What do you remember in the first 5 years of your life?

Their is a theory that when a human roughly approaches 5 years old the brain "reboots" and all long term memory is lost but functions are retained (walking, talking, etc...)

What is the earliest childhood memory that you can recall and how old were you?

My dad died a few months after I turned 5, but I do have a few memories of him.  So I guess I was around ~3-4

Riding on a forklift with him in the business he owned.... going to a movie "All Dogs go to Heaven"....  him picking me up from the pre-school I was leaving because Memphis was starting to get a little bad.

ETA:  I also vividly remember the day my mother told me that my dad died.  Every detail of it.

Walking up to a table that was at head height, so by my calculations I must have been about two.

I think I crapped in the bathtub once

My Fathers  Burial... The 21 Salute..

I wish I had more memories from that age. My grandpa passed when I was 3 and from the pics and family stories he was my best friend.

Wearing shorts, a cowboy hat, boots and no shirt while riding on a hay wagon.  I was probably 4.  I remember thinking I was the biggest cowboy in the hayfield.

2 1/2 - breaking my leg in our living room, wrapped too tight to move in a blanket in the back seat of a car, and then waking up in the hospital bed in traction with a nurse giving me a shot. Lots of memories after that.

I remember a lot of things from that age, especially reversing my tricycle into a ditch...

Probably 4 or so I vaguely remember walking across the front yard of my grandfathers farm house with grampa.  He died when I was 5 I think.

I remember having one of those pedal pusher sit in sheet metal cars.  I studied the pedal mechanism for a while and decided it ought to work fine upside down.  There are a lot of sharp edges on the underside of those things, I cut the shit out of my leg with the first crank.

I got up one morning and was scared shitless, I was covered with little red dots from head to toe.  I recall running down the hallway to mom and dads room. Measles I think.

For me I remember crawling on the beige carpet.

Learning to walk?... No clue when that occurred.

My sister dumping a shopping cart over on me when I was 2.  The grocery store manager driving my mom and I to the hospital in his pickup.  The hospital waiting room.

Don't actually remember them sewing my bottom lip back into one piece, but I still have the scar from it.

Nothing.


Heck, most of my childhood I remember that I did something, but very rarely remember details about it or anything like that. I'd say it's that way from about 8th grade and younger.

I have a random flash of what I believe to be a hospital waiting room (blinds over a line of windows, plain beige walls) . I had to have a minor surgery when I was two years old. Possibly related.

I can remember asking my mom to remove all of the toppings off of a piece of pizza at my aunt and uncle's house. Photos from that day put me at age three.

I remember some stuff from preschool when I would have been 3-4.

I remember my first boner. It happened during a Heather Locklear scene in the TV series T.J. Hooker. I saw her wearing something rather sexy. Then I started feeling all excited in my dangly bits. I didn't really understand what was happening of course, as I would have only been about 5 years old at the time. But I still figured the gorgeous Heather Locklear had been responsible for making my wee wee stiffen up. And I also realized I didn't mind the whole sensation. Thinking back on that experience, I am puzzled why a 5 year old that had no clue about things of a sexual nature could be so easily turned on sexually. I guess we just come pre-programmed to react to certain stimuli and it makes no difference if you are 5 or 50. If you see something you like, your sticker is gonna simply peck up.

I was 4 when we got a rare good snow in Waco. Like 2 or 3 inches.

I remember being bundled up like Ralphie's little brother and running back and forth through the house from the front yard to the back yard.

That would have been 1967 or 68.

When our mom was in the nursing home in '05 this topic came up for some reason. I mentioned that memory and Momma tried to call bullshit on me. She was cracking up, said no way.  

Heck yeah I remembered that. Told her she made us hot chocolate once we got worn out.

I remember being filmed by my mom and grandma in my playpen. My mom says that would've been when I was around 2 or 3. I've never seen the film (it's all Super-8 and my parents have no player for it) so I know it isn't from having watched it.

My other earliest memory is from when my best childhood friends first visited after moving in across the street. That was when I was 3. We were "scooting" down the carpeted stairs on our butts. At the end of the stairwell was a large full-height window. My feet caught on the stairs as I was sliding down, I rolled forward and slammed my chin into the window sill, putting my bottom teeth through my upper lip.

My grandpa died from leukemia when I was 4. I remember being with him in his bed with my cousin while he was in home care and was on oxygen. I remember my cousin playing with grandpa's oxygen lines, for some reason it made me mad and I hit him. Grandpa died not long after. That's my only memory I have of him.

I have some scattered memories from the 5ish range but those are the earliest ones I really remember.

My dad's father died when he was five and he has no memory of him whatsoever, but he remembers vividly how life was when his dad died. I always thought that was horrible. My dad's family was very devout Catholic and he said at five years old he knew there was no God, he has been very bitter about it his whole life.

I crossed the Atlantic on a US military transport ship at 4 y/o, my sister had her 3rd birthday on board during the crossing. I remember plenty from that trip. Prior to that I remember a lot of my life, my grandparents, significant events, definitely before the age of 4. I tell my mother the things I remember and she is amazed. This was a long time ago, I am 55.

Actually quite a bit. My dad building his garage when I was 3 or 4. I also remember when he got his backhoe and riding in the cab.

The family dog stands out also.

2ish, wearing diapers, old neighbor lady, old neighbor man who would swing on the porch and sitting with him.  Parents divorced at 3 and I can remember them together. Moved out of our house at the same time and can remember different rooms in the house, my bedroom, where furniture was, etc. a lot really. Much more so than many people I have talked too.

This.

I remember very little of my grand dad, but, I do remember pulling up lawn chairs and watching the horses at our farm.

He was drinking something (from the stories I heard, scotch). And smoking a cigar..

Apparently we were very close. I can remember his face, but that's about it.

He died when I was 5.

My first life memory I was hovering above the place I grew up and saw my mom and dad getting in a red lumina we had. Years later when I was 10 I found a blank VHS. I piped it in and there was video of my mom and dad wearing the same clothes talking me as and infant to San Antonio. I first memory of life was an outer body experience of a trip that occured when I was 2

I remember laying in the crib looking up at my mom. I don't know how old I was exactly, but I was able to describe the hair style that she had. I asked her about it and she was able to put a time frame on it. (Apparently she had that hair cut for a very brief period of time, or some shit) She said it wasn't possible for anyone to remember things from that early of an age. She's wrong, because I can still remember it clearly. I was less than 2 years old. She is still convinced that I am fabricating memories based on photographs and some psychological flaw, or some shit. These photographs do not exist, it's memory.

My parents moved from that apartment when I was 3 years old and I can remember the lay out of the apartment and the positions of all of the pieces of furniture. Mom still doesn't believe it. I use those memories as a chance to mess with her mind every now and then. She is still convinced that I am basing my memories off of photographs of the apartment that do not exist. Denial is strange.

Memories are one thing I have always been good at. I have always been a good test taker. Now drunken memories are a real challenge. I have to hit a level of buzz that was close to what I was at when the memory was first formed. When that criterion is established the whole memory hits like a flood. I will remember things that I didn't think my brain would even commit to memory.

I remember teaching my self how to read. For what ever reason, the teacher I had at the time wasn't helping very much. It just didn't make sense. I learned the letters and their sounds from school, but not much more. I used to find stuff around the house that had text on it and ask my parents what it said. They would read it to me, and I tried to figure out how things worked. Eventually, I was successful enough to read street signs and things like that. I never really learned how to read in school, in the strictest sense of the phrase. I must have been near kindergarten age, I guess.

I remember sitting on my grandpa's lap. He died somewhere between my second and third birthday. I wish I would have had the chance to meet him. He was a hardcore old world war two vetran. He was tough as iron. Some of the stories I have heard are just... wow. Ya know?

http://youtu.be/d3P03B_rD5Y

I always used to joke with my nan about her trying to suffocate me with a bag when she used to push me in my pram as a baby.  I always remember a clear plastic thing coming over my head, but it was just the clear cover that goes over a baby stroller when it rains.

I must have been 1-2 as I don't think 3-4 year olds still ride in strollers.

I honestly can't remember anything prior to first grade. Any story I have earlier than that, I just trust my parents are telling me the truth. I don't have any real solid memories I actually know happened until about 3rd grade.

I've been told I'm probably suppressing some dark memories, but I really have no idea.

I grew up with no grandpa, and one of my grandmas didn't really care for me at all. I was always jealous of other kids that had a grandpa and got to do the typical grandpa stuff. My worst fear is that my dad will die before my son knows his grampy. My dad was my hero growing up and I want him to be my son's hero too.

I also vaguely recall the first time I "stole" something. My dad has filled me in on the rest of the story over the years. We went into a hardware store that sold all sorts of stuff, and I got my hands on some small toy that I liked and put it in my pocket. When we got back to dad's truck, I took it out and started playing with it, and he asked me where I got it. We went back into the store so I could return it to the cashier.. Instead of taking it as a life lesson, the cashier wanted to call the police. My dad couldn't talk him down from it, and ended up having to leave the store with me before he called the cops on a young child.

The Seattle World's Fair.  I just turned 3.  

There was a lot of people and that scared me and made it hard to have fun.  

I didn't get to go up in the Space Needle or on the Monorail.

I picked out a little Space Needle Bell.  

I saw a mannequin in a space suite inside a Mercury capsule and thought the guy might be alive and just holding very still.  

Leaving town my brother the boy genius at 5 commented that the bridge was floating.  I could tell my dad didn't really know, but I knew my brother was always right, and I thought it was cool, a floating bridge.  

People don't believe that I really remember this since I was just barely 3.  


I also remember the Kennedy assassination in '63.  I was 4.  remember looking up at this pink plastic radio my mom had in the kitchen, and remembering how serious my mom was when she heard the news.  All the grown -ups acted real serious about it.  

While I don't recall getting circumcised shortly after I was born, I vaguely remember not being able to walk for a year afterwards....

Earliest memory is of pre-K.  I was told I was going to learn a lot.  We went into a cafeteria-type place and drew pictures.  I was a little miffed that I wasn't learning anything as I was promised, and I thought it was a waste of time.

I guess I've been a stick in the mud since I was a kid.  

Two memories of my maternal grandfather. He died the day before my second birthday.
ETA: one of him throwing me up in the air and catching me and the other being on a jobsite with him (he owned a construction company)

I remember being about 3 and I was surfing some ftp sites, then some guy would come along and drop a link with no explanation and I would get really pissed



 

I remember tons of shit from age 0-5.

Maybe my brain never rebooted. That could possibly explain its slow performance.

My brother and sort-of cousin managed to set the woods on fire in front of my uncle's house one time, I'm not sure when but I would have been very young at the time. I remember fire engines and firefighters on the road in front of the house.

I remember holding my sister shortly after coming home from the hospital. She is three years and four days younger than me.



I have some memories of gardening with my grandmother, but I'm not sure if that was prior to my third birthday or not.

I remember when they took my pacifier from me..I remember laying in bed without it..

I can remember back to 3 years old or so, for sure.   Well enough that I was able to drive around a town I hadn't seen in 30 years and find my old home.

The memories are pretty normal.   I can think back and recognize things going on that I was clueless about at the time, and I can clearly trace my thought process on various things.

By the time I was 5 I could already read.    They're lucky I was a good kid, because I don't think many people realize how much trouble a literate 5 year old could get into.  


I think it has always bothered me that I my memories cut off at a certain point.  It's just weird.   Like I just popped out of thin air or something.   For a 3 year old I seemed to have a pretty solid grasp of my everyday environment.

Nothing before kindergarten. Some random memories that might be before kindergarten, but I dont really know when they were made, could have been older than 5.

I was repeatedly beaten at a daycare as a toddler, and I vividly remember at least one of the incidents. My mother said I would start crying and then screaming when she would drop me off. I apparently lacked the language skills to explain what was happening to me. Fortunately, one of the beatings left some marks and my mother, who had started looking very carefully, noticed them. She quit her job the next day so I wouldn't have to go back.

I also clearly remember staying at my great grandparents' house for Christmas with my mom, dad and sister. I woke up early and started playing with my Weeble Wobble pirate ship and some other stuff Santa left unwrapped. I also remember taking swimming lessons. My parents tell me both those memories were from when I was four.

I have a few memories of things I did before I was 5.



The oldest... would probably be my Aunt holding me (I had to be no older than 1.5) before my mom and dad divorced. She was letting me chew on a cookie.



The next would be when my mom had an apartment. I remember... going to the bathroom in my pants while staring out the window. At the same apartment I thought it would be an amazing idea to build a bridge out of a clipboard between the couch and the coffee table. I still have a nice scar on my upper lip from when the feat of engineering buckled.



I remember being at my grandmothers apartment, and I would go to her room which overlooked the town and I would... well... go to the bathroom in my pants while enjoying the view. Apparently, I did it every other time I was there. (I was around 2 or 3 around that time.)



I remember getting into an argument with the lady at my daycare when I was about 3 or 4. She put me in a high chair in the kitchen because I kissed a girl in a playhouse. I remember her telling me that she was going to call my dad (Who drove trucks for Halliburton) and I replied with something along the lines of "Good luck getting a hold of him. He only has a beeper."



I remember I had a Jake the Snake action figure, and he had the spring loaded arm that would punch. I played with him at my Mom's job due to the daycare no longer wanting me after my war of words at 3 with the daycare lady. (I was a pretty good kid, I think I surprised everyone with my hatred for that lady.)



I remember at the age of four, I just got a Terminator 2 action figure, the T-1000. I was so damn proud of that thing. Then we had a yard sale, and my sister wanted an electronic drum set. She sold the fucking toy to some kid for 50 cents.



I remember yelling at the kid, who assured me he had bought it from my sister. I also remember my sister and babysitter ganging up on me and they threw my matchbox car out the window. When it didn't break from the fall, the 300lb babysitter went out and stomped the fucking thing.



I remember sneaking to the fridge and eating sticks of butter and drinking the lemon juice out of the little yellow bottle and the UPS who was named Sammy bringing me a package once.



I think I remember too much.

I remember one vivid memory of myself walking outside on a summer day when I about three or four years old. I also can vaguely remember my grandfathers funeral when I was four. I don't remember much else from before then except a few fuzzy memories.
When I was 5, my family took a two week road trip across the country that I have many vivid memories of. I even remember a terrible headache I got on that trip while riding in the car and that was in 1985, lol.

My earliest memory is at age 4 spinning a Bradley.

I remember bits and pieces.





I remember crying at a window watching my Mom walk away and turning around to see my aunt telling me it was "ok". The weird thing is that I had to have been maybe 2 years old b/c I remember when I turned around my aunt was breast feeding my cousin who is a year younger than me. I always figured it was a weird dream I somehow thought was a real memory until I told my mom about it and she remembered the day. She told me it was her first day back to work since I had been born and remembers me standing at the window crying.  
I remember climbing up on a chair and getting a black magic marker. I then took the marker and started to draw all over myself. Last thing I remember was my Grandpa's voice yelling "Kidney!".  I asked my mom about it and she said I was around 4 b/c my older siblings and parents left me home while they went to Disney World and b/c Grandma got mad at Grandpa for not watching me.





I don't have any idea how old I was, but I remember sitting on the hood of my Dad's truck watching a demo crew tear down an old fire house.  My memory is that my Dad looked over at me and asked if I wanted to give the guys working some donuts. I remember saying "no" and he smiled and laughed.





They sound like long memories, but to me are just barely 2 second blips of memory.
 

i remember sliding down a slide in a park in germany at 2 or so and sticking my finger in a running box fan at 2 and a half or so. almost lost that bad boy

I started kindergarten when I was four.  I remember a lot of things associated with kindergarten, including the part of the testing I had to take prior to them admitting me (they usually didn't allow children under five).  I also remember bits of a trip to my aunt's house in Colorado.  My mother says that I was two, at the time, but I may have been three, as she is bad with dates.  Some might say that I am merely forming false memories based on stories I have heard, but the things that I remembered were too obscure.

So, I have some faint memories of very specific things from about when I was two, and a fairly strong memory of things in general from about the age of four.

I have many early memories

Various soap operas my mom would watch
Fishing shows (I guess I would ask to watch them)
Getting trapped in a bathroom because I pulled a hand drying towel that my dad kept on the door knob
My dad knocking back beer bottles (I still enjoy watching this)
Zoo trips with my parents
Mom trying to make me eat fruits and vegetables (still hate these)
People smoking in the mall (I was intrigued by pipes) which probably led to my current collection
Dad taking me to the barber for a haircut and the barber giving me bubblegum after the haircut

I'm sure I'm missing a few. Wish I could go back to the early 80's.

Getting my first haircut. Fucking barber expected me to hold still for a lousy green lollipop!
First day at school (I started kindergarten at 4). I grabbed both sides of the doorframe and they couldn't get me to go in.
First trip to Disneyland. The operator at the submarine ride made a joke about feeding me to the sharks and I remember that he was standing between me and the edge of the dock and making some comment about pushing him in.
Disassembling my tricycle in the living room and getting oil on the carpet.
Standing on my couch, looking out our front window during the Northeast Blackout of 1965.

Things I don't remember but was told about include getting a scissor and "evening off" the tinsel on the Christmas tree (OCD much?) and attempting to drink an entire bottle of Paregoric (Wiki it if you don't know what it is) but apparently most of it ran down my bib.


I'm sure there were other things if I thought about it. Yeah, you could say that I was a handful.

I have a ton of memories in that age range. Seeing twins for the first time before I was even 1, my first set of reoccurring dreams, having my mom take me to preschool one day and nobody was there because it was a day off (other kids were there too, was kind of a weird experience), teaching myself to read in kindergarten (it was a book about Dinosaurs), taking a bath with this kid, having a water war with him, and accidentally peeing in his mouth, seeing Mouse Trap for the first time, playing the infamous Bible Adventures game that the same friend of mine, getting a coke from an old lady, torturing my poor cocker spaniel Rose, having a dream that I pooped in the tub, playing TMNT with my dad, taking a walk with my dad in this really awesome backyard area, walking to the library (it was snowing) and catching the ass end of one of he old Dr. Seuss cartoons, being with my mom while she worked in this crystal shop at the PX, having to play another bowling match because I tossed the ball when I wasn't supposed to... lots of random shit like that pops in my head as I think about that time.

I remember being breast fed. I remember crying in my crib in pain. I remember getting surgeries as an infant. I specifically remember being put under when I was 2 and I remember waking up during surgery and having to be put to sleep again.

I vaguely remember my grandfather who died when I was 4.  I also remember being in an oxygen tent when I had pneumonia at age 2.

The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it.