ABSTRACT
The phrase primed to communicate captures an important aspect about babies. Babies have a capacity for primary intersubjectivity, to recognize another person as a distinct subject. Videotapes of mother-baby interactions show the gaze of mother and baby interlocking and their expressions mirroring one another. Babies imitate intentionally from day one, as a bridge connecting self and other. Developments in the arena of feelings, thoughts, and intentions shared between babies and their parents include intentional communication, even jokes. Gradually over the first few months, as babies become more aware of the gap between what they want to do and their capacity to fulfil it, they experience frustration. Some babies, in their frustration, find more extreme ways in which they try to express and master their frustration, such as banging their head on a hard surface. Babies may be walking or almost walking by the end of the first year. Babies' intentional achievements reinforce their sense of themselves as agentive.
