The ability to intentionally control one's own behavior begins to manifest itself at the end of the first year of life. One evidence of such control is that the goals, the challenges that children set for themselves, are subordinated to the means to reach them. Children's behavior appears organized and directed. These abilities constitute what is called cognitive control, self-regulation, or Executive Functions (EF). Although research is abundant with children from the age of 3 onwards, however, this topic, so crucial for early development, has been poorly studied in its foundations. On the other hand, as it was discussed in the previous chapters, a growing number of researchers question the excessive use of standardized tasks without conducting an analysis of the development of EF itself, nor of everyday contexts, nor of the goals of the children themselves, which is the primary function of EF. In this chapter, we will present some results from longitudinal studies conducted in everyday situations (home and early-years schools), with children ranging in age from 8 to 18 months. We aim to approach the development of EF starting from an analysis of children’s actions, types of uses of objects and tools, and gestures made when (1) they set meaningful and motivating intentional goals for themselves. To achieve these goals, (2) children must first inhibit the goal, ineffective actions, and distractions, and instead (3) activate means necessary to achieve them. (4) Children organize this means flexibly. In pursuing these goals, children show (5) Persistence despite the difficulties, and (6) Monitoring (working memory or updating) of their action, through top-down and bottom-up processes. Finally, children must (7) Sustain their Attention towards their goal, with alternating moments of attention on and off their objectives, which is highly adaptive in everyday life. From the second year of life onwards, we find that children (8) self-evaluate their own successes, (9) involve others in their goals, and (10) occasionally plan before initiating action. We will demonstrate the increasing semiotic complexity of uses, as well as the gestures that help children think and self-regulate. At these ages, children did not resort to language to regulate their own behavior. Furthermore, in schools, the materiality that teachers make available to children, as well as their interventions, were very relevant in “awakening” children’s interest and motivation to set significant challenges for themselves and to solve them.