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

I'm interested in check how far people can remember their early childhood.

reply to post by GLontra


My earliest memories begin from around18 months-2 years. I remember talking to my Mother about certain things that happened and she always tells me there is no way I should be able to remember because I was simply too young. But there you have it. From the ages of 2-3 the memories began to be more vivid and are easier to recall than the ones prior. The memories of when I was say 18 months- 2 years are more like images and feelings rather than well formed comprehensive ones.

I have memories of being a 1 1/2 year old. It's weird. Your depth perceptions is fuzzy. I could only pay attention to what was RIGHT in my face. Anything that was farther than about 2-3 feet I either didn't care about or couldn't see. I distinctly remember holding a colorful felt ball and trying to pinch the white tag as hard as I can because it was hard holding it the other way. My coordination was bad. I remember my fingers hurting because I would pinch the tag so hard, because I was determined to not let the ball to fall again. lol I have some other memories too.

I think it would be kind of freaky if I couldn't remember anything before the age of four.

great reading on this thread.....2 1/2 years old....I remember everything.....
I remember hearing the word "flyswatter" for the first time.....fly's......and ....water, those two words put together!

I remember a few events from a very early age- maybe 2. The first memory was when my mother was changing my diaper and I was looking into her eyes and she looked back at me and smiled lovingly.

The second was when I was hospitalized (around the same age of 2 maybe almost 3) where I thought I was abandoned and left there because back in the mid-50's nobody bothered explaining anything to young children. My mother told me that I was actually getting worse each day in that hospital, so the doctor just told my parents to take me home, where I guess my attitude improved and I got better almost overnight.

reply to post by MollyStewart


hehe same here. I remember when I was about the same age as you, my mother shoved me into this giant dutch shoe with my twin for a photo op. (We were at Dutch Village in California) I remember my legs feeling crowded and super uncomfortable and I started to cry and scream. My mom was shocked when I told her. She was like, 'but you weren't even two years old yet, how do you remember that?"

My Dad passed away when I was 3 years old. I have several memories of walking with him, being carried by him, sitting at a table during meals with him. Even better than that, when I was about 10 years old I asked my Mom if we'd ever been on a train, because I had a memory of looking out the window of a train. She told me we went to her sisters house in Maryland by train, but she didn't think I could possibly remember it, because I was 6 weeks old ! But, I did remember. Even though they were more like photo shots in my mind, they were still memories.

reply to post by GLontra


My first completely formed memory is of my mother telling me to watch the baby while she went to the bathroom. The baby was lying on the couch on some blankets and waving around. I stood looking at her and thought, "She's so ugly." And this baby was born about 15 months after me. So, around 15 months of age was when I first became conscious that I was conscious. Obviously, if I knew the words to form that thought, I'd already been conscious... I just don't remember it.

I have many memories between that one and when I start remembering daily events. I have many short memories from around age 2 where my older brother and I are playing games we made up, climbing on a crib that we pretended was a mountain, talking to each other in the dark because we shared a room, watching tv shows, talking spanish that we learned from tv, playing outside, racing our dog, playing with pigs and cows and chickens, planting and maintaining gardens, gathering eggs, eating ice cream, going to church, painting a room, following blue dragonflies, seeing pigs and cows being lifted with a crane from their pens to get slaughtered. Another sister being born several months before my 3rd birthday. Then, taking pictures at a department store, and my mom helping me to fix my fancy "picture" dress and seeing a man standing and watching me through the plate glass window and I told my mom that he was a pervert. (I have no clue where I got that word and understanding from, but I clearly knew what it meant at age 3, because I remember thinking he was going to try to kidnap me because he probably liked to kiss little girls. )

Memories from about age 3 onward are much clearer - I remember making meals and telling babysitters where certain things in the house were or how to do things a certain way. I remember playing with my grandpa and him giving me candy. I remember going to a timeshare in Lake Tahoe with my family and thinking it was awesome that the place had a fridge and stove, then floating outside in a yellow inflatable boat and also sitting near the water watching a bright blue crab walk by. I remember going on trips in a big peach-colored van with several cousins and various aunts and uncles and siblings. I remember going to Disneyland and loving it. I remember visiting my great-grandmothers and great-grandfather as well as various relatives, most of whom I remember asking me, "Do you remember me?" to which I replied, "Yes, you're [name]." (So, I obviously remembered seeing them from when I was a baby, but I no longer have the initial memory, just the memory of remembering.). I remember my grandfather dying. I remember my grandfather's wake and funeral.

Around age four is when I started to have more thoughtful memories. I remember the day I realized that other people's minds did not have the same thoughts as mine. I remember my grandmother riding to our house on a motor scooter and talking to her about my soon-to-be-born newest sister's name, and her teasing me saying the baby should be named "Peaches". I remember gardening, and picking roses, and watering my grape vines. I remember my sister being born, going on vacation to Mexico, where I learned how to swim and ran through the Gulf when the tide was out but got my sandals caught in the mud and started feeling little crabs pinching my feet so ran away and left my sandals behind. I remember starting kindergarten and I even remember that there were 13 people in my class and I remember their names and the names of my teachers.

Age five is very clear. I remember watching political events on television, outgoing president and incoming president and a war going on. I remember hearing helicopters going overhead and thinking that since I lived in a desert and the war on tv was in a desert, that the war was going to be near my house. I also remember being outside and hearing a bullet whiz past my head, then instinctively dropping to the ground and army crawling to the side of the house where I would be safe. (Yes, some a-hole neighbor was shooting at a five year old girl.)

Now that I am writing about memories, I am remembering more memories which I usually only remember every once in awhile.

Anyway, now that I've gotten thoroughly carried away...

Interesting thread!

My first memory is at 352 days. After that memory I was probably 2+ years old. The memory at 352 days is clear and short. Perhaps 1-2 minutes.

I remember being in the womb, and ive always known and remembered it. I've always found it difficult to describe it exactly but i even remember telling my mom when i was very young,and ive never been ashamed to talk about it because it is 100% real to me. Everybody i've ever spoken to about it have never had the same experience,therefore, i never even thought that anybody else in the world would remember being in the womb until i went on the internet and googled it about five years ago. I didnt know i was in the womb at the time but when i realised 'im alive and in this world', i knew i was "there" and remembered that memory,and that was around the age of two. My first memory after i was born was being in the local town with my mom and i dropped an open packet of crisps on the floor (Walkers blue packet, must've been salt and vinegar) and my mom pointed to a policeman that was walking my way and said that if i didn't pick up the packet the policeman will take me away, and i cried ha ha. I was two years old

Hmm one of my earliest memories were waking up to see my parents doing the nasty I must have been fairly young for them to have been messing around in front of us. For some reason I quickly instinctly knew I wasn't supposed to see that and closed my eyes and promptly fell back asleep. I don't remember any details of what I saw exactly but I do know what it was. Other memories for me only one from when I was 2. My parents used to have those little bucket chairs on their bicycles and they would put us on them and ride with them, my one memory is riding in the rain with them across an old wooden bridge. And some flashbacks of them putting us in a blanket and swinging my twin brother and I back and forth.

Thinking back though, my most clear memories were my nightmares I had from ever since I can remember. My parents say when I was 2 years old they heard me make a blood curdling scream and race across the house at about 2 am in the morning, they said they literally felt a wall of fear hit them as I came into the room.

So many bad dreams and memories from when I was a child, to this day I have difficulty sleeping alone at night.

Good thread though, I've always wished that I could have clearer memories of my earliest childhood.

reply to post by GLontra



I have memories of my brother breaking his arm, and of being locked outside in the snow by my other brother as a joke, both occured at the age of 2.

The memory of my brother breaking his arm is actually a memory of my other brother (the one who locked me outside) coming and getting me and telling me to laugh at my brother.

My earliest memory is actually quite strange.
In what is actually my first ever memory, I am actually standing in front of my mother in my old bedroom, watching her sitting in a rocking chair, holding me as a baby, and feeding me with a bottle.
It's a very, very distinct memory that I have always had. I know where everything was positioned and I can still see everything to this day. Somehow, I was in front of my mother, watching her feed me as a baby. It's not a hazy memory, either. Everything is as clear as day.
I have no explanations for this or what was going on (out of body experience?), but this is my first concrete memory.

reply to post by GLontra


Oddly enough, I remember many dreams I had as a very young child. I can remember dreams back as far as when I was 3 years old.
As for my daily life, I see bits and pieces of it.. Yet its as if it was in another life.
The dreams I remember seem much more real than the life I lived as a child.

At times... It feels like the past is an illusion.. Thus I look at the present state.. And its an illusion too.
Strange.

I was adopted at the age of 5 so any memories prior to that age would not have been told to me.
I meditated one day and tried to reflect on my earliest memories when I was in my 20's, so this has helped cement those memories.
I remember when I was still in the baby crib and remember playing with the spinning thing hanging over my head.
I remember trying to get out and my mom coming in and telling me to stay in it.
I also have a vague recollection of thinking, what is the journey going to be like this time around.
My vocabulary was limited so the thoughts were not expressed in words but a deeper understanding. A knowing....as I remember it.
I remember writing on the walls with a crayon and being scolded.

Thinking even further back, I remember being in a void, with light all around me.
I have tried to further understand what this void was and the light, and tried to go further back, but have not been successful. In material existence, it does not make sense nor can relate to it.
I remember all the details of the house I grew up in until I was adopted.

I remember seeing death when a kitten was ran over by a truck on our street with its guts all splattered.
That was a gruesome memory that is forever etched in my mind.
Many other memories, too many to count.


All this would have happened before the age of 5 and have no way of ordering it out by age since time was meaningless and forever back then.

I only have two distinct memories from when iwas 3. Riding in a truck down the mountain and riding a train. Both were traveling very fast and i remember being scared. Coming down that mountain seemed teerifying.

My earliest memory is from age 2 riding up a mountian in a cable car with my parents. maybe memory from an early age runs in the family, because my grandmother says she remembers being born.

en.wikipedia.org...

as for me the earliest clear memory i have was when i was four. i remember it cause achy breaky heart was my favourite song and i sang it all the time.

Originally posted by zysin5
reply to post by GLontra

 

Oddly enough, I remember many dreams I had as a very young child. I can remember dreams back as far as when I was 3 years old.
As for my daily life, I see bits and pieces of it.. Yet its as if it was in another life.
The dreams I remember seem much more real than the life I lived as a child.

At times... It feels like the past is an illusion.. Thus I look at the present state.. And its an illusion too.
Strange.

Yeah I remember early dreams as well. One in particular always stood with me around the age of four or so. I was running from monsters scared and crying while they were chasing me, but as I was running for whatever reason I realized I was dreaming and it went from a regular dream into a lucid one. I stopped running, turned around and willed two He-Man swords on each hand and had an amazing joy knowing that I was the master of this universe. I started running towards the monsters and before I got to them they disappeared. I then remembered deciding to fly and after that I don't remember anymore.

That stood in my mind all of these years and reminds me of a kind of mirror to real life. At one point, if you believe the universe is mental, we will evolve to the point of telepathy and possibly Jesus like powers but first we must remember this world as one continuous lucid dream similar to Neo in the matrix

reply to post by GLontra


I remember getting a bath in the kitchen sink with my cousin Sue, ~1.5-2.0. At the beach, I got gum in my hair and my Mom and Aunt talking about how to get it out and more, 2.0. Memories from this time are few.

At age 3, I remember waking up one morning and things were different. I did not remember the recent past, but I was familiar with who people were and where we lived. It was like waking up for the first time. I remember the layout of the house and property, as well as details on numerous events that occurred. I can describe many memories from that time. I'd say that this was when my permanent memory started. When I woke up that morning I really felt that a change had occurred in my world and myself. I have a very vivid memory of that particular day.

I can remember from pre-conception. As in, I had just died from being aborted (I was a boy) and wound up, very up, to a point where there was an angel at a window-like portal where people could see opportunities for rebirth. Through the window you could see lives to live. Angel said something to the meaning of "who wants this one?" and I volunteered for it. While I was hopping into this life, others were being pulled up from their deaths, timely and untimely. And the next thing I remember was being spun into shape at conception. It's a far-out thing to see your parents from above, um, hard at work, before ever meeting them in the flesh, and thinking, hey this looks like a good idea.

Yes yes, there goes the argument that life begins at conception. But at the time of being aborted, it was a challenge, as all death is, but I was too small and developless to complain much about it. Some people have choices for who gets what bodies, others do not. It depends who makes the rules, up there.

Not exactly what you were looking for was it? Okay then, I remember (in this life) being in the womb. Having an awareness of a body of my own, formulating perceptions with nerves. Being aware of light, colors, sound, up and down (although I didn't care about the concept of comfort), warmth vs not-so-warm. Conveying the thought, as mom and child are tied together, that I will not tolerate what happened to me that last time.

Oh, you expected the choice for life to be all the mom's choice? Well, it takes 2 beings to decide to live together. Sometimes the mom changes her mind, sometimes the baby decides to go. It's not that bad in eternity, as long as there are angels and portals and tubes to travel through.

Okay, first memory after being born was being on my back, after having been flipped upside down like a fish, and my face probed by gigantic fingers. While screaming for the good old days in the womb, I lay on my back, my feet poked. My neck hurts from the flip. I am powerless and weak, and my body feels like a ton of bricks; I can't lift my arms or legs or head, which is why I panic and scream louder. Actually, an image that flew through my mind at the time was: am I dead? Why are they mummifying my body? I guess that came through from how flat and hard what I was lying on. It evoked memories of whitewashed stone rooms, another past life.