getting started, .py file

[nibiery at hotmail.com]

I am just getting started with Python, and I think I may be thinking
about it wrong. I'd like to be able to work interactively with some
code that I've got in a file. The only interpreted language I have much
experience with is Tcl/Tk, and in that I would use "source file.tcl" in
the console to load my source. Is there a similar command in python? I
know I can run my file as a script, but since I'm just experimenting
with how the language works, I want to have more flexibility to be able
to interactively check the contents of variables and define one piece
at a time. Am I missing something obvious, or am I not thinking about
Python properly?

Thanks,
Ingrid