A while back Meadow started telling us that she’s “up in the sky” and we’re “down in a ditch.” This was often her retort for not getting something she wanted and/or having to do something she didn’t want to.

At first we were surprised she would talk “mean” like that. But then after she said it enough times we realized she must be reciting some show she’d seen. She recognized the meaning, but I’m not sure she fully understood the sentiment of telling someone they’re down in a ditch.

So we asked her to repeat it a few more times, and I quizzed her to get possible names of people who may have said it. One name rose to the top: Vidia.

Tinkerbell and her nemesis Vidia square off

This morning Meadow was pouting in her little chair after not getting exactly what she wanted for breakfast. I knelt down to ask her what was going on and she softly said “Sweetie… I make forces of nature. You make pots and kettles. I work up in the sky, and you work down in a ditch.”

She’s a bit older now, and we’ve discussed the meaning enough to know that she understands. Since then she hasn’t used it in a “mean” way, just for fun: