CPT: At what age is your first memory?

mrsjenni · October 2013

I was just thinking back to being in kindergarten myself and now I have a son there... so strange! Anyway, it made be think of what my very first memory is/was and it's kinda hard to come up with it. I mean, I feel like I remember playing at my paternal grandfather's house and he died when I was three. But I don't know if I'm remembering a dream I had or if it's an actual memory... I'm 99% sure it's a memory.

So, when was your first memory (even if it's just an estimate)?

mrsjenni · October 2013

BMReid said:

I don't know how to answer this. Like you, I think I remember some things from around 4-- but I don't know if I actually remember or I've been told the same stories so many times that I think I remember. Anyway, I voted 4.

That's how I feel too! I don't know if I'm confusing dreams, stories, old pictures... who knows! But I think it's an actual memory, lol.

PBP2002 · October 2013

I find my memories are kind of fuzzy between home videos and actual memories I have a hard time knowing what I actually remember and what I've seen on video too many times.

OSUWifey09 · October 2013

I have a distinct memory of falling into a snowbank when I was 2 [I lived in Germany until I was 2 1/2] and my parents freaking out. After that, though, I don't have another clear memory until 4 years of age.

Ninjafarmerswife · October 2013

I have a distinct memory of walking out into my kitchen late late at night and my neighbors were there drinking coffee (the coffee smell is a big part of the memory). They came over to watch me when my mom was in labor with my brother so I was 2 at the time. There are a few other parts of the little memory snippet (what I was wearing, the music on the radio, the feeling of excitement) that help me believe it is the real deal rather than a story I've heard or a dream.

LuGal623 · October 2013

I have a pretty clear, albeit short memory of grocery shopping with my paternal grandfather who died when I was 3 going on 4. We were grocery shopping and he let me have a 25 cent pack of JuicyFruit gum even though my grandmother would flip. That year we also carved with him enough small pumpkins to fill the front stoop of their house, something like a dozen pumpkins in their glory! Anything earlier than that is super fuzzy and almost dream like.

moosebaby2011 · October 2013

Mine is the first time I saw the ocean on a trip to Maine when I was three or four. I dashed out into the waves and got knocked under water. I remember how the water looked when I went under, what I was wearing (a white tank top with paint splatters), and my dad wrapping me up in a red plaid blanket afterwards.

Other than that particular memory, like PP have said, I have a hard time determining which memories are real and what I've seen pictures of or have been told about.

daltosostarby · October 2013

I remember when my brother was born, I would go over to my grandmas house every Wednesday (so my mom would have bonding time with him) and we would garden, or go to the car wash (my favorite thing when I was little) etc.

peanutmuse · October 2013

I picked 2 yrs old because I have one definite memory. My mother left my biological father when I was a baby, but I have a memory of him coming to our apartment (mine and my mother's) uninvited, shall we say. I asked her about it years later, because she never talked about it, and she confirmed that what I remembered was correct. So it definitely wasn't a dream or a memory someone planted there, because it was never told to me. It wasn't the type of story my mother would have shared with anyone.

ETA: I don't necessarily remember being two when it happened, though. My mother told me that I was two when I told her about the memory.

After that, my next memory is when I was 3.5 and my mother was dating my now step-father, the man who raised me since I was 4. That one is happier, we were making him a chocolate cake for his birthday, and he got to our apartment before it was done. I remember standing on a chair and furiously scooping & eating the mix out of the bowl when my mother went to answer the door.

MrsGraham06 · October 2013

I have a couple memories of when we (Mom, Terry and I) lived with Mom's sister, and we only lived with her from when I was about 6 months to a year and a half. We visited there several years later, and I recognized things. Those memories are more feelings and shapes than conversations or understanding what was going on around me.

I have more memories of when we lived with Mom's parents. It would have all been before my sister was born, I think Terry was gone before my 4th birthday. But I remember riding on his shoulders, through the house (Ok, duck through the doorway!) riding on his shoulders through the parking lots to stores, laying on the front steps with him, looking up at the sky. And smiling- all those memories are of us smiling.

jhjocelyn · October 2013

Oh! I just lied!

I have the vague dream or memory confusing too.

The earliest I distinctly remember was being babysat with my brothers by a neighbor and getting mad that the neighbor would not let me up after I went to bed. I remember crying at the babygate at the end of the hallway(I could see into the living room where everyone else was from there) and wondering why it wasn't working (because crying always worked on my neighbor)... I would have been under 3 for that memory. What sticks out is the confusion/frustration over why it wasn't working, I remember trying harder by dragging my pillow as well as my blankets to the edge of the gate, and then changing strategies by saying "I want my mommy", pretty sure I fell asleep there.

I am so in trouble with this little girl on the way... I was the princess of manipulating anyone to get what I wanted...

juliasmama2010 · October 2013

I chose 7+. My memory is absolutely TERRIBLE! I have a memory from second grade that has always stuck with me. I had a bad dream about a snake that kept me up for a couple hours cuz I was too scared to go back to sleep and then the next day in class, we were working on a worksheet that had a snake on it. It creeped me out to no end!! I pray my kids get their dad's memory because he can recall things from a much younger age than I can!

ac1259 · October 2013

mrsjenni said:

BMReid said:

I don't know how to answer this. Like you, I think I remember some things from around 4-- but I don't know if I actually remember or I've been told the same stories so many times that I think I remember. Anyway, I voted 4.

That's how I feel too! I don't know if I'm confusing dreams, stories, old pictures... who knows! But I think it's an actual memory, lol.

Yeah..I have a few things that I "remember" that my mom has no recollection of- I swear I must've had a very active imagination (or mom has a very bad memory!) But I definitely remember parts of kindergarten...and my sister was born when I was in 1st grade and I remember that vividly. But nothing definitive before kindergarten

kw42775 · October 2013

I remember Halloween from when I was either 18 months or 30 months. I was a bunny rabbit. I remember my dad pretending that he was scared of me. I also have another memory from the same time frame...we were renting a house that had a wrap around porch. Somebody told me I couldn't go on the side of the house because there were spiders. The next memory I have was from when I was four. My dad had throat or thyroid cancer. My mom took me to visit him in the hospital and told me he got it from smoking....it wasn't true but I have never picked up a cigarette.

jms1374 · October 2013

My first memory is from when I had just turned 3. My brother and I were staying with my godparents when my youngest brother was born. I remember we slept in the same bed and one night he wet the bed, and the next I did and I was mortified because I NEVER wet the bed anymore. I also remember helping my uncle clean the whitewalls on the tires of his car and when we finished, we came in the house to get a drink of water. My cousin handed me the glass and I got mad and wouldn't take it from him. I only wanted it from my uncle. I promptly got a spanking for telling my cousin no.

BrittNR · October 2013

I was either 3 or 4. My mom was explaining about pollen and bees as I was looking at flowers and I remember thinking, well if bees eat pollen I can too, and I ate a flower.

COgirl29 · October 2013

This may sound insane - but I have a distinct, visual memory of being picked up out of the kitchen sink (where my parents bathed me as an infant) and seeing the living room as I was lifted up. I can see the tv being on, the glow of the lamps and it was dark outside.

That means it would be before the age of 7 or 8 months when my mom moved me to the bathtub for baths, but I've always had this memory. It's a little crazy.

Amarantheansea · October 2013

Both of my grandfathers died when I was two one day after the other...... I have a memory of my grandfather on my mothers side standing in the hallway wearing a bolero and a trench... That split second plays over and over in my head. I am convinced its real, it's always the same, but kind of hazy at the same time like a dream.... But maybe that's how you remember things when your little.....Really wish I had a little bit longer with both of them! But that memory means a lot!

JaneW2 · October 2013

I absolutely and totally remember my brother being born, right before I turned 3. (I don't remember HIM, mind you, toddlers think newborns are dumb and boring, but I remember visiting my mom's room.)

ashleywiz · October 2013

I know I have a memory from before my sister was born (she's almost exactly 3 1/2 years younger) and my mom wasn't pregnant with her yet-- so I am pretty sure I was 2. My mom's boyfriend let me brush his hair (long, long ponytail--super sexy haha!) and I got the brush stuck in it...and cried. AND got my mouth washed out with soap for calling my mom a bitch- I don't remember saying it or what context, but I'll never forget dish soap being poured in my mouth!

Caitlinm123 · October 2013

I think I was about 3. I remember pulling a chair up to the counter to grab the bottles for my mom who was busy with my twin younger siblings.

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