Readings

Last night was my turn to read to the kids.  We first read an Olivia book, where Olivia and family go to Venice.  The artwork features cartoons on top of photos so the beautiful architecture of Venice comes through.  There was a picture of San Marco square that looked similar to this:

You see the big building at the end of the square?  That's a basilica and according to DF, it now belongs to us!  Which is good news.  It looks like a beautiful place.  We've decided to keep this information quiet in hopes that the good people of Venice will keep up on the, no doubt, expensive maintenance! 

The other book that we read from is 'Little House on the Prairie'.  We're at a part where the Ingalls family is living in Indian Territory (near the Kansas/Oklahoma border) and there is tension between the white settlers and the Indians.  In fact, the Indians were meeting and discussing going to war.  They were dancing and letting out terrifying war whoops. 
This required some very careful editing while I read.  Eventually the kids will learn about the sad and tragic history of Indian relations during the westward push but that's a tough one for a five year old.  Much less a two year old!  The chapter ends with Pa disputing the saying that 'the only good Indian is a dead Indian'.  I'm with Pa on this, but I'd rather keep that type of thing out of their world for now. 
Despite my expectations, they slept just fine afterwards.