what's the earliest clear memory you have?

[brainhulk]

I remember my brother falling down the stairs on christmas eve. I was 3 years old. Is that possible? or is it my mind manufacturing a memory from my parents telling us the story so many times.

 

[rcpratt]

I stuck my thumb in the car lighter when I was maybe 3 or 4. I remember the smell and the nurse at the hospital.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I can vaguely remember seeing reports about Vietnam on TV. I had to be around 2 or so. I didn't understand any of it and much of it was maps and stuff like that, but I remember it.

 

[Arcadio]

I remember chasing the chickens in my backyard when I was about 3 or 4.

 

[lxskllr]

I remember being in Ocean City MD when I was 18mos old. I also have snapshot images of the crib in my room.

 

[mrblotto]

My grandma talking to me to get me to go to sleep. I'd guess 3-5. I can still remember the smell of Wrigleys and cigarette smoke on her breath lol.

 

[terry107]

I remember falling overboard off my parent's boat. That had to have been when I was around 4 or 5.

 

[Squisher]

2 years old, had to stay in a hospital overnight because I got hit in the head with a swing. My parents finally gave up with convincing me to stay peacefully so they lied to me and told me they were coming back in a couple minutes. After I figured out they had lied I remember laying in that hospital bed seething.

I don't remember this, but I guess when they came back the next day I punched my mother and screamed, "You lied to me." This story seemed to be told every holiday.

()

 

[LookBehindYou]

Sadly I don't think I can remember much of anything before middle school, and even then I can only recall a few things from middle school. As I reflect, I can really only clearly remember one thing.

I remember in middle school my parents divorced, my brother lived with my dad and I lived with my mom in a tiny apartment. I had no friends because we moved, so I got home from school and remember I would lay on my bed and watch win, lose, or draw and play g.i.joes until my mom came home. I'd eat dinner and then go back to my room and play more g.i. joes. I'd set them all up and have big scenese that I would create.

I know I didn't have a traumatic childhood or anything, I just can't remember anything about it, the only memories I have are just the images I remember seeing from pictures that were taken when I was a kid. I don't even have that many high school memories up until my sophomore/junior year.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

i remember going to my grandpas with my pop ball gun and losing one of the balls under a bed. I was 3. I have quite a few more memories when i was 3-4, like getting yelled at for peeing behind a tree across the street from my house.

 

[Baked]

I have a hard time remembering what happened yesterday... Sigh... I'm going to die young, I just know it.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

The first "complete" memory I have from my childhood was when I was 4 and my dad came home after falling off the top of a fifty foot ladder into some bushes while painting a house (he was a painting contractor). He looked like hell. Cuts and scrapes everywhere,a couple sticks embedded in his knees, etc. But otherwise fine. Crazy thing is, after falling off that ladder he still had the stones to pack up all his equipment and drive himself home. Tough man, my dad.

On a lighter note, I have a brief memory of having the next door neighbors daughter walk in on my while I was taking a dump on my kidy potty in the hallway of my parents house. She reminded me about that until I was out of highschool.

 

[mrblotto]

.....On a lighter note, I have a brief memory of having the next door neighbors daughter walk in on my while I was taking a dump on my kidy potty in the hallway of my parents house. She reminded me about that until I was out of highschool.

omg awwwwwkkkward!

 

[SagaLore]

On a lighter note, I have a brief memory of having the next door neighbors daughter walk in on my while I was taking a dump on my kidy potty in the hallway of my parents house. She reminded me about that until I was out of highschool.

You forgot to mention that you were actually in high school when she walked on on you. :$

 

[Modelworks]

My grandmother was giving me a bath in the kitchen sink, probably under 1 year old.

 

[Poulsonator]

Waiting in line to see Star Wars, and then the lights going out during the cantina scene. We had waited 2+ hours, then a car hit a power pole outside. My parents and i were disappointed to say the least. This was the summer of 1977, so I was 2, about to turn 3 in September.

 

[manimal]

Sort of remember waking up in the hospital and seeing my entire family hovering over me at around 3 years old. I remember the day so well because my dad gave me a toy that I have to this day in a display case.
I may have manufactured this memory because my family talked about it all the time. I had gotten a really bad glandular infection that spread to my brain and killed me for a few seconds till they got me back. My mom still to this day does not like talking about it.

I joke with her and say she accidentally dropped me and that is the reason I have so many mental problems.

 

[Old Hippie]

I have a hard time remembering what happened yesterday .

So do I but it doesn't seem to affect my long term memories.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Nothing

 

[JTsyo]

2 years old, had to stay in a hospital overnight because I got hit in the head with a swing. My parents finally gave up with convincing me to stay peacefully so they lied to me and told me they were coming back in a couple minutes. After I figured out they had lied I remember laying in that hospital bed seething.

I don't remember this, but I guess when they came back the next day I punched my mother and screamed, "You lied to me." This story seemed to be told every holiday.

()

Your parents left you alone at the hospital overnight at 2 years old?

I remember taking a taxi to the hospital at 4 yr old when I cut my chin and had to get stitches. My mom was holding a handkerchief on the cut.

 

[JTsyo]

I have a hard time remembering what happened yesterday... Sigh... I'm going to die young, I just know it.

So do I but it doesn't seem to affect my long term memories.

user names and memory :hmm:

 

[IronWing]

As I get older really weird random memories of early childhood surface. I definitely remember getting the FP garage on my 3rd birthday. I have earlier memories but I can't assign a definite age to them. My mom used to carry me around in a kid seat on her bicycle. She was a columnist for a local weekly and would take me along on interviews. I remember the interview of a witch/fortune teller and riding past soldiers surrounding the capitol square in Madison (late 60s riots). Both would have pre-dated my third birthday. I remember my older brother chasing me around the house with a kitchen knife but I think I was around 4yo then.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Getting a transformers toy for my birthday or christmas.

 

[Lummex]

My earliest memories have been triggered by seeing a familiar place or home video. Earliest one is probably when I was 2 or 3, playing with my Grandpa in the front yard of the house I lived in til I was 4. That was triggered two summers ago when we visited CA and my mom drove by our old house.

Second wasn't really triggered by anything, but I've always remembered soon after my Grandpa died (when I was around 2 or 3), I was at his old house and there was another old man there (not sure who he was), but I thought he was my grandpa, so I said "Hi Grandpa!" Then my mom talked to me alone and told me he died. It's weird, because nowadays I don't remember being sad or even what my grandpa was like, but as a 2 year old I guess I really liked him.

Another when I was three, my mom had just bought me a new pajama gown that I loved, and I was looking at it in our huge mirror. My dad walked in, my mom told him she was pregnant, and he got upset. I suppose he was just stressed about it.

 

[Zedtom]

I was driving by the first house I ever lived in and noticed that it was for sale and the realtor was having an open house. I stopped and went in just to see if I could remember anything. I thought I was going to have a wonderful flashback since I lived there from birth until three years old. I walked out confused and disappointed.