Shiny, tasty things!

When I was on the verge of motherhood, I read a lot of preparatory things on the interwebs.  I remember one article saying how for a new baby, its wants and needs were basically the same thing.  Food, love, sleep, etc.---all wanty-needs.  So what I wanted to know is when does that stop being true?  When do the wants become specific and differentiated from the needs?  And I think I've figured it out: it's when the baby starts grabbing for shiny things.  (At first I thought it might be when they first discovered good-tasting things like cookies, but then I realized that comes much after the shiny-want begins.)

See, babies don't need shiny things, but they always go for them.  That's because someday they'll grow up into big people, and big people also want shiny things.  It's practice.  They get all the grabbing urges out while they're cute and sweet and folks just say "No no no-o!" in a high, singsongy voice so that later they aren't still snatching pretty things wherever they happen to be because then it's just plain stealing and not cute or sweet at all. (phew!)  I have quite a few shiny things (that I legitimately own) and Izzy is all up in the wanting of them.  I haven't quite got the heart to tell her to lay off, though, so she's probably going to grow up to be a thief.  I'm guessing that's how it works.