Hunting for a Turtle with a Spoon

So after our fun with Rice Crispies, my mind was turning to think of other fun textures we could play with.  So I grabbed a bag of cotton balls and dumped 'em into a bowl, and hid a little turtle within the fluffy depths and said, "Hey Owen, can you find the turtle in there?" To which he replied, "Yup!" in his very high-pitched-inflected-at-the-end reply that always means "most certainly!"

So away he went, cautiously at first, digging into the fluffy cotton.  Then he promptly stood up, ran into the living room, and came back with the wooden spoon he'd been playing with early.  (In trying, no doubt, to expedite the turtle-finding).

After a few minutes with that he stood up, pointed to the counter and said, "Sssss.  Sssss." and did this little happy-dance he does when he's really excited about getting something.  So I asked him, "You want a different spoon?" "YUP!" (insert very excited happy dance here - I'm talkin - feet going up and down, arms tightening and releasing and going up and down and even his mouth gets this real excited, anticipatory look to it - I only wish I could capture it on camera!) So I proceed to point to all the spoons in the lazy susan on the counter, all of which he says, "Nah" to.  Then I realize what he's looking for.  And I remind him he's left it over in the living room.  So he runs out there, looks around, and comes running back, extremely excited about finding this (much better) tool to look for the turtle with.

So away he goes again, digging, pushing but - "Uh-Oh." One of the cotton balls fell out.  And without even skipping a beat he proceeds to ever-so-gingerly pick it up and place it back in the bowl. (This is the point in which I realize he is my child, in case you were wondering.)

And then he's back at the task until finally....

He finds it!  He's so excited - (it's something he's never seen before, and he loves turtles).  Then after hugging it (he literally put it up to his ear and said "awwww".) he hands the turtle to me and stares at me in anticipation.  And I say, "What honey?"
And he points to the bowl, "Yup!"
"You want me to hide him again?"
"Yup! Yup!" (kicking feet in excitement, reaching for his spoons and wayward cotton balls to put back in the bowl)

:: sigh ::  these are the moments, people.  The moments that are like the sweet nothings your honey whispers into your ear, the little moments like this are the moments I live for, hunting turtles in a vast expanse of cotton balls.