What's Your Earliest Memory?

[MANT!]

Sour milk in the bottle...getting caught in the playpen..
musical wind-up toys made from wood.. One a clock..

getting a pot of boiling water over me at 2 and 1/2...

getting my stomach pumped at 4...after eating snail pellets in the garage (I also fed em to the dog..his stomach was pumped long before mine)

 

[F. King Daniel]

Some bad memories: Getting bullied by "Big Daniel" in nursery school. Getting my face scratched off in infants' school by a girl with Down's syndrome 'coz I wouldn't sit next to her. Four scratches either side of my face.

Bitch dinnerladies not letting us leave until our lunchboxes were totally empty - even when forcing it down is making me sick 'coz I'm not feeling great.

Kneeling on a drawing pin (thumb tack to you Americans) while going under my desk to get my lunchbox in infants' school. It went into the top of my shin bone just below my kneecap and hurt like hell. I was afraid of the school nurse (dunno why) and after pulling it out, I tried to carry on as normal for the rest of the day, despite blood oozing down my leg and my eyes watering from the pain (which was the worst pain ever back then). It hurt like hell for weeks.

To be honest I don't see these as bad memories. I just know they were horrible at the time.

 

[Kira's Mom]

My earliest clear memory was taking a nasty tumble down the stairs. I was about 2 1/2. I wasn't hurt, but damn was I scared! Not as much as my mom, though...

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Television and cereal in the morning. My dad coming back from fishing. My mom tells me I'd have had to have been a little more than two years old, based on a couple of things - where we lived, when we moved.

It's impossible to tell what details my imagination has filled in, there, but one can guess...I'm so sure that it was a Saturday morning, but I'd have had no idea of such a thing at that age.

 

[Kirkman1987]

Not sure what the earliest memories are, but some that were early. (from birth to age 5 lets say, or 1987-1992.)

I remember being bitten in the face by a small dog. didn't do any real damage, but left an impression. (This might be the earliest, as I was a baby)

My parents divorced when I was five, but I have many early memories of when I still lived with my father. I remember going in the woods with him ( a hunter, we must have had 20 guns in the house, in large display cases.), and a meal together where I first mixed my corn in with my mashed potatoes, imitating my father's habit. I remember a fight between my parents so intense that my father threw himself from the car we were in. Being a child, the next day I pestered my mother if we could go pick him up. The response was no.

I also remember the time I let loose the hunting dogs, whom I felt looked like they wanted out. I deserved and got a slap for that one.

I remember lots of Nintendo playing, can't remember a time I wasn't playing them. Had an NES and loved the damn thing to death.

Overall, I had a picture perfect childhood, and I loved every minute. I grew up in a small Missouri town, Maryville, and it was a great place for children to be raised. I recall bike races, Snow days, The NES Era, and going to see movies at a one screen theater (Tickets were $1.....$1 !!!!). We had a vary steep drop off in our back yard, and created a somewhat dangerous rope swing off of the edge. So much fun.

I'm drifting into full blown nostalgia and off topic, so I'll stop myself from going further I think

 

[Kirk's_Tights]

I was in my crib and Bon Jovi was on the radio.


I have no idea why the hell this memory is burned into my mind.

 

[RandyS]

I was in my crib and Bon Jovi was on the radio.


I have no idea why the hell this memory is burned into my mind.

Did it scare you?

 

[Witterquick]

I was in my crib fascinated by having this body and control of my limbs. I guess that was what we call self awareness. I remember thinking it was kind of "cool" having a body of my own but I didn't really get a sense of being very loyal to this "self". I was just kinda getting to know me.

It was a very strange first memory and I don't know how old I was.

 

[C_Miller]

I have some pretty vague memories of life when I was three. Just random flashes that I can attribute to that time period because I have seen pictures of what my Pre School Teacher looked like. And I recall relatively clearly my "crush" when I was three. Even more clearer or some things from Pre School when I was four. I can recall a few specific events from that time in my life. When I started Kindergarten, I pretty much have full memories.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

For as long as i can remember, i've had memories.

 

[doubleohfive]

I vaguely recall learning to walk. It was in Beirut, 1980 or so.

 

[Davros]

I remember being on the beach of a lake and my older brother getting to go on a sailboat but I was told I was too young.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

My earliest memory dates to when I was under a year old. A fence was on fire. On possibly it was a bonfire. Either way, it was a celebration with fireworks (Nov 5? Which would make me about six and a half months)and there was a fire...somewhere. Fence, whatever. It was, I must assume, the first time I saw a genuine fire (not candles or fireplace flickers). My dad was holding me, and there was a fire. It was a rather significant thing, but I don't really recall anything else (unsurprising at that age- I doubt I had any truly conscious concept of what I was seeing). The whole thing is therefore really blurry, and more an echo of a proto-memory than a memory, but it's there.

My first fully formed memories date to when I was about 18 months, just after my sister was born. My most prominant memories of the period are about my uncle.

 

[marillion]

I have images, rather than memories...

Hanging out with my brother while he tried in vain to fix yet another issue on the vintage Jag he had (foolishly) bought..

burning scrambled eggs I was trying to make for my parents for breakfast.

My friend Christian dropping off a present for my 3rd birthday because he couldn't come to the party.

My 3rd birthday party.

Walking up to a woman I thought was my mom at Worlds of Fun outside Kansas City and talking to her.

Most of these are pre-5 year old memories. The 3rd birthday party images are, of course.

 

[Vulcan Princess]

I was 2 1/2 for my first memory. My mom was pregnant with my sister, and she was on bedrest. I remember climbing onto the kitchen counter, making myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and then going into my mom's room to have her read me a story. It seemed that this went on for weeks, but according to my mom, it was only one day. (Lest you think I was neglected, ladies from church came over that afternoon to stay with me until my dad got home from work.)

My next two memories took place that same week. I remember helping my dad set up the crib, and I remember going to the hospital to visit my new baby sister in the NICU. The doctors were giants in green outfits and they made me scrub up and put on a green gown, too.

 

[Goliath]

I have a couple of fragmentary memories from some time shortly before my second birthday.

I caught croup, and my parents had to take me to the hospital. I remember being in the croup tent, coughing and looking at mist coming out of the mister.

Then, when I was better, I remember sitting in the waiting room, waiting for my Dad and watching the closing credits for The Munsters on a B&W television.

 

[KimMH]

I only rememebr as far back from about age 3. My brother and I snuck into the pantry to see what the cat food tasted like. Salty and crunchy. And a flood behind our house in KY - a giant Black Mocassin was stranded on an island in the river - my mother was terrified curiosity would get the better of us and we'd try poking it with a stick!

 

[Kirby]

It was fall 1971 and I just turned 3. Our house was being built and we went into it before it was completed. I remember going upstairs with my mom and there was no paint or carpeting in yet.

 

[Holdfast]

I vaguely recall learning to walk. It was in Beirut, 1980 or so.

A challenging time to learn, what with the frequent ground-shaking from the explosions.

(Too sharp? Hope not! )

 

[Dale]

People rarely believe this, but I have a vague memory of sticking my hands and my feet in my mouth and working out my own basic shape and functionality.