[BigV]

I'm straining not to seem combative on this point. I honestly don't want a fight over it.

So here's my take on it.

A newborn doesn't manipulate the parents. No way. A newborn is a baby and my adult reactions to it are coming from me. I'm not... What I do in response to what I'm hearing seeing smelling sensing from the baby is because of my thoughts and decisions and instincts. The baby's not manipulating me, come on. The baby wants food, comfort, rest. There's not an "agenda" that rises to the level of manipulation. Not before a year, no way.

Certainly as they grow and become more aware of themselves and of others and experience the staggering epiphany that those aren't the same, then it's possible to imagine that they're doing something to get *somebody else* to do something. Until then, their actions are mostly REactions to their own internal states.

I've spent plenty of time around babies and I love them. Even the ones I love can "make me feel manipulated". But honestly, that feeling comes from me, not from the baby. Because I want to soothe her, because I want to make him laugh. Because I need to breathe fewer poop molecules. That's all me. The crying and giggling and arm waving and drooling, that's all just being a baby.