We survived April Fools without too much incident and Jason-despite his discomfort with such foolishness- pinned a poisson d'avril on my back (and I was so proud of him). keira wanted to dump flour and water on everybody but settled for trying to startle people with tails of spiders on heads.

If I were the leader of the world...After explaining the election to them, Keira asserted that she would like to be a leader, even if she is just a kid (now she feels she should wait until she is six). Jason started saying wouldn't it be great to be inc charge of the whole world. He said that you could "go to a restaurant - free; coffee shop - free; treat store - free; video game store - free." Keira quite indignantly said, "No Jason, you have to take of the world."

Babies - Keira was playing with her friend Leo who wants to play family/babies and doesn't get to much in his house of three brothers. When he came here, Keira was excited that he agreed to play babies. She likes people to act out scenarios with the babies. After cuing him to oooh and aaah over the baby walking, he then said nonchalantly, 'Well I guess that's it now and she is on her own. Off to school..."

Little House on the Prairie. I lived for Little House books and shows as a kid. I wanted my hair like Melissa Gilbert. I wanted to wear old fashioned dresses. I wanted to live on the prairie, whatever that was. Although it seemed to have little impact on my obsession, my mother delivered a health dose of Little House cynicism. Why glorify the drudgery of life in the olden days for women? She also questioned Pa's decision making ability. Why was Pa always moving the family around?

I am now trying to share these stories with my children and struggling. Seriously Pa, WTF? You moved a lot into pretty uncertain situations. Why leave the Big woods in the first place, where you had family all around. Surprise, 150 years later , Wisconsin would have been a pretty quiet place to stay. Then into Indian Territory, that was "unsettled. Really Pa, unsettled? The beginning chapters of Little House on the Prairie make me so uncomfortable. So I decided to go right to Plum Creek thinking that the school yard intrigue with Nelly Olsen might be interesting for all of us. But really, Pa, a dugout? And then you build a whole house on credit?!

There are Little House highlight books which so far seems like a good compromise. They offer excerpts centered around themes such as Christmas or parties. So far, no strange encounters with "Indians". And limited exposure to questionable financial decisions.