Babies think differently than adults, and understanding how they think can help us see their explosive brain growth in everyday behavior. Infants learn language faster than adults do, use statistics to understand how the world works, and even reason about the minds of others. But these achievements can be hidden by their poor self-regulatory skills, their distractibility (because of their interest in what is new and different), and their in-the-moment mental focus (making transitions difficult). Recognizing how infants try to understand the world can help reveal how perfectly suited they are to adapting to and thriving in a complex world.