I was sitting on the floor with my nephews and niece...well the oldest two were sitting on the floor, but the three-year-old was zooming around with the same enthusiasm that earned him the nickname Mini Tornado.
He had grabbed a ribbon from somewhere and was waving it around as he went.
Without warning, he ran towards me--I was expecting him to run past me--pulled my hands behind my back, wrapped the ribbon around my wrists a couple times, shoved the ends between my arms, then continued on his way.
Mini Tornado is fast at everything; he had caught me completely by surprise and was done before I'd really had time to process what he was doing. There had never been any hints before that he would even have the concept to do something like this.
Of course, being three, he also had no concept of knots whatsoever. I wasn't stuck at all, but I had always wanted to be tied up and here someone had tried without me even having to ask! I pushed my wrists together to hold the ends in place. I was quite amused that it was my three-year-old nephew who "captured" me.
After a moment I noticed his older brother staring at me. When he caught my eye he said, "Get out of it."
I shook my head and winked. He didn't understand.
"You...can get out of it, right?"
I assured him I could.
To this, his sister asked, "Then why don't you?"
"I'm just playing along with his game."
At this, Mini Tornado looked back at me, and when even he looked surprised that I still had my hands behind my back, I started to feel silly.
Quietly I pulled my hands back around to my lap.
The next time Mini Tornado's zooming brought him close to me I gave him back the ribbon, hoping he would try again. But no such luck.