The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Caroline and Jeff took a trip to Chicago at the beginning of May, and while there Caroline found a new love--Tom Sawyer.

Jeff's sister Michelle was busy that week directing her high school students in the musical The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Caroline got to go to school with Auntie Meesh (as she calls her), and sit in on a speech class and go to play practice. She was, by all accounts, on top of the world.

At one point she even said she didn't miss me.

Well, ever since coming home from that trip, Caroline has talked NON-STOP about Tom Sawyer. Whereas she used to have 33 sisters (the number is always in flux, but has been in the thirties consistently lately), she now has 3 brothers as well. They are: Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Injun Joe ("he's not really a mean guy--he's just pretending").

When she came home she was singing the songs from the musical, talking about Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher as if they were her best friends (always using their full names), and laughing over and over about Tom's Aunt Polly pulling his ear. She just couldn't get over the pulling of the ear.

She would be in her playroom acting out some drama and then come running into the kitchen (laughing like she couldn't believe what had just happened) to tell me a HUGE story, and each story would have as the clincher some kind of ear pulling.

"And we were playing chase and then Tom Sawyer caught me and he pulled my EAR!"

or

"And then Aunt Polly pulled Tom Sawyer's ear and then Tom Sawyer pulled Becky Thatcher's ear AND my ear! He pulled both of our ears!"

I would usually say something like, "Oh my goodness, that is so silly." And she would agree, "Tom.Sawyer.is.so.silly!" and throw up her hands and shake her head, grinning.

I began to wonder if she might have a crush on Tom, either the character she saw in the musical or the actual student who played Tom on-stage. Either could be possible--she spent a lot of time hanging out with the high schoolers during practice, so much time, in fact, that she thought she was one of them. My sister-in-law told me that when a fellow four-year-old asked Caroline if she wanted to color, Caroline told her no! She would normally be super excited that someone was inviting her to do something. But she was completely taken with her bigger friends.

Below is a picture of Caroline and the big kids playing her Go Fish game. The one above is her as Becky Thatcher. :) Pictures compliments of Michelle (thanks!).