What was your earliest memory of life?

[jollystomper]

I can remember being lifted out of my crib wearing a snowsuit by my mother. I must have been less than a year. It is a brief memory, maybe all of about 15 seconds. But when I told my mom about it, she remembered - she had dressed me to take me out to enjoy the first snowfall of my life.

I can remember going to preschool and 4 and kindergarten, but my earliest long term memory is of the JFK assassination. I was 5, and remember being home watching TV when the first bulletin came on. My mom gasped and we were glued to the TV as the news unfolded. I remember how she bawled when they confirmed his death and me hugging her - it was the first memory I have of her crying. I can remember watching all of the news coverage, including the funeral and Lee Harvey Oswald's assassination live.

 

[Brat]

When I was very young my parents lived in an accessory dwelling unit on my Dad's parents property. His father was a Norwegian immigrant who died when I was 3. I would sit on his lap while he sang children's songs in Norwegian, I was the only family member he would speak Norwegian to as the family said that he was focused on assimilation. What is odd is that when I went to Norway after college I could understand what was spoken but could only answer in English.

My parents moved to Ordnance Depot near Umatilla Oregon and lived in dependents housing. I must have been about 2 or 3 as I remember my mother hanging my sister's diapers on the clothesline, and then folding them dry 15 minutes later. There were wood bins next to each apartment, I would try to grab snakes who hid in them. During that stay I got very sick and was hospitalized in the military hospital. Evidently they had penicillin as my mother said it saved my life. What I do remember is falling out of the hospital bed and the staff in a tizzy. I loved the attention.

 

[Amethyst]

A few vague images from before age 4.

Things come into focus at 4 1/2. That was the summer my older brother went off to college, and I missed him desperately. This was before the age of cheap long-distance phone calls, so I decided to learn to write him letters. I knew my ABCs and could read a few words, although I couldn't read books yet.

I remember telling my Mother what I wanted to say ("I LOVE YOU. THERE IS A CAT") and she would slowly spell out each word while I scrawled my clumsy block letters. I got frustrated pretty quickly with writing and only managed 2 letters before losing interest. I remember wondering why it was so much harder than reading.

I would not start school for more than a year, and when I finally did, I had to go into first grade at age 5 3/4, since the kindergarten would not accept a child who could read!

 

[RobbieB]

Most memories from 5 (kindergarten) up. I few before as I remember my tricycle and tractor which I stopped riding when I got my first bike at 5.

 

[Marita40]

My earliest memory is from kindergarten. There were huge Stop and Go signs on the unisex bathroom. I was much intrigued at this!

I had a rather bad accident at age 5, gashing my leg to the bone. I don't recall pain or the trip to the hospital or the stitches, but I do recall my mom screaming.

 

[Gumby]

My earliest memory is from before I was two. My mother was pregnant with my brother, who is 23 months younger than me. She and I were at the neighbor's upstairs apartment, hiding from my father. My mother was watching out the window and crying.

 

[travelover]

I recall swimming to fertilize the egg. Man, that was a race!

 

[Nemo2]

I recall swimming to fertilize the egg. Man, that was a race!

I remember that Woody Allen movie!

 

[HFWR]

Only remember tidbits of life from 0-5yo...

 

[redduck]

I recall swimming to fertilize the egg. Man, that was a race!

A shame that you finished 6,871,256th.

 

[ocean view]

When I was around 18 months old I fell against the coffee table and hit the corner of my eye on the corner of the table. I needed stitches. I have a vague recollection of the fall, but I have a VERY clear memory of being in the doctor's office when it was time for the stitches to be removed. It took my mom and several nurses and doctors to hold me still. I was very lucky to have hit where I did and not the eye itself. I was no longer allowed to play near that table.

 

[kaneohe]

We lived in a house over a raised "basement" so there were stairs to go from the house down to the street level. Along w/ the stairs were the railings to keep you from falling off and spaces between each of the posts. I didn't like to go to kindergarten so as I was escorted down the stairs, I would grab on to the posts and hang on for dear life. My mother couldn't get me to let go so she had call 6 ft tall strapping Uncle who lived just a few blocks away. Only he could peel me off those posts. I don't remember for how long or how often he had to come, but fortunately by 1st grade I had come to like school.

 

[Bram]

My earliest memory:
I was 3 yrs old when younger brother was born. Mom & Dad left us older 3 kids at G'ma/G'pa's house. It was all well & good until she said goodbye & walked out the door. Then I started squalling! I remember Mom had on a grey coat with a big collar that was fuzzy & I nuzzled it as she hugged me goodbye.

I have no memory of the pickup with a tiny new baby that had lots of red hair.

 

[Grabberson]

I climbed up the slide in our back yard and saw, over our fence, my friend Jeffrey (who lived across the street) coming over to play. I was happy. Must have been about 3.5 years old.

 

[Koolau]

Just a couple of impressions while age 3, but many during age 4. My babysitter lived by the railroad tracks and I have a semi-vivid memory from age 3 of standing near a caboose. It was brightly colored (red-orange).

 

[plex]

Hmm, I think I have quite a number of memories from when I was 1-4. The ones that stick out is sucking on pennies when I was around 2, can still remember the taste clearly, trying to climb out of my crib a number of times around 1.5-2, walking lessons around 1.5-2, a little bit of eating some carrot/spinach baby food I particularly didn't like in a high chair with its back to the kitchen, my earliest stuffed animals (which I liked then, but disliked by elementary), lots of memories of being babysat, all sorts of memories of pre-school, wetting the bed, using boxes/chairs with a blanket to make a fort at 3-5, bad ear infections between 3-5 from too many airplane rides, which my parents finally noticed after I started having clear hearing loss for a long time (this was the main cause of my extreme hate for travel).

 

[Elbata]

When getting ready to sell Mom's house, I took one picture only.

It was me turning 3 and parents took us to a photographer's studio. I remember being lifted up on the table, the shirt I was wearing and also the shoes. Thom McAn. What's funny is, while looking at the picture, I realized I had the same pair of shoes now that I wore as a 3 year old.

 

[Johanson]

I suspect I'm some sort of oddity (or just plumb crazy). I remember crawling because I couldn't walk, being in my crib, carriage, my bassinet and so on. Dozens of memories.

My earliest memory is when I was about 7-8 months old. I know this because my mom took me to see my dad at work and he changed jobs just before I was 9 months old. I can still see the whole thing in my mind. I was outside in my carriage and a lady (mom) looked in at me and pointed up at a window where my dad was and waved at me.

Further down, I remember my dad sitting on the floor with me telling me that I was going to have a new brother come home tomorrow...I was 2 1/2 but that was like yesterday.

And I can still name all the kids in my kindergarten class.

After a few drinks I'll tell you that I can remember being born. (Really) It was not a visual but a 'feeling' of being all scrunched up tiny-tiny and then feeling some 'immense'-ness (hard to describe) with a lot of noise.

My memories of being in the womb were of a dark watery place and hearing my mother's voice The same way you hear people talking when your head is just under water as well as other voices but far more faint. I also remember something kind of traumatic in a not so bad way and change. Maybe that's why I love diving so much. I'm back to where I started when I'm "breathing" under water.

 

[Rosie]

My earliest distinct memory was seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, I was 4 years old at the time.

My dad yelled out to my mom in the kitchen "Hey, come out here! Look at the hair on these guys!" and guffawed through their performance. My dad was Archie Bunker personified

 

[Nemo2]

I realized I had the same pair of shoes now that I wore as a 3 year old.

Wow...you must have had large feet as a child.

 

[kcowan]

I was 2.5 yo and standing up at the end of my crib so I could see the guests that my parents were having that evening. I listened to the conversation for about 15 minutes before falling asleep. Nothing else before kindergarten.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

My earliest memory was at age 4 in 1974. I was at a clinic with my mother getting a shot. I can't seem to remember anything before that. Not exactly my choice for my first memory, but what can I do?

 

[Danmar]

My 4th birthday. I kept asking everyone how old I was. They would play along by saying 3 and I would correct them by saying 4. For some reason I thought that was funny at the time.

 

[Nodak]

My earliest memory is my Dad holding me and singing "Daisy" AKA "Bicycle Built for two". I have one image which I think is earlier; it's just a few people looking down at me.

 

[MRG]

Some very early memories. One being put in a high chair. I have no idea how old I was, but my oldest sister was there. She left for college when I was 2? A couple of DM driving her back to college, those were before 5.

One of trying to float on my back on a lake where my grandparents had a cabin, almost drowned. Maybe 4.

The first manned Mercury flights were when I was 4. I remember my DM telling me I was watching history being made. Same with the Cuban missile crisis when I was 5. She didn't tell me my DB was 20 miles away from Cuba on an aircraft carrier.

Kindergarten I remember. I met a little girl there. She had pretty red hair and I always liked playing with her. She wasn't in the first grade like most my class was, so I lost her. Till seventh grade she had gone to a different elementary school.

I married that girl, tomorrow is our 42nd wedding anniversary.