What is your first memory (and how old were you)?

[GraceinMD]

Mine was when I was about 3, and my mom was baking a chocolate cake, and had promised to let me lick the beaters (no Salmonella in THOSE days - it was almost half a century ago!). It seemed to be taking for-ev-er, so she told me to run to the end of the driveway and back and she'd be done. Our driveway was only about 3 car lengths long, but seemed very long to MY short legs - and I came flying in the screen door, and got to lick those chocolate beaters!

 

I sometimes wonder what my ds will remember as his first memory - will it be me singing to him? or reading to him? or playing catch with him? or yelling at him because he climbed on the counter (2 yrs old) and put both feet in the chocolate cake I'd made for a church supper? (Yes, my life apparently has always revolved around chocolate. Sigh.)

[Kathleen in VA]

Not sure if it is the absolute first memory, but one of the earliest things I remember is my dad painting the basement walls. When I came down in my pajamas he pretended like he was going to paint me too and said, "I'm gonna paint your jammies!" I was about 3yo.

[Lorna in the boonies]

I was 2, nearly 3, and had fallen down while running with a glass in my hand. I had to get stitches in my thumb (I don't remember any of that -- just setting the stage!).

 

On the way home from the emergency room, my dad stopped at the base exchange. We went inside, and he bought me a Baby Beans to help make me feel better (that's the part I remember).

[Amy in Orlando]

Oh man, my first concrete memory is a BAD memory - I have other shadowy memories, but nothing specific from when I was about 2-3. My mom was making Jiffy Pop popcorn on the stove and my sister and I (I'm guessing we were 4 and 3 - me being older). The phone rang. It was my grandma. We LOVED grandma. I answered, my sister tried to take the phone from me and I smashed her on the head with the receiver - remember the big old heavy wall phones???? Poor grandma - the receiver dropped to the floor and I'm sure she was only hearing screams and sniffing the flaming Jiffy Pop.

 

I wasn't a violent kid, but ... YIKES!!!! I think my mom and my grandma were both relieved that I grew into a fairly normal adult. And, none of my sons seems to have inheirited my mean-ness.

[Stacia]

I remember sitting in the kiddie bicycle seat on the back of my dad's bike, gripping onto the little handles, afraid I was going to fall off the edge. That's because he was standing, holding the bike (not riding at that moment) and we were on the big island of Hawaii, overlooking some of the volcano craters. I'm sure, in reality, he wasn't that close to the edge of the crater, but I can remember the feeling of the bike being tilted a little & being scared that I was going to fall.

 

I was a very young 2yo. My mom is astounded that I remember this because I was so young. Guess fear will do that to you! :D (And, no, I'm not really scared of heights or anything because of it.)

 

After that, I have lots & lots of memories, starting from when I was about 3yo.

[Kris]

My first memory is of setting fire to the house by putting a plastic laundry basket over the heater "hole." I don't know what you call them -- it wasn't a small heat register. It was a great big hole in the floor with a grate over it. Well, maybe it wasn't *that* big -- but it was bigger than me. I have been told I was about a year old at the time.

 

Most of the things I asked my mother about -- "How old was I when we . . .?" -- she couldn't remember. But this one, she did. :D

[Nicole M]

My earliest memory is waking in the night with goopy eyes almost glued shut from pinkeye. I remembered that my mom put a damp washcloth on my eyes and that would help them feel better, so I went to the bathroom to do that. On my way out, I heard my dad and my older half brother talking in the kitchen, so I took a little peek. This would have been about 1970. My brother had just turned 18.

 

My dad was sobbing. He kept saying "Canada" and all I understood was that someone wanted to kill my brother and if he just went to this place "Canada", which I thought was a magical place, he would be safe. I was astonished when I learned later that Canada was an actual place.

 

As an adult, I realize now what was going on, and, well, further astonishment. My dad was not against the war, and he is not a pacifist. I know now that he was simply terrified beyond all reason at the idea of losing his child. Our neighbor's son had just been killed.

 

Gosh. Sorry to be Jonie Raincloud here, but it is my first memory.

[Mama Lynx]

I remember a couple of things:

 

I remember my Mother peeling an apple at the sink.

 

I remember walking around in my crib saying the ABCs, and Mom coming in and being surprised that I knew all my letters. I distinctly remember thinking "Huh? Of course I know my letters. Why wouldn't I"?

 

I remember sampling some powder on the kitchen floor, and the terrible stomachache afterwards, and being too afraid to tell my parents what I had eaten.

 

All of that happened around age 2. Oh, I also remember coming in the house to ask my Mom "How old am I?" and she replied "Two and a half."

 

I talked very early - I wonder if that has anything to do with having such early memories?

[Nicole M]

My first memory is of setting fire to the house by putting a plastic laundry basket over the heater "hole." I don't know what you call them -- it wasn't a small heat register. It was a great big hole in the floor with a grate over it. Well, maybe it wasn't *that* big -- but it was bigger than me. I have been told I was about a year old at the time.

 

Most of the things I asked my mother about -- "How old was I when we . . .?" -- she couldn't remember. But this one, she did. :D

 

I know exactly what kind of hole you're talking about. My husband is in this world because his sister sat on one and burned her little bottom quite badly. My father in law was in Korea at the time, and was called home because of the emergency. Nine months later, along came a baby! We like to thank my SIL for burning her bum.

[GraceinMD]

I distinctly remember thinking "Huh? Of course I know my letters. Why wouldn't I"?

 

I talked very early - I wonder if that has anything to do with having such early memories?

 

This reminds me of what my dh remembers early on: he didn't talk until he was about 3 (and today he is one of the best-read and smartest people I know). He remembers hearing the grown-ups talking about how there was probably something "wrong with him" because he wasn't talking, and he remembers thinking, "Well, of course I can talk. I just don't have anything to say yet!" He's like that to this day - he'll only speak up if he has a really good point - never just to hear himself talk.

[Kris]

I know exactly what kind of hole you're talking about. My husband is in this world because his sister sat on one and burned her little bottom quite badly. My father in law was in Korea at the time, and was called home because of the emergency. Nine months later, along came a baby! We like to thank my SIL for burning her bum.

 

Just when you think you've heard it all . . . :lol:

[Jean in Newcastle]

My earliest memory was of a nightmare. It was about a fox. I still remember the feeling of terror I had! I remember I was still in a crib because after I woke from the nightmare I was crying and looking through the slats. I don't know for sure but I must have been about 2 years old.

[Mamasteff]

We went inside, and he bought me a Baby Beans to help make me feel better (that's the part I remember).

 

Was she pink? I LOVED my Baby Beans!!!! My mom still has mine for the grandkids to play with. I have bitter feelings toward one of my nieces who colored all over her face.

[RoughCollie]

My first memory is of lying in a crib looking at a big glass bottle filled with water which was hanging overhead. I was 2-3 years old at the time.

 

I figured out that I was in the hospital and that it was an i.v. bottle.

[Mom to Aly]

My first memory was my mom going into a jeweler and leaving us with my grandmother, near a fountain. As soon as my mom disappeared, we all ran in different directions. We are two sets of twins, 13 months apart. I was a little over one, as was my brother, my sisters were just over two--one of my sisters ran towards the street, so my gram went after her, another was near her, and she grabbed her too. My brother went to an ice cream vendor, and I ran towards the fountain--just as I got there, my bloomers and diaper fell down--that's all I remember. But I can describe the entire thing, and my mom says it is just like I describe.

[Rhonda in WA]

of my me being pushed in a swing at 2 years old almost 3. I was at a park with my mother and father and cousins. I remember fighting with my cousin to slide down a slide. I remember a man pushing me on the swing and it was my dad. That was the last time he ever saw me. Don't know why I remember that, but I do.

[nmoira]

Not sure how old I was, but I was still in a crib... so maybe 2ish... I distinctly remember standing in the crib, holding my stuffed bunny, Patrick, thinking, "We don't belong here."

[elegantlion]

I remember a lot of things from a house we lived in until I was 3. I remember falling down the basement stairs, skipping in a circle around the house singing "We're off to see the wizard", some kid selling magnets at our back door, making mud pies in the front yard, taking a nap (maybe that explains my love of napping), and going to the neighbors house. He had a bowl of candy he kept for us.

[elegantlion]

Not sure how old I was, but I was still in a crib... so maybe 2ish... I distinctly remember standing in the crib, holding my stuffed bunny, Patrick, thinking, "We don't belong here."

 

You were ready for the big girl bed, huh.:D:lol:

[GailV]

I remember the scary face carved in the back of the wooden rocking chair my mom would rock me in -- we're part Swedish, and the carving was in that style, a huge male face with billowing hair and beard.

 

Years later my dad asked me if I wanted that rocker to rock my kids in. I said no way -- I had always been afraid of it because of the face. Mom was stunned -- she rocked me in it when I was a baby, with me facing over her shoulder while she tried to burp me, and I would cry and cry and cry. She thought I was gassy and that's why I would cry harder and harder the more she rocked. But, no, all these years later I revealed that I was petrified of this huge wooden face that I was practically nose-to-nose with.

 

BTW, Mama Lynx, I think you're on to something. I imagine we tend to now recall memories that we have words for, now that we're all grown up and think in those terms.

[sleepy]

I must have been two. I remember riding in a car (front seat) with my mother, periodically she would stop at an intersection and ask me which way to turn to get to grandfather's house.

[Jennifer in MI]

I have two. I was just 2 and my parents had just found me in my room, blue. I came to a short time later. They rushed me to the ER. I remember pushing a wheelchair and falling on the floor and needing stitches in my chin.

 

They kept me overnight at this hospital and all I remember was that my mom wasn't with me. But doctors kept coming in and hurting me. One was a spinal tap!!!

 

All are very fleeting memories, but all medical and scary. It's no wonder I hate going to the doctor!!! (No offense Grace!)

[GraceinMD]

but all medical and scary. It's no wonder I hate going to the doctor!!! (No offense Grace!)

 

No offense taken! My first medical memory involved anger, not fear: I had been hospitalized when I was 5 or 6 for being dehydrated (probably sick with something and wdn't/cdn't eat or drink - I don't know). They stuck an IV in me and told me I had to have it overnight. My mom came to stay with me that night - but had gone home and brought back a sandwich for herself - roast beef on white bread with mayonnaise, salt, and pickles :drool: (1960s, remember). I was just enraged that the doctors would not let me have ANY of it (not that mom was offering...) because I knew that I felt FINE! :mad:

[mom31257]

I remember running through a little playhouse in our backyard, and tripping over a play ironing board. It punctured the back of my leg (they were metal then!), and I remember being at the doctor for it and seeing into the wound. I was about 3. I also have a few memories being in the house we lived in at that time, but they are just flashes of rooms.

 

I have another memory that really stands out, but not sure the age. My great-grandmother lived in an apartment in the basement of my grandparent's house. I was about to come up the stairs, when I heard my mother and grandmother talking about another great-grandparent who had just died. I specifically remember standing there a long time thinking about the sadness in their voices.

 

My sister, who was 2 years 2 months at the time, remembers JFK dying. I was amazed that she remembered that.

[KS_]

My first memories are from a house I lived in when I was an infant (we moved from there when I was about 1 year old). My parents had a neighbor girl babysit me and I remember being in the house with her and *not* liking her at all! I didn't know why she was there and where my parents had gone.

 

My ds also has memories from before he was a year old - he asked awhile back about this building he remembered from when we lived in Nebraska (we moved before his 1 year birthday). We asked more detailed questions about the building and it was our church from when he was a baby up til we moved.

[tinag]

I remember my mom taking me when I was about 2 or 3 to a really large building with a really large water fountain out front. Years later my mom pointed out that building telling me that's where I use to go when I was little(for what I can't remember) and it was just a regular size building with a regular size water fountain out front. I couldn't believe how big it seemd to me when I was little!

 

I also remember when my dad was shot when I was about 3. He was on top of a house during a raid(he was an undercover police officer) and was shot in the arm and it entered into his chest, barely missing his heart. He was accidentally shot by one of his own.

[JFSinIL]

I was about 2 - I recall some bits of our home in Maryland, and we left there before I turned 3. Just bits - being bundled up to play in 1/2 inch of snow. Being scared of a big doll (tall as I was) that could stand by itself. Picking shiny stuff off the patterns of the padded sining room chairs.

[autumndivona]

My first memory is of my mom dropping us off at the airport with our dad, then leaving for her flight home. Great first memory, considering I didn't hear from her again after that (I was 3), until I was 19, and didn't see her until just this year (30 years later).

 

Hopefully my son has better early memories to enjoy!

[LizzyBee]

I was 4 years, 9 months. I was looking out the window and whining for my mom. She and Dad had to go to the hospital at WVU because my brother was shot in a hunting accident. A couple of weeks after that, I remember going to the hospital to see him. They wouldn't let my sisters and I into ICU, but they wheeled my brother's bed into the hallway just outside of ICU. And I remember him coming home in a body cast.

 

ETA: I have shadowy memories before this, but this is the first one that's somewhat clear.

[Staci in MO]

In the front seat, on my mother's lap :eek:, and we were watching deer run across the road in front of us. My mother says I was not quite two. I don't remember it well, but I do remember it.

[OnTheBrink]

I can't tell you how old I was, but I remember my mother changing my diaper. I was in the crib and she was leaning over me, talking to one of my father's friends, Gary.

 

I also remember my first birthday party. I remember how cold the metal high chair tray was on my skin. I was only wearing a diaper and I remember the one candle, my mother taking it off the cake and then putting the cake on the high chair and saying to my dad, "Let's see if she puts her hand in it!" I distinctly remember wondering why I'd put my hand in cake! My parents were astonished I remembered that.

 

And, I remember my dad putting me on our German Shepherd's back and taking me doggie riding down the street. My feet were far from the ground and I thought that dog was humungous! I remember telling my dad, years later, about it and he went and got a snapshot of the one and only time he ever did that. I couldn't have been more than a year old.

 

I talked early, too, so maybe there's something to the theory. However, my son talked very early (knew his ABC's at 18 months) but can't remember anything much before Kindergarten.

[Karenciavo]

One of my earliest memories is when I was 25 months old. My grandmother who lived a few houses down the street died, my mother was 8 months pregnant, and there was a lot of turmoil. I remember being in the basement with my sister and asking her why mommy cries all the time now and her explaining death to me.

 

I actually even have earlier memories, but no one believes me. I remember a car accident we were in when I was 14 months old, I was in the front seat on my mother's lap. I remember Christmas when I was 23 months old, I remember thinking about looking cute for a picture. I have a few more too.

 

Because of all my early childhood memories I am convinced that babies have a very big vocabulary in their thoughts as opposed to what they can express and that they are aware of complicated emotions like deliberately trying to be cute to attract attention.

[Pajama Mama]

I have non specific memories of dancing and singing in my parents' store. They owned a corner grocery store and I would "tap dance" on the floors when they closed(or when still open:))

 

I definitely remember the day we were going to Great Adventure in New Jersey. Those were the days it was called Great Adventure not Six Flags, I guess. We lived in Philly so it took awhile to get there. I remember getting out of the car to get something and slipping on our steps. I split my chin open and needed stitches. We spent the day at the doctor instead of going to Great Adventure:crying: I still get fler-klempt about it sometimes-ok not really.

 

ETA: I also remember when we did actually go to Great Adventure. We drove through the Wild Safari and the monkeys all jumped on our car and wouldn't get off. I was scared to death of monkeys for awhile:)

[LizzyBee]

As an adult, I realize now what was going on, and, well, further astonishment. My dad was not against the war, and he is not a pacifist. I know now that he was simply terrified beyond all reason at the idea of losing his child.

 

My Dad was an emotional rock with a gruff exterior that scared our friends when we were kids. But my mom says he cried when my little sister left for Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf war. Thankfully, she came home safely.

[Mama Lynx]

Was she pink? I LOVED my Baby Beans!!!! My mom still has mine for the grandkids to play with. I have bitter feelings toward one of my nieces who colored all over her face.

 

My Mom just gave me mine!!

[Mama Lynx]

This reminds me of what my dh remembers early on: he didn't talk until he was about 3 (and today he is one of the best-read and smartest people I know). He remembers hearing the grown-ups talking about how there was probably something "wrong with him" because he wasn't talking, and he remembers thinking, "Well, of course I can talk. I just don't have anything to say yet!" He's like that to this day - he'll only speak up if he has a really good point - never just to hear himself talk.

 

Isn't that funny? It just goes to show that these little ones know more than we think!

[Aubrey]

I remember being told that the new baby that I was *so* excited about WOULD. NOT. GET. TO. SHARE. MY. ROOM.

 

She was going to sleep w/ mom & dad at first. She wouldn't be able to play.

 

I'd been CHEATED. LOL

 

I turned 2 right after she came, so something less than that for this memory.

[kalanamak]

Location: Sears store in a downtown Manhattan, Kansas. 1961.

Outfit: fluffy little dress, bobby socks, black Mary Janes, and a pink "harness"

Mother: looking at clothes on a rack while holding my "leash"

Me: leaning forward 45 degrees, running in place with my feet slipping on the linoleum floor, my little fists pumping, and my eyes on the prize: the gumball machine some 40 feet away, just outside the Allstate office.

 

 

I have one soon after, of sitting on my mother's lap while she ate a Waldorf salad. Every time the fork came up with with a bit of celery, it went to her mouth, but if it was a raisin or a bit of walnut the fork would suddenly detour and swoop down from her mouth and into mine.

[chaik76]

My first memory is throwing a blue bottle at my grandmother's friend, Richard! I wonder if he remembers it...

After that my first memories begin at about two or three, and some of them are wonderful.

[Remudamom]

The first memory I can recall is riding in the car in New Orleans where I was born. There was a median in the road with those big tall palm trees, and I was watching them, looking waaaaay up as we passed each one. I must have been 2-3.

[Doran]

I feel that I have a terrible memory for some things. My "earliest" childhood memories aren't that clear at all, and I have almost none until I was older than most (I think). I used to think it was because we moved from my childhood home when I was six, so I had nothing tangible to help me hold onto my experiences in that place. But,I realize that many people move and never return, so that's not it.

 

Anyway, I remember small things. Our fenced backyard. Our swing set with glider (remember those?). A favorite tree. I'm sure I was four or more at that point. It actually worries me a bit because I sense that it will only get worse as I age.

 

My mother recently brought me a stack of old letters which include the ones she wrote to my grandmother when I was a baby. I'm hoping that reading those will help jog something out of the depths of my feeble mind. :D

[Desert Rat]

I was 2 and my mom was standing in front of the kitchen window with light streaming in. I remember thinking she looks just like an angel. Sigh. Happier times.

[Punks in Ontario]

I've had a vivid memory of white geometric shapes for a long time. It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized that they were trusses that were painted white - from the back shed of our house. I used to be put in a baby seat on the floor when my parents were working in the basement!

[Kelli in TN]

Mine is age 3 and involves a cake!!!

 

My first very distinct memory is my 3rd birthday. I was living with my grandparents and I can remember them urging me to blow out my candles but I could not seem to get a big enough breath. I remember them cheering me and encouraging me and then I remember the applause when I finally blew them out.

 

 

I also have two fuzzier memories that might be earlier or later than the the birthday, I am not sure and they are just snippets.

 

One is being on the potty in my grandparents bathroom. I remember everything being a mess because my uncle and my father (who lived there too) having been in the process of removing the clawfoot bathtub to modernize the bathroom. I remember the bathtub laying in the middle of the floor. I remember my grandmother encouraging me to do that which we were in the bathroom to do!

 

The other snippet involves a visitation with my mom. It was the first memory I have of her and there are a lot of kids around (I found out later that those were my cousins, later we would be good friends and play and fight together like cousins should). I remember her sitting on the sofa and asking me "Do you know who I am?" and my answering all sorts of random answers and she patiently trying to explain "I am your mother." and it not registering because as far as I knew I did not have a mother. Years later I asked her about that visit and shared my fuzzy memories of it. She confirmed that yes, her heart was crushed that day.

 

Oh, wait. One more. I was somewhere with my father and I was in the front seat of the car. We were at a gas station? grocery store? Something. Anyway, my father told me to stay in the car and he got out to talk to a woman, a stranger to me. After a million hours (remembering, I am 3-4 years old at the time, so everything boring is a million hours!!!) the woman slides into the seat next to me and just starts talking to me. It was very uncomfortable. You guessed it. It was my mom and we had run up on her somewhere and she had begged and pleaded with my father to just talk to me for a minute. We pieced that story together years later too.

 

By the way, lest you think my mother horrid, she had full visitation rights. It was the sixties and seventies and women had a harder time getting what they had rights to back then.

[Stacia]

they are aware of complicated emotions like deliberately trying to be cute to attract attention.

 

I have to think that babies do this too. My nephew (who is now 12yo) used to 'pose' for pictures when he was an infant. Anytime I pulled out my camera, he would start smiling, acting goofy, whatever because he loved to have his photo taken. It makes me lol to think how he used to act. But, really, it's amazing to think of a baby 'posing' for pictures, kwim?

 

My nephew is still a ham!

[Jenny in Atl]

It was a bad dream. I was about three and had some kind of flu with a high fever. I remember the dream well; It was a mix of images from my preschool in NYC. There had been a fight, and a kid lost a tooth on the sidewalk. Somehow in my fevered mind the tooth was embedded in the small metal fence that ran around the outside planted area at the school. I just stood there totally freaked out by this bloody tooth. :tongue_smilie:

[Jami]

I remember a couple of things:

 

I remember my Mother peeling an apple at the sink.

 

I remember walking around in my crib saying the ABCs, and Mom coming in and being surprised that I knew all my letters. I distinctly remember thinking "Huh? Of course I know my letters. Why wouldn't I"?

 

I remember sampling some powder on the kitchen floor, and the terrible stomachache afterwards, and being too afraid to tell my parents what I had eaten.

 

All of that happened around age 2. Oh, I also remember coming in the house to ask my Mom "How old am I?" and she replied "Two and a half."

 

I talked very early - I wonder if that has anything to do with having such early memories?

 

 

That's interesting, re. talking early and memory. I talked very late (I know, based on my board chattiness and real life verbosity you'd never know it now), close to 3 from what my parents remember and I have very few really early memories. I remember things from when I was about 4 or 5, but not much before that. Dh, on the other hand, has memories of his crib in the hospital, the green walls there, and his stuffed Ernie doll from a hernia surgery before he was a year old. How weird is that?!

[momofkhm]

I remember getting sent home from a birthday party because I tattled. But the thing is I was young, I wasn't going to K yet, and I was sent home, not taken home. Granted we lived on post, we were both in the same apartment complex, I didn't have to cross a road or even the parking lot. But don't you think it's odd to send a 3 or 4 yo home in the dark by herself?

[Jill- OK]

I feel that I have a terrible memory for some things. My "earliest" childhood memories aren't that clear at all.

 

I do have some early memories (the earliest is of my parents fighting, and they divorced well before I was in kindergarten; I also have a memory of my dad running inside and scaring me, causing me to knock over some blocks I was playing with. There was a tornado coming, lol), but not very many, and I even forget lots of stuff from later life.

 

My best friend from high school and I joke that I've forgotten more fun than most people have in a lifetime, LOL! I mean, she's actually said the words, "You don't remember that party at the mental hospital that we went to, with our high school psychology class?!" (I vaguely remembered it after she mentioned it, but would have totally forgotten if it had never been brought up.)

 

I hate that I don't remember the kids being babies clearly, but I guess it helps me live in the 'now'.

[Jill- OK]

I can remember being in the hospital, having my tonsils out, and that was at three, so, that would probably be my earliest memory.

 

Dang, not many good early memories, LOL!

 

I wonder if that has something to do with having a bad memory? Maybe I got tired of so many bad ones, and decided to let it all wash over me. ;)