Earliest Memory

[bobtheenchantedone]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/73384/

I must have been a baby, because I was being carried in one of those baby car seats/carriers - I remember that I wasn't quite sitting up or lying down, plus whatever I was being carried in was buckled into the car by my father. My parents didn't believe that that was my first memory until I described the car. They had gotten rid of that car when I was about one or two.

[Portia]

Tootles's answer alarmed me.

When I was about 3, I remember riding my trike with my dad at sunset.

I also remember my BFF at the Presbyterian preschool giving me a Dalmatian stuffed animal. (I named it Wicked.)

[Portia]

And my sister has very vivid memories from age 2 and earlier. She remembers being lifted to see my great-grandma's body at the funeral, in her "pretty pink bed," in her words. She was 2.

[Genuine Article]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/73376/
I have a handful of memories from kindergarten, but nothing much from before that. Mostly I worry that anything I think I remember from when I was a toddler is actually just me reliving home movies I've seen. Also, sometimes I have no way of knowing what order my memories happened in. Something I think could be from when I was 3 could actually be from when I was six because back then I didn't mark time by knowing what year it was.

[S.A.M.]

My earliest memory (about 4) is driving down a hill at night to our little community. The lights were absolutely beautiful to me. I was in the front passenger seat, no seat belt or car seat. Freedom!

[wryness]

I think I remember having my diaper changed when I was somewhere between 1-3 years old. Problem is, I could also be remembering watching someone change my little sister's diaper, and just switching it from 3rd- to 1st-person. Memory is a fickle mistress.

[Katya]

I remember my dad's college graduation when I was 18 months old. (He had a really cool hat and I wanted to wear it!)

[NerdGirl]

My earliest memory is being sealed to my parents when I was about 18 months old. I don't remember a lot of details or anything, I just remember them bringing me into a room with lots of mirrors and my parents were there and I was expecting there to be seals (like the kind that live in the ocean) but I didn't see any. And then some guy said a prayer. And I remember liking my dress because it had a lot of ribbons hanging off the front of it.

[Katya]

. . . I was expecting there to be seals (like the kind that live in the ocean) . . .

That's a new temple rumor we should totally start.

[Imogen]

Mine is from when I was 2ish. I had pierced ears, but one of the earrings cause an infection in my ear, then the front of the earring fell off, and the post got stuck in my swollen earlobe. I had to go to the ER because no one could even look at my ear with me screaming in pain. I vividly remember the doctor walking in, yanking the post from my ear lobe, and walking back out without a word.

TRAUMATIZING!

[Yarjka]

I remember nothing from before I was 5 years old. I'm like Peter Pan in Hook ("There's nothing before that.").

Well, that's not true - I remember a bat that flew into our house and got caught in the curtains. Trouble is, my mom assures me that that incident occurred before I was born and that it was my brother who saw the bat. I was just told the story from a young age and I must have internalized it and put myself in my brother's place. It's like a real memory for me, only I know it's not true.

[Tally M.]

I know the feeling. I grew up thinking I had thrown up on a ride at Disney World. Apparently that never happened.

[vorpal blade]

I have a lot of memories of when I lived in Windham, Ohio. We move from there when I was three years old, so I know I was no older than that. My earliest recollection was the birthday celebration for my 2nd birthday. What I directly remember is something that happened during my third birthday and they told me that I had done the same thing on my 2nd birthday. Suddenly I remembered doing it on my 2nd birthday. I don't think anyone believed me that I could actually remember my 2nd birthday. And, perhaps, I really didn't, but I thought I could on my 3rd birthday.

[Genuine Article]

Mine is from when I was 2ish. I had pierced ears, but one of the earrings cause an infection in my ear, then the front of the earring fell off, and the post got stuck in my swollen earlobe. I had to go to the ER because no one could even look at my ear with me screaming in pain. I vividly remember the doctor walking in, yanking the post from my ear lobe, and walking back out without a word.

TRAUMATIZING!

When my 3rd sister got her ears pierced she had an allergic reaction to the nickel in the earrings and her ear got all swollen and my parents had to take her to the hospital to have the earring pulled out. When the same thing happened to my 4th sister a few years later my dad said no way was he paying a doctor $60 to pull out an earring when he could do the same thing at home with a pair of needle-nosed pliers for free. So he did it himself, which was probably a little traumatizing for my 4th sister, but he did exactly what the doctor would have done anyway.

[Digit]

I wonder if a local analgesic like Anbesol or Cepacol, whose key ingredients include benzocaine, are any good at numbing pain at non-oral sites on the skin. I remember once preparing to dig into a knuckle wart to get the seed out by getting the area nice and numb with a long sit of an ice cube on it.

[Imogen]

Mine is from when I was 2ish. I had pierced ears, but one of the earrings cause an infection in my ear, then the front of the earring fell off, and the post got stuck in my swollen earlobe. I had to go to the ER because no one could even look at my ear with me screaming in pain. I vividly remember the doctor walking in, yanking the post from my ear lobe, and walking back out without a word.

TRAUMATIZING!

When my 3rd sister got her ears pierced she had an allergic reaction to the nickel in the earrings and her ear got all swollen and my parents had to take her to the hospital to have the earring pulled out. When the same thing happened to my 4th sister a few years later my dad said no way was he paying a doctor $60 to pull out an earring when he could do the same thing at home with a pair of needle-nosed pliers for free. So he did it himself, which was probably a little traumatizing for my 4th sister, but he did exactly what the doctor would have done anyway.

I was staying with my grandmother, and I was her youngest grandchild/the baby girl. She was scared to touch me and wouldn't let anyone else either. Haha. I was so spoiled.