Which is your oldest childhood memory?

I don't know how many of us can remember events when we were about 3 years old. To many of us it does not stick long in memories and the events pass off just for the moment. But somehow - I don't know if it a common, no-wonder phenomenon - some memories have stuck in my mind, clearly impressed. I can still recall them with great ease, a if it happened just recently, very freshly.

Probably when I was about 2 1/2 or 3, our familly had been visiting a pilgrimage centre and I can still picture in my mind two incidents: one was the sight of the idol of the God and the second one, a monkey snatching a little biscuit from my little hand after jumping on my stomach as I was standing there watching the God's idol from a distance. I had screamed when that happened.

Around that or a little bit younger in age, I remember throwing twice, my little slippers, once out of a moving train and once out of a moving van. I know not the reason for this silly act and I must have been sitting on someone's lap on both occasions.

I remember one or two of the days when my mother used to leave me for the kindergarten school. There, I remember we kids sitting under the tree, arranging beads into a wooden block in the shape of the letters of the alphabet. I now live close to that school - where I was there for just a short period.

Then in another KG school, I remember my grandmother leaving me at school in a horse cart. There was a young girl sitting (on the floor) next to me crying for something! That girl in fact works in the same campus where I'm now! They also lived close to our house and so I was able to carry that memory, though there too it was a short stay for me as I moved over to the convent for my class 1.

I remember going with my aunt to get introduced to the convent staff and later my first day at school there. I can still picture the teacher lovingly inviting me "come, good boy, come". Again, my aunt had taken me there as she knew some English (my mother could not speak English).

Like this there are so many memories... I wonder if others too can recall from such a young age.

I don't know how old I was when this happened, but I'm guessing 3 or 4. I was with my mother and she had hold of my hand, and we were walking along a street of the little town my family lived in. I thought to myself, "I don't need to see" and closed my eyes. For quite a while I was walking along with my eyes shut, being led by mother, until she realized what I was doing. Very annoyed, she shook my arm and shouted, "Open your eyes and look where you're going!"

This is quite different. I must of been around 3. I remember being sick one night and dad got up and took me to the bathroom. He said drink warm water and it will help you throw up so you feel better. It did and I still do it to this day.

Dinu, those are wonderful memories, and so many of them! Wonderful!!

I was two. Our house was in town and our barn across the road was in the country. I remember when we got the baby chicks and walking across the road with Mom to feed the chickens when they were grown..

I took this picture last month. Even tho the chicken house is now a garage, we still call it that. Dad put a plywood floor in the haymow and we roller skated up there.

I don't remember exactly how old I was, but I was less than 5. We had this dear sweet couple that lived next door to us that didn't have any children, so they sort of adopted my sister and me. I remember she had these ceramic ducks in her front yard ... Mamma duck and baby ducks in a row. I was fascinated by them. She also had the most gorgeous flower garden. I used to play in it. One day I caught a bumble bee in a jar instead of a butterfly. I was terrified by it. I also remember having one of those little teddy bears with the wind up keys in the back that plays a little tune ... I think it played "Twinkle twinkle little star". I turned it too tight, and I remember running next door crying to see if Mr. Webb could fix it. LOL

Aawww, did he?

I wish I could remember back further than when I was 5 years old, but I just can't. My earliest memory of anything, is the night before I started my first day of kindergarten. My oldest sister (who is 9 years older than I am ) (I think...LOL ) told me, "Tomorrow you are going to start going to SCHOOL with the rest of us...but only for 1/2 a day to start".

I knew they left in the morning, all wearing the same clothes and carrying their lunch in these square metal boxes with pictures on them, so I asked if I was going to get one of those boxes too, and she said no, not until next year...so I thought I was being gypped !!!

The first day of school was phenomenol....except for the lady in the long black dress and a hood on her face, which I found "odd", but she was very sweet and kind. There were magical things everywhere in the classroom...fish in bowls, birds in cages, plants and flowers in the windows, and a PIANO...which I had never seen. LOL

Some kids were crying for their mother's, but I couldn't figure out why...I thought it was the COOLEST place I had ever seen !

We made these chains out of strips of different colored paper glued into loops and wore them around our necks, sang songs, got to eat cookies, and rode on this thing called a merry-go round !

Then, we had to lie down on these little mats and take a nap...which killed all the fun, instantly !

Little did I know that this would be the only year it would be all "fun and games "!

Just before I turned 4 my parents took me and my baby sister with them to visit at an elder care facility. I remember thinking it was like going to see a house full of Grandmothers and grandfathers. They all wanted to tell me stories and give me candy. My mother said no to the candy but some of them gave me some anyway when she wasn't looking :~) After that I always got excited when it was visiting day. After all, what kid could be happier than one who got to see rooms filled with grandparents!

I loved the attention and was always ready to sing them a song or listen to their wonderful stories. But they had to start by saying "Once upon a time" or I would correct them.

Of course, it was inevitable that one of these "Grandparents" would pass away so on one visit I noticed that "Grammy Ellis" was not sitting in her favorite spot. When I asked for her they said she was very very sick and couldn't come down to visit.

I stamped my feet and demanded to go see her. Surprisingly, my father took me to her room. I have never forgotten seeing her there. She was still conscious and smiled weakly at me. I remember climbing up on a chair next to her bed and holding her hand. After a few minutes her hand went slack and she was gone. I looked at dad and told him that Grammy was far away now but she would take care of Arthur for me. Arthur was my pet rabbit who had died about a week earlier.

It is strange, I can remember that like it was yesterday but I don't remember the funeral although my parents tell me I sang her favorite song there because she had asked me to and that I stood facing her in her open coffin to sing it to her with my back to the people in the seats. Memories are odd. Even with them telling me about it I just cannot remember that part. But I remember the peaceful look on her face as she drifted away.

Well let's see..was probably around 5 and the thing that sticks in my mind is as follows:

Grandma and Grandpa raised me as parents work on the Great Lake Freighters...so I had them, uncles/aunts and ...because my grandparents were in their 50's many of our activities revolved around that age group and they enjoyed spoiling me...

Grandfather worked for a lumber yard just down the street from our home...I can remember so clearly that when I got into mischief I would walk down to the end of the street where there was a large gate and at 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm a guard would open it and the worken would come home..so there I'd be 'teary' eyed, waiting for grandpa so I could tell him how mean 'grandma' was to me..(now if you knew my grandmother, she didn't have a mean bone in her body and she lived to be 99 and my most cherished love) but, remember I was 5..so I'll tell tales of wooo and grandpa would give her the dickens (orally...) and tell her his little angel didn't know how to be bad!!! hmmmmm

Maybe that's why I'm still a little brat!!!!! just joking girls/guys...

i was about 18 mos old when we moved to the first house i remember...my first memory is toddling up the driveway at the age in a red-striped shirt to the house with orange shutters
the next memory i was a little bit older and grabbed the "red" burner on the stove at my grandparents' house....my grandmother gave me a big bowl of ice to put my hand in
when i was about 4 i remember my brother and i were "fishing" for leaves using twigs that had bread bag twisties as hooks...we got upset and/or in trouble and decided we should run away and so off we went down the street with our fishing poles :-)
that may be about the only time we agreed on anything!

I'm not sure exactly how old I was when my earliest memory happened but it predates any other memory by several years. I must have been around 18 months to 2 years old. I remember it so clearly. It was early in the morning and I went outside to play in the yard. I headed down the steps toward the backyard and something caught my eye on a flower by the corner of the house. It was noisy and furry. I squatted down beside it and reached out to touch it with my index finger. The BUMBLEBEE !!! was not too happy about that and stung my finger! Of course I didn't know it was a bumblebee until after I quit screaming bloody murder and was able to tell my mother about petting the pretty bug. After that there is a gap for 2 or 3 years until I cracked my head open on the concrete while trying to stand on the handlebars of my tricycle.......but that's another story.

early_bloomer

Neat thread.

I distinctly remember being taken to a sitter when I was
very young, I had to be under five according to Mom.

I remember the sitter putting my medicine up high, way
up high on top of the cupboard. Still to this day the vision of
that medicine bottle way up there is so vivid. I can't quite place
her face, but I remember the woman was SO nice and quiet
and had a soothing voice.

:-) KM

I was still in diapers, so must have been around 18 mos. old.

I remember walking in our backyard on a summer day toward where our garden hose was. Our hose reel was an old Dodge rim (but a shiny one!)
I had to walk around a short fence and I recall rounding the fence and tugging on my plastic pants (I didn't know what they were called) and thinking 'These are soooooo hot! (Ü)

my oldest Childhood memory is only about 14 yrs old, i was around 2 back then. i was in the playroom at a hospital in Charleston, SC after having heart surgery. it wasn't open heart, but it lef 4 scars on my back one 11.5" long. i remember there was a carpeted step pyramid with toy dinosaurs on it in the middle of the room there were som huge fuzzy things that you could climb in and sit on, and i had my barney stuffed animal w/ me. i remember that i raised cane that he had to get a bracelet like i did when i was first put in the hospital... thats all i can recall.... its very vague to me. oh yeah i remember the bed and room i was in and family around me. now i cant remember any more

I had one "best buddy" who lived on the next street over from me. He and I were always hanging around - getting into trouble and such. I remember when we were both around 10 telling another little girl in the neighborhood that it was ok to run around naked. She did and we got into so much trouble! Surprisingly, my old buddy is now a world traveller - he's the drummer for the heavy metal band Judas Priest! I still have a picture of him when he was about 5 with a crew cut, a nice dress shirt and a little bow tie! BIG difference from how he looks now!

Some more memories spring up! An old widow of my grand uncle that was living with us once came shouting at me - probably a 2 year old! - with a firewood in hand and I was running. I later came to know that she had a bad temper. She died when I was about 3 and I remember the scene of her dead body, some ladies sitting around.

There was an old childless couple opposite our house. I used to go there often - it was common for children to be running out and into others' houses. They usually had that 'puffed rice' to give. When they gave me in a piece of paper, I used to blow it all around, making a mess. I think they were quite patient to handle that. I was not that mischievous in nature. But somehow I enjoyed that! I had nicknamed that old man with a prefix that meant 'puffed rice grandpa'.

Dinu...that made me laugh about the Puffed Rice grandpa !
We had an elderly neighbor lady down the street from us, who drank Egg Nog 12 months out of the year. She must have stockpiled it at Christmas so she'd have enough to last that long.

Us kids called her "Mrs. Nog".
She didn't mind, though.

Ah yes, those old timers usually never minded little kids calling nicknames. But there was one very elderly man [actually a distant relative] living opposite our house. As I told, we used to go to almost all houses in the street and one day, I remember him not happy when I adressed him as 'grandpa'! We kids were used to be taught to give respect to elders by calling 'uncle', 'aunt'...and so on. I remember that incident a bit vaguely.

There was one poor old man that came for alms very frequently to houses in the street. It was a tradition to help the needy - those who came to ask for alms were given a bit of something as an act of kindness. So we used to offer him a handful of rice. I had nicknamed him as "Rice grandpa". I also used to imitate his hunch back. He carried a thick walking stick for support. After rice was put by some elder into his cloth bag, I used to offer my bit of rice with my little fist. I must have been less than four then.

There was another washerman [Dhobi] that came to collect clothes for washing, starching and and ironing. His name was "Papaiah". Old man. He came with a white bedsheet that was tied up in such a way that clothes were put in and a knot was tied from the four ends for carrying the load on his shoulder. He counted and collected from us periodically and then delivered on a set day. With a shaky voice, he used to call my name, sitting in the verandah. I still vividly remember him noting down in little book with a very little pencil with a shaky handwriting. A few years back, his grandson [he is in the same business with a temporary shop by the roadside close to our house] told me that the old dhobi was his grandfather.

So many memories are springing up.

Dinu, are you a writer? You describe things so vividly. One of my earliest memories is the smell of big, fat raindrops hitting hot dust. I grew up in Arizona. I was fixated on water. Always looking for fish, I don't know why, I remember falling off my tricycle into the gutter as a result of looking too hard.

roybird,
I enjoy writing. I have a few blogs. Many of my letters and short articles get published in the local paper once in a while. DG has been such an inspiration to my thoughts that it has helped me learn more and express more. Methinks I'm always improving. Thanks to DG.

I remember how my father used to get my school uniform stitched. It was extra long to compensate my quick growth. We could not afford to get new ones every year. It was only done only when it was worn out. Those shorts had braces and I remember frequently pulling them up back on to my shoulder as it would always fall over [not my short-pants luckily - LOL]. I also remember my friends making fun at the extra length of both my shirt sleeve [slack, half] and shorts {they were "longs", LOL}.

I was 3 1/2 years old. I was fall, there was the smell of dead leaves in the air and it was a beautifully sunny afternoon. My parents took me to visit an old great uncle who lived by a railroad yard. In a corner of the yard stood a paint shop, from which freshly painted boxcars came out. They stood out because they were so pretty and clean. I remember looking through the balcony's wrought iron bannister at this marvelous building that produced such pretty boxcars while the grownups talked and laughed.

Sylvain.

Very vivid description of a deeply implanted memory!

I've not been thinking too hard about any more of my memories, (been too busy,) but I'm sure enjoying everyone elses.

Thanks billy. Why not attempt when you are a bit at leisure - you will not know yourself how interesting it becomes when you begin to 'go back' down memory street.

Leisure..... What's that :))

I pull up bits and pieces sitting here, but nothing worth mentioning. Someday I'll sit and just meditate on it. I may remember something I really neat!

I only have one memory from 3 years old and it is not a good one, although minor. We moved from NYC to Wilmington, Del. My mother enrolled us in an acrobatic class. I think she thought that living in hotels was too confining and we needed some physical outlet. Well, who would think a 3-year-old could be so stiff that the first class left me in tears because it was painful.
I don't remember if we continued with the classes or not. After that we moved to Daytona and the hotel my dad managed had a pool and was in kind of a rural setting, so we finally began to have more of a typical outdoor playtime.

Aah, billy. It's also good to be occupied, isn't it?

Thank you woodspirit for that little memory.

The next memory I have is after my sister, not even a year older, started school. It was the only small wooden schoolhouse either of us went to. it had a little playground outside and a see-saw, the first one i had ever been on. I was on the thing with my sister and I guess I got bored and got off when my end was down near the ground, which brought my sister down very abruptly. I remember her crying but don't think she was hurt, and I just idly walked off with a small sense of wonderment, completely unconcerned.

I remember going with my mother to pick up my older brother from school. It was a one room school a mile away. This school closed and the new consolidated one opened at the beginning of 1939 when I was 3. I also remember when they were building the new school earlier in the year.
My dear elementary school closed last year. The sign at the school reads, "Goodbye old friend."

Nice to take our minds back to those "good old days". Do you also like to visit those places in childhood memories at any opportunity that arises anytime? Just for old time's sake? I like that. When you are actually there, many things spring up in the mind.

Here's a couple of memories I have thought about.

Going to a horse pull with my dad and seeing the biggggg hooves on the horses and all the hair around them. The dust and the heat. Awesome for a little town girl.

Another is riding in the wagon or walking with my mom so she could go and pick beans for extra money.

Everyone has interesting memories.

Zany, yours was so sweet, you made me tear up. I can just picture that sweet little girl singing.

I can see some of memories puncutated by a bee sting, or hot stove. But why do we remember some things and not others.

One vivid old memory was visiting an elderly friend from church of my mothers. I had never met this lady before and was fasinated with her face. She had the whitest hair and deep lines in her face from her mouth to her chin. She looked just like a puppet, like Howdy Doody. I stared at her the whole visit, watching her chin go up and down.

Another was from kindergarten. We had what was called a "fire drill". I thought this was a large drill, that made a hole in the wall so we could escape outside during a fire.
I was so excited at our first drill. I lined up and kept looking for the big drill to make a hole in the wall. When we were let in. I told the teacher that I guessed they only brought in the drill when there was a real fire.
She seemed to not know what in the heck I was talking about. And she was a teacher!

Very interesting thread. I think our first memories are of trauma or drama or something our young minds found totally unimaginable..... My first was I was 3, at my Great Grandma's funeral. My Father was carrying me, he walked by the casket, but I don't remember if I looked or not. But I do remember I had on the cutest little soft red coat that had covered buttons of the same cloth and a little detached hood to match. (Really, I must have looked pretty classy wearing that fancy coat set) Classy enough that it is my oldest memory.
I was a very small child (maybe even puny) but the next memory I have is being in kindergarten. It must have been at the beginning of the school year cause I remember the sun shining through the windows. It was after recess and everyone took turns using the bathroom which was right beside the kindergarten room. I can see this so vividly. I can smell that sawdust sweeping compound and some kind of cleaner they used, maybe a floor wax of some sort, but I can smell it as I write this. Open the bathroom door and on the left I see 4 stalls all connected w/separate doors. Directly in front of me was a wall of those thick textured windows that you can't see through. Then right past the stalls were 3 little sinks mounted low on the wall to accomodate our size. I remember taking care of business, washing my hands and briskly walking to the door. OH MY Gosh! I was not strong enough to open the door. Mrs. Piper! Mrs. Piper!! MRS PIPER!!!!!! and then the tears! I was probably in there for 5 minutes and Mrs. Piper realized I hadn't returned and came looking for me. She comforted me and said she would have one of the bigger girls be my bathroom buddy until I was strong enough to open the door myself. I don't remember if I got strong enough that school year or not.
I've really enjoyed everyones memories, thx - hope we get some more

I remember the last day of kindergarten, and my loving, elderly teacher crying as she said goodbye to each of us. Perhaps she was retiring that year. Alas, I don't remember her name.

I forgot to add above my memory of going to the maternity hospital where my mother had given birth to my brother 4 years younger to me. I think I went with my grandmother by walk with some food and coffee. It was about 15 mintues away by foot. I can still picture the little baby beside my mother.