Almost lost his bestest favorite toy

Woke up at 3 am this morning (not unusual) and couldn't go back to sleep (which is unusual). So I lay there, bored, not wanting to play with my phone because that would wake me up even more, and I decided to see if Max was around. I called his name, softly, and only once.

He bounded into the room, up onto the bed, said hello, and back down onto the floor. I could hear him moving around, but didn't think much of it as I was slowly drifting into that annoying state where you aren't going to sleep but you aren't getting more awake, either.

Then it occurred to me that at some point I'd been hearing a rather repetitive scratching sound. Or not quite scratching, but like he was trying to get under something. I roused myself enough to get out of bed, only to discover that poor Max had brought his pink mouse in with him, to play with, rightly assuming I wasn't going to be much fun, and he'd lost it under the blanket chest. He could see it, he could almost touch it, but he couldn't quite get to it!

Max's bestest favorite toy.
It's lumpier now and always rests on its side so the pink side is up.
The other side is lavender.

He lost this mouse before in the same room, under the dresser. It stayed lost for days before I found it. He knew where it was; he just couldn't get it. I had moved the entire dresser and couldn't find it, but that dresser has corner feet, one of which had caught the mouse and moved it with the dresser, thus hiding it from me as well. I finally realized that was what had happened and there was a reason Max had developed a sudden fascination with the dresser, and was able to retrieve it for him. He had gone all mopey and depressed during the days it was gone. I didn't want that to happen again.

He must have been in an absolute panic, losing it yet again where he could see it but not get to it, and no guarantee I'd be any smarter about its location this time! But even groggy with sleep I could see the mouse under the blanket chest. It's probably three inches off the carpet. I pulled the mouse out and handed it to him (you could just see the relief) and then crawled back into bed. Even if I can't sleep my body needs the rest, I have learned.

When I got up for real this morning, I couldn't find the mouse anywhere as I passed through the house. Oh, no, I thought, did he lose it again in the bedroom somewhere? I asked him where it was, although this has never produced the mouse.

However, when I got back from my morning walk, there it was, lying innocently in the middle of the kitchen floor where it had most definitely not been when I left, so apparently he brought it to the kitchen to show me that yes, he did know where it was.