did have a hard time getting her home.

The entire way home, which we had to stop many times to talk and fuss, I heard about how she hated our family, didn't want to be in our family any more, because I always say no. And she never gets to go anywhere (so not true). As we were getting close to our house, she decided she wanted to live with someone else on our block. I said good luck finding someone. She came in the house and wanted to change her name. I asked her what name she would choose. She said Kiera. I said that was a pretty name and asked her if she would write it down for me so I could see how it was spelled. Then I asked her if she would write it on her homework sheet and turn it into a creative writing assignment. I asked her to write what type of a family she would like to live in and how she was feeling. It worked for a few minutes of distraction, then she came right back to wanting to leave.

And she wanted to change her name officially. I told her it was too expensive and she would have to wait until she was an adult and could pay for it on her own. She decided she wanted to move in with the family next door, and started to perseverate on this fact. She couldn't wait until Ms. Pat would return home so we could ask if Akila could move in. It was fun. When Ms. Pat did come home, I called and explained Akila's new idea (Ms. Pat is a single mom of 4 adopted kids, one with FAS), she said that Akila could come over and play with Maria, her daughter who is about Akila's age. God bless her. This helped and got Akila out of her goofy mood.

I had to explain to Akila that Ms. Pat said she couldn't move in, but could come and play for a little. She was fine with it. We will see what she does tomorrow, I have a feeling she may try to be on the run a lot. I think we may need to install some kind of alarm notification system for the doors soon, I can't be watching the doors at all times. But the kids come and go out of the doors on nice days. Oh what fun lies ahead, I hate to think about it.