Your sense of independence and competence begins in being able to recognize your body's
signals (e.g., hunger, pain, discomfort), to alert your caregiver to your needs (e.g.,
by crying), and to console yourself (e.g., by sucking on your hand) until help comes.
As you mature, your capacity for self-consolation should expand to include rhythmic
behaviors (e.g., rocking). Your need for a sense of competence also emerges in things
you try to do for yourself, perhaps before you are ready to do them, as when insisting
on putting food in your mouth and refusing your caregiver's help.