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What are your earliest memories?

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memories
2K views 19 replies 17 participants last post by  Ectoplasm 
#1 ·
In talking to people I have found very few people remember their very young childhood well. I was wondering if you have any memories from five years old or younger.
I have a few that I can absolutely pin in this category. I remember my third year very well, age two a bit, then there is 6 mos. old. I have been able to describe details of these memories to my mother, and she confirmed my age at the time. These aren't things that I just think I remember because of pictures or hearing other people tell about them....because these things weren't talked about and there weren't pictures taken of them.
I remember the lay out of our home at the time, furniture, carpet, ect. I remember sitting in my tiny red rocking chair looking out the front door, I can remember the things I was thinking. I also remember two other things from that time. My father holding me, I can remember the shirt he was wearing. The sound of his voice, the smell of him, he had just come home from work and had taken a shower, he smelled of soap, his own natural scent and beer, because he was drinking one at the time. I remember his face as he looked at me and talked to me. He was relaxed and happy and he adored me and me him. I also remember one day he was taking a nap and I found him. I remember struggling to climb the bed because I was so small. I made it up and triumphantly plopped down beside him on my knees. I remember him opening his eyes and smiling at me and saying something sweet and welcoming and he put his arms around me and drew me up under his arm. I laid there enjoying being next to him as long as I could, but after a while I became impatient and ran off to do something else.

Okay, now I have no way to prove the next one but I really feel like I can remember being born. I know it sounds impossible, but if I can remember 6 mos. old, well it was only 6 mos. before those other memories.

Anyone else have any thoughts on memories?
 
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#2 ·
The earliest memories I have are when I was two years old. I know because my uncle passed when I was two and I can remember laying in bed with him when he was sick. I also remember his funeral and my grandmother was holding crying and that made me cry. There's another memory I have of being very young and wanting to go work with my grandma but I couldn't and I watched her drive off in the window. My grandpa gave me a bottle or a cuppie or something to calm me down. And then I can remember ages 4 and up. I was 4 and a half almost 5 when my brother was born and I remember that clearly. It was nap time at day care and I had gotten in trouble and had to sleep on my cot separately from everyone else. My step father came to pick me up and I just ran up to him ready to leave ignoring the teachers. We went to see my brother and I remember thinking that he looked really big for an infant.
 
#4 ·
I remember someone holding me, most likely my mom, and looking up at the sunlight shining through the red and orange colored leaves. The trees were gigantic. I told my mom about this and she showed me a picture of this house we lived in for a short time. We had always lived in the city, so I thought that I must have imagined my memory of the tall trees. She showed me a picture of the house and it was fully surrounded by tall colorful trees, just like in my memory.

edit: I was one.
 
#5 ·
I was about two years old and it was nighttime on a summer day. The air felt nice and cool with a nice breeze. I was taking a walk holding my mom's hand. What I remember was me, looking down on my sandals with a superman logo. Before I knew it, I slip, fell, and scrape my two knees. Quickly went home, didn't cried, just put on a bandage and I was happy again.

I had plenty of memories when I was young, but that's my first one I can remember.

Funny how I never cried whenever I was physically hurt, only when I felt strong emotions.
 
#6 ·
I remember my first birthday. I got burned by the birthday candle. I remember my first taste of pizza. I was between 1 and two and could only eat what now would be 1 bite. I remember being in a stroller when I was 3 and going to Disney land for the first time. I remember when I was 3 and I was at the daycare at my neighbors. I remember eating the rip off fruit loops in the plastic bags (fruity O's?) I remember eating sand as a 3ish year old at my Christian preschool. I remember waking up during nap time with pleurisy in preschool and having to be rushed to the hospital. I remember being bitten by some kid in one of my day cares when I was 3 or 4. I remember almost drowning in a lake when I was 4 and couldn't swim yet. I remember dropping an extra large can of Campbell's soup on my large toe and having a bag of frozen peas on it till I got to the hospital, and they had to drill a hole on the top of my toe nail to release the pressure causing blood to spurt out like a fountain. I remember hanging out with my, then, best friend/ childhood sweat heart (?) throughout preschool. I remember seeing my first CD in preschool and was mesmerized by the rainbow colors on the back of it.

I could go on, but I wont. If only I could remember stuff that are on tests like this... *sigh*
 
#8 ·
Age two I can remember. One I think I have a crib flashback or two. Remember the songs and stuff. My memories very short thoug. I remember I was 2 and met my bestfriend of the past 32 years. I remember meeting my first official friend at my first car show complete wioth Incredible Hulk Balloon. That and getting my Superman Kryptonite rock. I can remember at five asking a future rockstar to come play with me but he was grounded.
 
#9 ·
I always remember riding a one of those plastic tricycle when I was like three years old. That's my oldest memory. I don't know why it's that of all things... :frustrating:
 
#11 ·
I remember a lot of things before I was five. I will start with 5 and go down.
5 was kindergarten and I can remember all of that so I will not go into detail because there is to much.
4 was my second year of preschool and I can rememeber most of that so again not going into detail, but the one I wish I remembered I do not(of meeting my best freind of how ever long it has been since then).
3 was my first year of preschool and this is where I start to lose my memories. But I do remember most of it.
2 I can hardly remember it, but some of the things that I remember when I was 2 I might think happened whe I was 3 so I dont count those but idk. like I rememeberdressing myself and being so proud and having my mom proud of me.
Some things that I can not plaace a year on
I remember climbing out of a crib.
I remember being at my uncles house and funeral( I have no idea when this happened but I am pretty sure it was when I was older.
I remember learning to read with either the cat in the hat or the cat come back(or what ever the 2nd one is called) which was probably 4 but not certain.

i remember so much more but you get the gist of it, I remember a lot from before I was 5
 
#13 ·
My earliest memory was looking at my father as he was changing me, evidently wasn't happy with whatever was in the nappy as he tutted then whacked me on the arse and slid me across to my Mother (i assume).

Next one i was in a highchair and my Mum brought my meal, i promptly picked it up and lobbed it on the floor for our staffordshire bull terrier who couldn't believe his luck and hoovered the lot up in seconds :crazy:

One more, my uncle was hungover and sleeping on the sofa when i decided it would be hilarious to blow a trumpet down his earhole :crazy::shocked:
 
#15 ·
In talking to people I have found very few people remember their very young childhood well. I was wondering if you have any memories from five years old or younger.
I have a few that I can absolutely pin in this category. I remember my third year very well, age two a bit, then there is 6 mos. old. I have been able to describe details of these memories to my mother, and she confirmed my age at the time. These aren't things that I just think I remember because of pictures or hearing other people tell about them....because these things weren't talked about and there weren't pictures taken of them.
I remember the lay out of our home at the time, furniture, carpet, ect. I remember sitting in my tiny red rocking chair looking out the front door, I can remember the things I was thinking. I also remember two other things from that time. My father holding me, I can remember the shirt he was wearing. The sound of his voice, the smell of him, he had just come home from work and had taken a shower, he smelled of soap, his own natural scent and beer, because he was drinking one at the time. I remember his face as he looked at me and talked to me. He was relaxed and happy and he adored me and me him. I also remember one day he was taking a nap and I found him. I remember struggling to climb the bed because I was so small. I made it up and triumphantly plopped down beside him on my knees. I remember him opening his eyes and smiling at me and saying something sweet and welcoming and he put his arms around me and drew me up under his arm. I laid there enjoying being next to him as long as I could, but after a while I became impatient and ran off to do something else.

Okay, now I have no way to prove the next one but I really feel like I can remember being born. I know it sounds impossible, but if I can remember 6 mos. old, well it was only 6 mos. before those other memories.

Anyone else have any thoughts on memories?
On the bolded parts...Are you positive this was you at six months? I'm sorry, but I just can't picture any six-month-old sitting independently in a rocking chair without falling out, climbing up the side of a bed, or running...That's stuff most 12 mos would still have trouble doing...
 
#16 ·
Yes, thank you Vocalist,for asking for clarification, I apologize for my poor wording. The part that was at six mos. for certain was when I was in my rocking chair, and about the house lay out. That was the age my mother said we left the house for the last time. I'm sure someone put me there in the chair, because, as you say 6 month olds don't walk. The climbing and running was sometime before I was 1 1/2 as was my memories of my father. I don't know where in that time period these happened.
My mother says I was always different from my sisters. She said I was very strong and alert and happy. I was born at home and her labor was only the mildest discomfort. When I arrived she said I didn't cry at all, when they gave me to her I immediately made eye contact. I wonder if maybe the reason I can remember so early was due to a lack of trauma during that period and maybe advanced development for my age. My mother also said I was a very deep thinking, happy, peacemaking child, that I would go up to strangers on the street and start asking them personal questions, about their families, their feelings, ect. and people would stop and talk to me awed by such deep interest and deep thoughts from such a young child, I guess, I must have thought so deeply about things that my mind sort of recorded them. I remember feeling the need to not forget. I felt things changing, people changing and I wanted to record them as they were, so as not to loose them. I felt like I was their way to not get lost in time, activity ect. So sheer determination was most likely a part of the picture too.
 
#17 ·
My earliest memory would be ... being scared of a heavily bearded man who would come to my dad's pharmacy when I was probably 4 or so. Whenever he came to our store he'd purposefully call out my name (he enjoyed my reaction I think) and when I saw his scary face I would run and hide my face in the couch and be too scared to lift my face again until he was gone. Someone asked me once if the scary man came to our store to buy "bad" drugs but I'm sure my dad (INFP) never would have done anything like that.
 
#18 ·
My earliest memories are from dreams I had when I was 4.

I just remember our really tall apartment building and we were outside looking out into the street at night time. There were yellow lamps, a giant dumpster all the way down on the ground. I was with my cousins

I also remember a dream about having a picnic with my grandparents at a cemetary. It was the kind of cemetary where all the tombs were on the grass/surface than buried. Later on we also sat inside a grave (buried), and there were shelves in the dirt that we could sit on. Everyone was wearing white clothes.

My other memory is a "thought" I had at age 4. I was fooling around and my aunt was recording us on video. I would run away when she'd point it to me. The thought was "She is not actually recording me, she wants to have them on video" (not in English... maybe I start thinking in English a few years after leaving the country permanently). It's not so much about the thought but the specific emotions which stayed with me.
 
#19 ·
I remember things when I was barely 2.. and have vivid memories of certain things before that age.. they were intense emotions.

When I think of memories of the past, I think of rainy days when I'd arrive at home in a shabby apartment (we lived in a project housing system) and I remember going home to my dad, and he would always be so happy to see me, and would throw me up in the air and play super-man with me.

I remember when I got him to quit smoking. This was about age 3. I couldn't stand the ciegarettes in the house.

I made it a point to 'teach him' a 'lesson.' I dressed up in my mom's clothing, heels and all, took a puff out of a pen, and blew 'pretend' smoke into his face. I NEVER saw him SO MAD my ENTIRE life. He slapped my hand and made me kneel on my knees for hours (I made sure to bring a pillow out to kneel on that instead).

My indirect statement to him was, "Daddy- if I gew up and started chain smoking like you, and I turned out to be a young woman like mom, how would you feel if I smoked? not too good?" It was my gentle way of making a statement, but I loved blowing that pretend smoke in his face to make him feel stupid for not thinking about how much it hurt me to watch him kill his own body with those impurities.

I remember being his little buddy/best friend. I love my dad, and hope he is safe wherever he is..
 
#20 ·
I have two, I have a fragment of a memory of waking up in an ambulance after being hit by a car when I was three and a half. I remember not knowing what had happened, my mother told me there was an accident. I think there may have been blood on my face, I don't remember. Either way, I rolled over and went to sleep and that is all I remember of the incident.

My earliest complete memory was being in church with my mother. Perhaps I was also three or maybe four (maybe it was even before the accident,) either way I still very tiny. During a hymn, we all stood up to sing but as I was a minor I could remain seated or stand if I chose to. In the end I stood on the pew, looked over my shoulder and grinned at the worshippers behind me. But I know why I did so, I remember thinking "if I stand up on the pew, if I stand tall the others will look up to me, like me, admire me." That was my reason, I've never doubted it because I always knew it was true. Perhaps that day was the birth of my narcissistic streak in my personality. I remember thinking at the time, when the worshippers did smile at me that "I'm more than a child now" and I felt happy and pleased with myself. However they smiled at me because I was a child and perhaps for no other reason. Maybe since that time I have wanted people to smile and like me and not look down on me as a child or an inferior. It isn't so bad these days as my thoughts and views have matured but maybe that is the path I have always walked.
 
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