Earliest Memory

Keane2baMused

Can you remember back to being a toddler/baby?

My earliest memory is of standing in my cot and crying to be picked up! I remember the colour of my walls, a pine coloured cot and the teddy bear I had in with me. I remember (after what seemed like hours) my dad coming in to pick me up then.

Some people say there's no way you can remember back that far, but I had to have been less than 2 (prob around 18 months) as my mother told me I was in a bed and a totally different bedroom from 2 onwards!

The Backwards Man

I remember when a half pint of lager was 40p

tomwaterford

Getting flattened by a sheep on the farm when I was around 3 for picking up its lamb

Fr_Dougal

Can remember my 1st birthday party, blowing out the candle, OP.

Guess I beat you.

I remember my Dad appearing after being away a long time, and being familiar with him, but afraid it wasn't him at the same time.

My mum says he was working away for three months when I was about one and a half to two, so I think this is probably that event.

My goddaughter remembers being born.

My earliest memories are from the age of 3 years. I remember play school and struggling with being there. Then I remember looking out the window with my mam when the girl across the street went to school. Mammy told me that would be me soon.

One day she brought me to the school as a little introduction before I began. My dress was pink with white lace. I remember a teacher telling me how pretty I looked and asking me to twirl.

Good memories

gumbo1

I remember goin to the Isle of Man as a toddler. I also remember my first run in with electricity, would have been about 3 at the time, can't remember which came first.
Also remember an incident with my neighbour that I can't go into on here, think I was about 2 then.

Strange what sticks in the mind over 30 odd years!

RayM

Sitting in the back seat of my grandad's Datsun 120Y, at the age of around two-and-a-half, looking at the road through a small hole in the floor. They don't make them like they used to.

Keane2baMused

Candie wrote: »

I remember my Dad appearing after being away a long time, and being familiar with him, but afraid it wasn't him at the same time.

My mum says he was working away for three months when I was about one and a half to two, so I think this is probably that event.

Mad, I had the same experience. Dad was away working for 3 months when I was just gone 2 and I hid behind the couch when he came home and wouldn't talk to him for a while

FortySeven

Waking up in a cot that wasn't mine, screaming from the pain in my throat. A nurse came in and gave me a drink.

I'd had my adenoids removed. This was before I was 2.,

FunLover18

I have a very vague recollection of going to bed for the first time without a nappy, I was so happy with myself.

KERSPLAT!

My first memory is cutting the grass in my Grandads house, I'd say I was about 2 or 3. My Grandad pushing the mower, me in front of him struggling to reach the handle! He bad beautiful gardens, full of roses and other flowers. Spent all his time keeping the whole place right. Those were the days

Keane2baMused

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

My first memory is cutting the grass in my Grandads house, I'd say I was about 2 or 3. My Grandad pushing the mower, me in front of him struggling to reach the handle! He bad beautiful gardens, full of roses and other flowers. Spent all his time keeping the whole place right. Those were the days

That's such a lovely first memory

Vowel Movement

I remember it being a sunny day and I was picking raspberry's and throwing them in the cement mixer attachment on the back of my ride on tractor and turning the handle to make it spin. I would have been 3 or 4

failinis

I think my first memory is being pushed on one of those toy seat things, like a scooter with a seat and handle? This was along my street, near the entrance by my mother. She does not remember this at all and said I may have imagined it.

Another is when I got my dog, I think I was 3 and a box was in the kitchen. Excited feeling in the air, they said to put my hand in, a wet nose, furry body. My best friend. I am going to cry thinking about my wee dog now. Rest his soul.

Gunslinger92

I remember going to visit my mother and new baby sister, and I remember the teddy I brought. I was four when my little sister was born. Definitely don't think I can remember anything much earlier than that! I think it's mad that people remember standing in their cot and stuff like that

endacl

I remember an image of a round tea tray hanging on the wall of a kitchen. One of those fugly geometric designs, in brown and orange, that were so popular at that time. I mentioned it to my mother some years back, and was told that tray was hanging in the first house my folks had as a married couple. We moved when I was around 20 months old. The tray stayed behind. So, I suppose my earliest memory is at somewhere south of two years old. Beat that!

FalconGirl

At the circus when I was about 3. Getting a picture taken of me with a little flag and a Camel. Still have the picture. I remember that moment so clearly. Good times.

Filmer Paradise

Prob posted this before, but anyway....

Lying in my cot for the afternoon nap. Suddenly I found it hard to breathe. Struggled for a short while. Realised that all was lost very quick.

I felt quite comfortable at that point. Just drifting away....

Next thing, my Mam untangled the blankets that were suffocating me.

Many years later, I told this story to my girlfriend (later wife). I'm sure she took the story with a pinch of salt.

When she met my Mother the story unfolded from her side. 'I was downstairs & just had a feeling that something was wrong, so I ran up to see'.

The GF was floored by it.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

I remember walking home from the hospital the day after I was born.

dr.fuzzenstein

endacl wrote: »

I remember an image of a round tea tray hanging on the wall of a kitchen. One of those fugly geometric designs, in brown and orange, that were so popular at that time. I mentioned it to my mother some years back, and was told that tray was hanging in the first house my folks had as a married couple. We moved when I was around 20 months old. The tray stayed behind. So, I suppose my earliest memory is at somewhere south of two years old. Beat that!

Its funny how the 70's are always portrayed as this colorful world in movies and on TV. When in reality there were only 2 colors, brown and orange. And way too much brown at that.

My first memory was sitting on the floor and playing with trains. Märklin HO gauge to be precise, I only ever wanted to play with the steam train model. I didn't operate the control at that age, just pushing them round the floor. We moved out of that house before I went to kindergarten, so I would not have been 3 years old.

ElleEm

I remember my first day of playschool. I remember the velvet dress I was wearing. I was nervous so my ma stayed with me, then she must have thought I had settled because I saw her at the door trying to sneak out. I screamed and wrapped myself around her leg and sat on her foot!

Donald Trump

FunLover18 wrote: »

I have a very vague recollection of going to bed for the first time without a nappy, I was so happy with myself.

Ah granddad, in fairness, that was only last week and neither us nor the mop and bucket were too happy when we found out!

Conor Bourke

I remember sitting on the floor in our old, old kitchen (our house has been through a number of re-designs over the years) banging pots and pans in time as my man sang along to Got My Mind Set on You by George Harrison, it was released when I was 3

LizT

I remember sitting at the window in my old house, waiting for my dad to come back from work and watching for his car. My mam said I used to do it everyday, I must have been around 2-3.

IvyTheTerrible

I remember getting on a bus with my mum and thinking the step was really high and that it was really hard to get onto the bus. I had to have been under two, because we lived in town until just before my second birthday and my mum used to take the bus. No buses where we moved after that, and I didn't get on one again til I was in school. (And it was one of those low-rise buses who's steps are really low). It's a really vivid memory.

RhubarbCrumble

I remember sitting on my grandmother's knee. It must have been summer because she was wearing a white short sleeved dress with yellow stripes on it. I didn't turn two until the following autumn and she died shortly after that so I'm guessing I was around a year and a half at the time.

Lollipops23

I remember sitting in my high chair in our living room and my mam bringing me in my tea - there are no photos of my high chair in that room, so for years I thought I'd dreamed it. Recounted it to my mam a while ago and she said it was accurate. Reckons I was about 18-24 months.

I do think women can generally remember early years better than men-my OH doesn't even remember his first day of school!!

PMBC

Not a record this. The nearest shop was a sweet shop with a window at 'buggy' level into the sweet display. I remember looking in rthat window admiring and choosing with my youngest sister. The shop is still there, different owner.

Lovely memories from other posters.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I remember when all this was fields.














My earliest memory is when I was approx 14 months old of my grandfather (who died when i was 15 months old) I have a clear memory of him lying in his bed and giving me money when my mum brought me up to his bedroom to see him. Its a very very clear vivid memory and I have a very clear picture of him in my mind. Its a very precious memory.

Rosie Rant

I remember having my nappy changed. I think I might have been around a year old. I remember my mam making me giggle by blowing raspberries on my tummy and how cold the sudocreme felt.

Ficheall

Lollipops23 wrote: »

I do think women can generally remember early years better than men

To be brought up in future arguments, no doubt.

Olishi4

I have a vague memory of going to some races with my parents, uncle and aunt when I was 2 or 3 and running around in circles with another child with a balloon on a string.

I have two young relatives with me this morning and I asked them what is their first memory. The seven year old said "my mam smiling at me" and the 4 year old said just "my mam".

osarusan

I can't be sure what are actually memories and what are memory-like reconstructions of stories I've been told.

Of things I know are really memories, there's nothing before I was 5.

Peregrine

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy wrote: »

I remember walking home from the hospital the day after I was born.

Wuss. I drove home.

Wibbs

My uncle bringing me a big black and white teddy bear*. He died when I was two and a half, the last time I saw him was my second birthday and that was his present to me. Another very clear one about the same time was when my mum was playing with me and her engagement ring caught and cut my chin. I don't remember any pain, but I do remember her freaking out and I remember the hospital and the stitches I got and then back home and ice cream. I've other vague memories of that time, but can't pin them down very precisely.




*it was the late 60's no fancy colour teddies for us. No sirree.

smash

Keane2baMused wrote: »

Some people say there's no way you can remember back that far, but I had to have been less than 2 (prob around 18 months) as my mother told me I was in a bed and a totally different bedroom from 2 onwards!

I'd say that all humans suffer from implanted or fabricated memories. It's Chinese whispers with your mind and even a photograph can trigger it. Most memories aren't true representations of events, your mind has created them.

Keane2baMused

smash wrote: »

I'd say that all humans suffer from implanted or fabricated memories. It's Chinese whispers with your mind and even a photograph can trigger it. Most memories aren't true representations of events, your mind has created them.

That's true but there have been studies done that show it is very possible for a 2 year old to have accurate memories of an event or time.

Olishi4

smash wrote: »

I'd say that all humans suffer from implanted or fabricated memories. It's Chinese whispers with your mind and even a photograph can trigger it. Most memories aren't true representations of events, your mind has created them.

ye I've heard it said, that you basically remember the last time you recalled it so it can slightly change each time.

arybvtcw0eolkf

My earliest memory is getting scaled by a kettle of boiling tea when I was three months old.

I remember the incident, clothes getting pulled off me etc, and I remember being bandaged up and my hands being tired to the sides of the cot so that I couldn't rub at my skin grafts. I also remember recognizing my father when he visited by a tattoo of an eagle on his hand.

I'm lucky it didn't get my face but my neck, shoulder and chest were all badly scaled.

And that's my earliest memory.

Speedwell

I told my mother once, "did we ever have a baby stroller that was partly blue?" And she said, "Yes, why?" I said, "I have a memory of lying in it on a sunny day outside, and realizing that there was something in common between the way the sky looked and the way part of the stroller looked, and that it was different from the blanket I had on. If I try to replay the memory in my mind, I remember a blue sky and that the stroller had a blue and black and white checked pattern and the blanket was pink." She looked at me kind of strangely and said, "We gave that stroller away when you were four months old."

intheclouds

I have an early memory of being terrified in a cot because a giant doll had been put into it. I remember waking up and seeing this huge thing in the cot and standing up and screaming my head off.

My parents later told me it was a huge doll they had gotten me for xmas. I would have been 2 - close to 3.

Another early memory I have has really affected me and how I see life generally. I remember being in a place with trees and grass, playing with my brother, in evening light. In my memory it was late summer/early autumn and the evening light was very yellow but it was warm and there were little motes floating about in the air.

My parents told me later that before my grandmother died they used to bring us with them when they went to visit her in the place where she was. It was psychiatric care and because we might have been frightened by the inmates (or the condition of the dying grandmother) we used to be allowed to play in the gardens. I was 3 when she died.

In my memory it was like The Shire in Lord of the Rings, yellow light, lush grass, trees, the warmth of the evening sun. My memory of it is like an impressionist painting.

To this day (40 years later) I stop when I walk out into light like that and drift off into memory. I also permanently yearn for that time of year and a green place.

I actually dont know where it was. I think it was Dundrum Mental Asylum (when it used to be called that). But I dont know if its still there.

Shenshen

One of my earliest memories would be of me sitting in my high chair at the table, on my own in the dining room. In front of me on the table there's a big tub of nappy-rash cream. I was sitting there remembering how my mother was putting face cream on herself that very morning, and I figured that if she does that, I should probably too.
So I somehow managed to get the cream over, got both my hands stuck in up to my elbows and started smearing it all over my face. And then someone came into the room and I remember lots of shouting and annoyed people.
My parents told me later that the stuff just wouldn't wash off. They had to use my grandad's old cutthroat razor to clean me up.
I still got amazingly smooth and radiant skin, so it must have worked.

manonboard

I remember my own birth. Just moments of it.

It's not a pleasant memory, and i'm sure I've modified it over the years.
Essentially it was painful, freezing, and dry. I remember being more content when i was near who must of been my mother. It's more like a sensation of warmth and not moving.

I've a few more about 1-2 years of age, then a steady stream.

I've a few of the pressure and tiredness of my leg muscles as i learnt to use them. It's like that feeling you get in your hand when you wake up, when you cant make a fist straight away.

There's another of a moment of consciousness before my birth. However it's literally a split second, i think i felt my hand at the end of my arm. Like a "more"

PMBC

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy wrote: »

I remember walking home from the hospital the day after I was born.

I remember going with my mother and father to buy the pram for me the week before. We were so poor it was a tar barrel sawn longitudinally in half and painted bright yellow. I wasn't happy at all.:rolleyes:

razorblunt

I'm always unsure if my earliest memory is exactly that or if I just cobbled it together from photos.

My earliest memory is either a family trip to the Isle of Man, I must have been about 3 years old if not less or getting a chocolate bar off my great-grandmother when she was walking through the sitting room. She died shortly after my sister was born (4 year gap between us) so I reckon I would have been a similar age.

chakotha

I was born in London and we moved back when I was 2. I can remember a few images from then.

Most vivid memory is getting my thumb caught in the door of a red phone box.