What's your earliest memory?

[TinkerbEllnor]

I'm not sure which one came first, but they are all around 2-4 yrs of age

On my 3rd birthday, I remember arguing with my parents that I did not officially turn 3 until the candles were blown out.

The next 3 all revolved around me getting in some sort of trouble:

-Standing up in the back seat of the car while we were on a car ferry, I bit a teeny tiny hole into the back of the front seat's headrest. My parents were MAD! I don't remember it from the time, but my mom told me later that the car was brand new and this was the first time out with it. We had that car until I was 12, and that hole taunted me the whole time.

- I got caught sitting behind the chair in the living room eating a stick of butter like a banana.

-I was found by my mom crawling behind a wooly bear caterpillar, following him while he crossed the street.

Mom got a lot of gray hairs from me.

 

[rie'smom]

Running down the sidewalk to jump into my daddy's arms when he came home from work. I must have been around 2 because we were living in new Orleans. I also have a memory of my younger brother getting a rockingn horse about that same time.

 

[WDWBarb]

I remember my brother and I finding a kitten out in the woods behind our yard and bringing it home. I was so surprised that my mom freaked out (after all, it was adorable) and told us that it "HAD TO GO." Dad came home and took the kitten away and I cried and cried and cried.

And then, hours later, Dad returned with a litter box, cat food and toys, and yes... one adorable kitten. I was 3.

He said that he just couldn't bring himself to leave that kitten anywhere, even though he hated cats. That kitten became "Momma Cat" (because she doted on me) and was a part of my life until I was 24 years old.

 

[scottishduffy]

The earliest memory is around age 2. We had to move into an apartment for a year and was rather upset about it and refused to call it home. I always referred to it as 'the hotel'. I remember a tall white building and I also remember running through the apartment while shaking my head. I can only see myself runnign through the dining room though. It is a fuzzy memory.

My next memory was age 3 when my grandmother gave us a kitten without my parents permission. I remember playing with Figaro in the den of her home.

First Disney memory: But moooomm, I HATE 20,000 leagues. Don't make me go again....

 

[C.Ann]

It's a sad one for me.. I was around 3 years old and was "trying" to play the card game, "Go Fish" with my older sister.. She had been sick for a couple of days and was lying on the couch in our living room - fever, terrible headache, shaking hands, etc.. While playing the game, her hands started to shake extremely bad and she dropped her cards on the floor.. I got angry - said she was cheating - and told her to "drop dead"..

When I woke up the next morning she was gone.. I thought sure I had "wished her dead".. Thankfully she hadn't died - but it was almost as bad.. She had been rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night, was diagnosed with polio, and for quite some time we didn't know if she was going to survive or not.. I have lots and lots of memories from that time in my life - and none of them are good..

 

[NotUrsula]

JFK's funeral. I remember sitting on my Dad's lap watching, and he was just SOBBING. I was not quite two.

My dad was a very stoic person ordinarily. I only saw him cry on two occasions in my life: JFK's funeral, and the day that he got the telegram telling him that his mother had died. (He had not ever been able to go home to see her since emigrating to find work at age 24, thirty years before.)

 

[tedhowe]

My earliest memories all come from one week in the summer of 1972 - I was about 3 1/2 years old at the time, and we had a family trip to Walt Disney World.

I have five distinct memories from that trip:

(the first two are kind of general/vague
1) We drove down in my Dad's big (land yacht) 1973 Buick Electra 225. I remember sitting in the front seat between my Mom and Dad and listening to Simon And Garfunkel on the 8-track player.

2) I remember playing in the kiddie pool of the Howard Johnson's with my father - in my memory there was a concrete bridge over the kiddie pool that seperated it from the main pool - but I'm not sure if that was real.

3) Once at Disney world I remember Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - interestingly, I didn't have distinct memories of this at first, but on my first return trip do Disney World 15 years later, I knew what was coming around each bend and through each set of doors on the ride - very strange feeling.

4) I remember NOT wanting to go on It's a Small World - I was tired of boat-type rides. Of course, I ended up loving the ride.

5) I distinctly remember playing on the beach of the Polynesian hotel with a small plastic Eeyore toy that had a squeaker in it. I got sand in it and the squeaker never worked again (kind of like Wheezy in Toy Story 2). I had that Eeyore until I went off to college.

With this big family trip as my earliest memory - is it any wonder I'm such a Disney nut?

 

[Sky Blue Pink]

It was my 3rd birthday. My present was wrapped in a brown paper bag. It was a teddy bear! It was love at first sight. At first I named him Butterscotch, because that's what color he was. But I didn't think it really fit him, so I changed his name to Willie. Willie was my best friend for many, many years. His eyes fell out, and all his fur was rubbed off, like the Velveteen Rabbit. Then I stopped playing with him for a few years, and the next time I tried to find him, I found out my mother had thrown him out.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

I can remember my sister and I getting a new bedroom set - it was my first "big" bed (a twin). I must have been 2 1/2 or 3. I can remember getting up early and watching the moon landing with my dad in 1969 - I was 3 at the time. My dad helped do the testing on all of the Saturn rockets.

 

[Narnian_Princess]

I remember my third birthday because we had a cake with bear-shaped sprinkles on it in the shape of a '3'. I remember mom asking me what shape that was, and I remember that we really liked the bears and my brother (I'm a twin) kept saying "Bear. Bear," because he wanted more bears. :

 

[ShuisFan584]

I'm pretty sure my earliest is the time I brought my teddy bear to preschool and my mom forgot to take him home. I would bring him everyday with me, and when my mom would leave, she would take him. But one day, she left without taking him. And I cried - practically all day! My teachers kept telling me I could put him in the cubby hole, but I just cried. I really have no idea how that was worthy of crying, but apparently it was.

 

[sau418]

Great topic!

My earliest memory was my 4th birthday, and it was at Fort Wilderness Campground. I was playing with a cool Goofy figurine that he was riding on a tricycle and his legs were flexible and would move when he peddled, when my brother yelled at me and said the reason we were not at the Magic Kingdom was because I was not napping.

I loved that Goofy!!

During that same trip I remember being at Kennedy Space Center.

 

[themilesfamily]

Around 2 or 3 -- we were on vacation. I was on a swingset and my dad was pushing me. Every time he tried to walk away I'd say, "Push me again!" I remember laughing and it was very sunny. When he left to go swimming, I remember my mother coming outside to point out my dad swimming in the lake.

I remember the place being called Cranberry Island in Wisconsin. We were staying in a cottage.

 

[kilee]

My clearest memories would be when I was 3-4 yrs old. I have some vague ones before that but I don't truly know if they are from photographs I've seen or if I really remember them.

I remember right before my 4th birthday finding a kitchen set I wanted in her closet and telling my mom I seen it, and then NOT getting it and feeling sad.

I do though distinctly remember just turning 4 yrs old and walking out into the living room Christmas Eve night to find my parents assembling gifts to put under the tree.

The other most vivid memory I have like it was yesterday though was also when I was 4 yrs old. I remember going to the hospital to see my mom and my new baby sister w/ my aunt, uncle, and dad. I remember when they told me it was time to go home I sobbed hysterically. I wanted my mommy to come w/ me and for her to leave the baby there. I remember I was taken to McDonalds (a rare treat) and sobbed the whole time there. I remember going back to my aunts house and my uncle letting me play w/ these cars he kept on a shelf, that were collectibles. I was never allowed to play w/ them and always wanted to. I remember that he let me then, and I remember I finally stopped crying.

I also remember the same uncle always telling me to be careful because "nieces don't come a dime a dozen" and he died when I was young. So that has to be an early memory too.

 

[janey99]

I was about 4 and in Pre-K. I was running back and forth through the classroom, which was actually two rooms with a wide doorway in between, and one of the teachers grabbed me by the arm as I ran by and I got yanked on my *ss like a dog getting to the end of its leash. She yelled "Stop Running!" I remember she hurt my arm and I was crying and mad because other girls were doing it too, and she only grabbed me. I remember I was wearing a Snoopy A-line jumper that was navy blue with a paisley shirt underneath.

I still also remember her face vividly, and her name - Mrs. Bruitt <<shudder>>

In this day and age, she would probably lose her job for something like that.

Jane