What is your earliest memory?

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My earliest verifiable memory was at age 3 (and I remember it like it was yesterday). However, I've had memories of sitting in a grass field and it being a mood so good I cannot put it into words. I recently found out that grass field is real and we lived next to it.. and moved when I was 11 months old.

As a child, I also had memories of living another life in the 60's or 70's. Unfortunately it was too vague to verify it but it certainly felt very real. Either way, that's a discussion for another day.

Iguess I'm a bit weird. When my language kicked in, so did my memories. It makes sense because I think exclusively in words.

My earliest memory is of me being tossed in the air by my dad (for fun). I was wearing yellow corderouy overalls with some sort of animal embroidered on them. I want to say it was a green elephant. Anyway I was saying "Again! Again!"

I had lots of ear infections as a kid and recall putting together my first real sentance, "Head hurt" By the time I said it, at somewhere between 12 and 18 months, I could already *think* in way way more words than I could say so I actually recall having a.. debate of sorts with myself over trying to say it because I was worried it wouldn't be understood. "Say to mommy. Head hurt. Can't. Head hurt, tell mommy. No, can't. DO! DO!! DO!! ! HURT!" I recall forming the words to be a HUGE effort that evoked a bit of crying because I had never said either word before.... Is this messed up? I dunno. I guess it seems weird to me. I keep it in mind though when dealing with my kids... there may be more gears turning in there than we are aware!

MEmories from this time period are VERY spotty. But they are there.

How do people assign a date or age to their earliest memories? I mean you wouldn't usually have looked at the calendar at the time, would you?

My earliest memory is of looking at hangers on the bunk bed I shared with my brother. I must have been between the ages of three and four, because when I was four we moved and I had my own room, and before the age of three I was in a cot.

A fairly unremarkable memory.

I actually did look at a calendar. We had a Peanuts calendar when I was 2 and I remember holding onto the stair railing at my apartments and singing "Hang on, Snoopy!" It was 1969, and the song "Hang On, Sloopy" was on the radio a lot. A few years later, I found the calendar in my mom's closet.

Ah, popular music.....that's a useful clock, though sometimes it only sets the earliest date, as sometimes they'll play a record well after its first release. But finding the actual calendar clinches it.

In my case I can do it roughly for when I wasn't walking, but I was talking, any memory where this is the case I have to be aged between 18 months and about 3.5.

So any memory involving a pushchair has to be this age, I know my Mum abandoned using the pushchair as soon as she could because both her and I hated it (instead we walked everywhere - sometimes very slowly - my Mum could be very patient).

A few things are documented e.g. photos, written sources or clearly related to life events I can put a particular time on. So I have memories of doing a 10 mile sponsored walk at age 5 and being in the local paper, cos I completed it at such a young age (see all that walking paid off). I know this was age 5 because it was just before I changed school at 6. Memory images are linked to facts from the time a bit like a timeline with pictures. My memory can be a bit card index like...

If there is not some clear indicator like this I have much more difficult for me to be precise about the date of the memory (that goes for much more recent memories too, my memory to this day remains vivid but patchy).

I was about 2 years old and I got lost in a grocery store. I walked up to somebody who worked there and told them that I was lost. We walked around the store looking for my mum until I pointed her out.

Interesting.......I can remember, as a walking child, seeing the old pram, being told it used to be "mine," and wishing I could still remember being in there and enjoying the ride. So even as a small child, I seem to have had no memory of my pre-walking days.

I asked my mom about the yellow overalls and she didn't remember them. Upon looking through a photoalbum I found a pic of me wearing the overalls, it was dated 1979, and I appear to be about a year old in the pic. For the other "head hurt" memory I asked my mom (when she was alive) and she remembered the event because it WAS the first time I really put two words together. So she recalled it and told me she thought I was 12- 18 months old, but couldn't remember exactly.

I was able to verify the memory by knowing the city I lived in had two of a certain store. The second location opened in early 1987 and my memory was shopping with my Mother and Aunt at the first location while the second one was under construction. Therefore, the latest this memory could have been would be 1986 when I was 3. Again, the detail of this memory is incredibly accurate: right down to the color of the store's doorknobs which I recently verified. I have other memories that are likely earlier but as you said I didn't exactly carry around a calendar with my baby bottle!

My earliest memory was probably when I was the age of 1 or 2, with my father sleeping on the couch and the TV was on. He had a beer can on the table, because he drank a lot. I remember myself taking a sip from the beer and I rather liked it. My mother was probably in the kitchen by then, but when she walked inside the livingroom, spotting my and my father, she chewed him out for being irresponsible.

My first memory was of my mom asking me how old I was today and I said 3. I have pretty clear memories from then on. I remember our house being built very vividly. I was 4 at the time.

I was 3yrs old sorting/playing my mom's records and 8 tracks the one's I wasn't listening to I
used to make buildings and ramps for my hot wheels cars.

I remember laying in my crib and listening to noises that sounded kind of eerie and mysterious and came at intervals. All of my early childhood memories before age 2 or so seemed to have a mysterious surreal quality.

My family moved around a lot when I was small, so I am able to date my early memories by where I was or what people were there.