Morbid Thoughts and Helpful Hands

What is it the Moaning Myrtle says in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?  I believe it goes something like "I was floating in the u-bend thinking about death".  My thoughts have tended toward the morbid lately as well.  Mostly because we've been watching some creepy movies (last night:  Contagion.  Don't think that germs aren't insanely scary, because they are and were.) and I've been reading some creepy books (The Last Jihad - terrorists, Midnight in Austenland - murder mystery, Theodore Boone: The Abduction - kidnapping and possible murder).  I'm almost finished with The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, which is a double murder mystery, and I'm about to the part where you find out who the murderer is and they go through all of the details of how and why they did it.  So I have a reason to be jumpy, right?

So this morning, I went into the bathroom to dry my hair, and as I'm drying it, I'm thinking about my book and all the details about why this person would have done it and so forth (I don't want to give anything away in case someone else reads this series).  I'm facing the mirror and kind of turned away from the door, when all of the sudden, Sophie jumps into the doorway and yells something in her toddler jibberish. 
I.  Almost.  Died. 
Seriously kid?  What are you trying to do?  Give me a heart attack?  It was one of those moments where your body immediately jumps into fight or flight mode, so I'm pretty sure that first, I jumped about 10 feet in the air.  Then I turned toward the door and yelled something like "Hi-Yah!!!"  I don't know what I said, but I saw it was her right after I yelled, and she ran like a scared rabbit back into the living room where she was supposed to be watching Curious George.  Not too traumatized I hope.  :)  I can't say the same for me.  I was shaking for at least 15 minutes after that and I could hardly finish drying my hair.

On a happier note, Sophie has been really helpful lately.  I discovered a little while ago that, first of all, she really is making an effort to smile for the camera now, and that actually makes it worse.  See?

Miss Squinty Eyes thinks she's being helpful. But she is being really helpful in other areas. She LOVES helping me with the laundry now. It's kind of nice, because the washer is pretty low to the ground and she puts things in and takes them out for me on demand now. And loves it.

So proud of her handiwork.  :)

She's 22 months old today.  She's been progressing in leaps and bounds with her speech this past month.   We actually understand what she wants about half the time.  Yay!