Your earliest memories come from which age? How old were you in the first moments you can remember?

reply to post by GLontra


I remember being in a field, my Mom holding me. There was an old man there with us. We were standing by a small tractor that had been pulling a flatbed trailer with bails of hay on it. One of them put their finger in my mouth and I remember I liked the taste. It was this taste that made me remember it so well.

One day years later I had tried some whiskey and immediately I was flooded with that old memory that I had thought of so many times before throughout my life.

I asked my Mom about the memory. And she seemed surprised that I would remember such a thing. She told me that my grandpa would put whiskey on my gums to help with the pain of teething. So I guess I was between approximately six months old and 22 months old, give or take a few months.



-Alien

reply to post by GLontra


I have a clear memory of my brother joining the Army in June 1945, I was 2 years 10 months.

I can remember being in baby furniture, age 3.

It's hard to put an exact time on things, because I do have memories of being no older than 1 - 1 1/2, based on the place that I had lived at the time (we moved before I was 2). I would say the earliest memory is escaping from my crib one night. It was one of those supposedly dangerous cribs that once unlatched, the front fell downward like a guillotine. I never had an issue with it. I also never had an issue with escaping. I remember walking through the dark to my parents room and then walking back to my bedroom, it wasn't anything significant, but the memory is there nonetheless. I've luckily always had a sharp memory and probably have some earlier memories, but that particular one sticks with me the most. I skipped crawling and started walking at just a few months, I don't remember doing this, but my parents were amazed. At the time, this new feature led to a lot of successful escapes from my crib at night.

2 years old.

Accidentally taking a poop in the shower while my mother was washing me. :/

From my memory, the furthest/farthest back I can remember is crawling on the carpet in pursuit of a play mate that had took my 3-D Viewmaster and crawled away with it.

My earliest memory was when i put my hand on the hot stove when i was 2 years old. its actually very vivid. i never knew it was that early in my childhood until I asked my mom about it.

Very interesting timing with this thread, I was just speaking to my parents about this recently. I am a 34-year-old female with an eidetic memory. This simply means that beyond having a photographic memory, I can also recall sensory information linked to specific memories and moments of recall. This seems to also carry over into my dream state, as I have been a lucid dreamer since childhood, without trying. On average, I have 3-5 lucid dreams per week, that I can recall in full detail, including touch, taste, and smell. My 5-year-old son also has an eidetic memory. That being said, I have wondered if that is why I am capable of earlier-than-normal recall.

For years, I would tell my mother that I remembered being little and rushing down into a basement area that had washers and dryers, long counters, and short red curtains. It was very dark in there, but it was daytime. Looked like there was a bad storm outside. It was such a vivid memory, but the place did not look familiar to me, except for that memory. Years later, I finally found out that that place was the basement/laundromat area of an apartment complex my parents lived in--when I was an infant. My mom, for years. believed I must have heard the stoary about a tornado that came over the building. I hadn't, and to prove I actually remembered it, I included information about the curtains and counters, exactly how they were laid out. It was only then that I learned that I was, at most, 8 months old at the time. Since then, I have surprised both of my parents with memories I have from childhood, including playing in a snowstorm in a blue and white furry coat with my dad, while an old neighborhood woman watched us play. I was about 1 1/2 years old.

I maybe only have a few other memories from before 2 or 3, but mainly, I only have memories from age 4 and on.

Great topic!

I was about 2 and half years old. Woke up from a nap and saw the house next door on fire, scared me enough I guess it remained in my memory. Found out much later in life talking to my mom that an elderly man had died in that fire.

Earliest memories that I can definitely put in a time frame, would be the days leading up to my second birthday.

I dont really have a physical memory but a dream. I remember having a recurring nightmare of a dark person or "shadow person" standing at the threshold of my door. I was about 2 or 3 and would have this happen probably twice a week. That is about it as far as memories go from a young age. Just that damned shadow standing at my door.

super vague, yet familiar memories of looking down on my blanket when I was 1-2 ish. I had deja vu when I saw the same blanket which sparked the memory..

also when I was like 3-4 I would wear one of my dads shirts and I remember the smell and just wearing it in general...


I believe that every part of out life can be remembered its just a matter of inner searching and dedication.

The earliest real memory I have is of being in day-care and someone asked me how old I was, and I remember holding up 3 fingers. So I was three. I also have a clear memory of the doctor's face who treated me for Spinal Meningitis when I was 16 months old. I didn't realize that is who the face belonged to until later in life I ended-up with the same doctor for another procedure at 13. I was like "god you look so familiar!" and then through talking to him and my mother at the same time we realized he treated me for the meningitis.

There's a scientific explanation for why we don't remember before age 4 or 5. It's just the human condition. Most people will confuse childhood photos with memories so it gets confusing, but no one remembers before their brain developes enough to store long term memory.

I remember my first thought and being born. I remember awakening out of nothing and the darkness.

reply to post by muckyfan


The voice... A comfortable memory, if ever there was one. You're lucky to have it, bro.

i remember when i was 2 standing up under the paino stepping on the foot pedels while my mom was playing it i aslo remember eating ice cream sitting in my high chair at 2 and at 3 or 4 i went hunting with my dad and we herd a bunch of hogs grunting and squilling and i thought they were gonna get me and i climed up his leg like it was a ladder and got on his shoulders

Kind of funny here...

My very first memory is of the SCA landing in Keflavik with the shuttle piggy backed. I was born there, as my old man was chasing the Soviets around in his P-3. I was two.

My second memory is of the Challenger exploding. Again, I was two.

Dont' tell them anything.

reply to post by GLontra


I think I was somewhere between 2-3 and I had footy pajamas...and woke up and remember kissing my mom on the cheek in the other room...i remember they were red with white bottom parts....I also remember pissing my pants at about 3.5 in the summer and asking my dad to start our wood burning stove...(to dry the piss) lol.....I was so smart...what happened to me!

This is a very good thread. Lots of data. Lots of interesting stories.

I had a psychiatrist once tell me that trauma of any kind will implant memories deeper.

When I was about 5 months old and my mother was feeding me a bottle, I looked at her and my eyes went crossed and they stayed that way. They remained like that for a year and a half. When I was 2 years old, I had a surgery that corrected this problem.
Now, I don’t remember it when it happened, but I do remember everyone crying because of it. I also remember trying to see through crossed eyes and trying to understand what I was seeing. And for some reason, I associate some smells with those memories.
I also remember when I was 2 and had the surgery to correct it. I can also remember chewing holes in my brothers’ baby bottle nipples.

When I was 3 I ate some Decon Rat Poison. That was the last time I ever needed my stomach pumped. I also had a run in with some Alum. Incidentally, I think that was the year I tasted just about everything. That was also the same year that my brother bit me so hard it made me cry, so, .. I went out to the garage and grabbed a crescent wrench and came back in and hit him square in the head with it. You can only imagine the amount of blood from that. Honestly, I think it surprised me. He went to the hospital and to hold the meat together they put a butterfly on it. After that I always called him butterfly. However, had it not been for that relentless beating I received directly after the incident, I don’t suppose I would have remembered it.
I have quite a few memories from that age.

When I was 4 I think that is when everything became permanent.

On a side note: I was 4 years old when I had my first night mare. It was about Jack and the Bean Stalk. And, I was Jack. I was running down a hallway where everything was HUGE and just as soon as I heard “Fe Fi Fo Fum”, I woke up screaming and crying. Go figure.