How can I add a command to the Python interactive shell?

I'm trying to save myself just a few keystrokes for a command I type fairly regularly in Python.

In my python startup script, I define a function called load which is similar to import, but adds some functionality. It takes a single string:

def load(s):
  # Do some stuff
  return something

In order to call this function I have to type

>>> load('something')

I would rather be able to simply type:

>>> load something

I am running Python with readline support, so I know there exists some programmability there, but I don't know if this sort of thing is possible using it.

I attempted to get around this by using the InteractivConsole and creating an instance of it in my startup file, like so:

import code, re, traceback

class LoadingInteractiveConsole(code.InteractiveConsole):
  def raw_input(self, prompt = ""):
    s = raw_input(prompt)
    match = re.match('^load\s+(.+)', s)
    if match:
      module = match.group(1)
      try:
        load(module)
        print "Loaded " + module
      except ImportError:
        traceback.print_exc()
      return ''
    else:
      return s

console = LoadingInteractiveConsole()
console.interact("")

This works with the caveat that I have to hit Ctrl-D twice to exit the python interpreter: once to get out of my custom console, once to get out of the real one.

Is there a way to do this without writing a custom C program and embedding the interpreter into it?

Edit

Out of channel, I had the suggestion of appending this to the end of my startup file:

import sys
sys.exit()

It works well enough, but I'm still interested in alternative solutions.

Solution

Hate to answer my own question, but there hasn't been an answer that works for all the versions of Python I use. Aside from the solution I posted in my question edit (which is what I'm now using), here's another:

Edit .bashrc to contain the following lines:

alias python3='python3 ~/py/shellreplace.py'
alias python='python ~/py/shellreplace.py'
alias python27='python27 ~/py/shellreplace.py'

Then simply move all of the LoadingInteractiveConsole code into the file ~/py/shellreplace.py Once the script finishes executing, python will cease executing, and the improved interactive session will be seamless.