Quiet Alertness

Several times in the past week I have noticed DS being quiet, alert and content when other babies and children around him were upset, crying, or "getting in trouble". The following paragraph from Dr. Sears' 10 Ways Attachment Parenting Makes Discipline Easier explains it pretty well.

4. Attachment parenting promotes quiet alertness. Both research and our own experience have demonstrated that attachment-parented babies cry much less. So what do they do with their free time? They spend much of it in the state of quiet alertness. During waking hours, babies go through many types of behavior: crying, sleepy, alert and agitated, and quietly alert. Babies are most attentive to their environment in the state of quiet alertness. By not fussing and crying, they conserve their energy and use it for interacting. The result is they are more pleasant to be with. Because a responsive parent takes time to enjoy the baby when he is in this state, the baby is motivated to stay in the state of quiet alertness longer.