Book excerpt: This book invites those caring for infants to join as companions on an incredible journey. Each chapter taps a distinct area of research to shed light on babies’ biological expectations for care and their amazing competence as active participants in that care. Exploring each domain of development, with policy and practice recommendations, the authors offer important insights into: How prenates “read” and adapt to characteristics of their environment.How fetus and mother respond in sync to a cascade of hormones that facilitate healthy birth, breastfeeding, bonding, and immune system development.How infants search for proximity to caring, responsive others as a means of regulating physiological systems and making friends.How infants gather statistics on language through interactions with companions. How infants learn as they investigate objects and people within everyday play and interactions. “I have never experienced a book that more clearly and purposefully communicates the day-by-day development of infants and the essential role adults play in the optimization of that development.” —From the Foreword by J. Ronald Lally, WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies, author of For Our Babies “Infant development comes alive in this book.” —From the Afterword by Ed Tronick, Distinguished University Professor, University of Massachusetts, Boston “A must-read for anyone interested in young children. This will be a valuable resource for academics, clinicians, and caregivers.” —Bruce D. Perry, ChildTrauma Academy “This extraordinary collection of stories invites us to explore and reflect on what it’s like to be a baby, new to the world and full of curiosity.” —Elizabeth Jones, faculty emerita, Pacific Oaks College