What's the first thing you remember as a kid?

[AmyStrange]

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For me, it's walking down a sidewalk on a small hill. I'm next to my mom, and she's pushing a baby carriage.

We were walking into town, and that's all I remember.

It's three thirty in the morning here in Seattle, and I'm about to hit the hay, but I figured what the hell.

I'll just throw this out and see if anyone bites.

I'll reply later in the day, and HAPPY MONDAY to everyone!
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[hlthe2b]

1. Breaking free (as a toddler) from my frantic Mom to go hug a dog.

and I've been dog-crazy ever since.

[Roland99]

2. A vague memory of what must have been my sister's 2nd bday (she's a little over a year older than me

Being in a baby seat and looking up at balloons

[snowybirdie]

3. My dad coming home

from WWII. Had never seen him before, but everyone seemed so excited. Refused to go near him. You know, still today, I tear up when I see scenes of returning military.

[MaryMagdaline]

15. What a great memory!

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

24. That's a beautiful memory.

[Croney]

4. Walking alone to the corner grocery. I was 2 or 3.

I remember the sidewalk. Small town, 1947. I was given money to buy a can of Campbell's soup. Tomato, I think.

[Deb]

5. Laying next to our basset hound and substituting his ear for my blanket while sucking my thumb.

It was like velvet on my face and I still stick my nose on a hound's ear if given a chance. Maybe I was 2?

[flor-de-jasmim]

6. Going ice-skating and horseback riding when I was 3.

[nebby70]

7. being in my bedroom on a warmish evening ...

... listening to my Dad and 2 uncles playing piano and guitars downstairs ...
....... odd, I remember the wall paper clearly: white with little red roses all over ....
... we moved from this house when I was 3 so ....

[steventh]

8. Dancing in the streets when WWII was over.

Also the birth of my brother in May 1945.

[Cartoonist]

9. My grandfather's wake

It was held at a house, his coffin in the living room.
Outside there was a cooler filled with ice and soda pop. A bunch of male relatives were playing poker in the garage.
I have no other memories of my grandfather though there are pictures of me and him that I can't relate to.

[Yonnie3]

10. New puppies

In a corner of our kitchen with their mother.

[Alpeduez21]

11. Hanging upside down by my ankles at the top of the stairs

As my Mum frantically shook me and then hearing the marble I was choking on bounce down the stairs. I was 1-2. She was carrying me to the car. My Dad was at the bottom of the stairs.

[MaryMagdaline]

16. Good Lord! Glad you are still with us

Your parents must have been freaked out of their minds!

[peasant one]

12. my paternal grandmother's funeral

It was in January: I remember snow and green grass (fake grass to hide dirt around casket?) and I was wearing a new coat with a brown velvet collar and we were standing in a circle outside.

[handmade34]

13. honeybees...

my grandfather, grandmother, brother and I were outside, all clanging pans together in Sunfield, Michigan.... the honeybees had swarmed and my grandfather wanted to get them down from the tree they had settled on... (common belief years ago, not today)

I was 5 or so... my memories are few and far between because of trauma, but during that time my mother had committed herself (mental breakdown, they called it then) and my brother and I were staying with our maternal grandparents...

the memories from that time are relatively sweet, and yes I am a beekeeper now

[samnsara]

14. you went to bed just as i got up! Is it raining? My first memory same as yours....

...mom pushing a carriage on some street.

[Rhiannon12866]

17. I have several and I don't know which was first

But one that had to have happened when I was really young occurred at an amusement park. There are pix so I know I was there as a toddler and a preschooler. I remember feeding baby bears, my Dad picked me up and I fed them through a long chute.

And I also remember going into the voting booth with my Dad, he'd pick me up and let me pull the levers. Of course he told me which levers to pull, I have no idea who I voted for back then.

[Laffy Kat]

30. My mom always took me to the voting booth and I got to pull the curtain lever..

As well as the voting switches. I miss those old voting booths. We would go to the elementary school my sister attended and I would as well one day. It was always a special morning. I carried on the tradition and made sure my kids went with me, although it wasn't the same.

[procon]

18. Sitting with my grandma's dog and sharing her bowl

of dog food. I was 2-3.

[Walleye]

19. My father was a photographer. I was in the darkroom

I remember the smell of the chemicals. I was too small to see what was going on on the countertops. So I tried to climb up and crashed the enlarger down on my head. I was about three, my earliest recollection. Of course I had to pursue photography as a career for the rest of my life, a blessing and a curse

[Marthe48]

20. standing by a crib

My baby brother was crying in the crib in my Mom and Dad's room and I was singing to him, trying to sooth him.

I remember waking from a nap and coming downstairs to the kitchen, where my Mom was squatted down looking for something in a cupboard. It was a brilliant sunny day, and she said, "Did you wake up?!" in a surprised and delighted voice.

Another memory, my baby brother being in one crib and I in another, side-by-side, and my mom and maybe my Dad's cousin pushing the cribs pretending they were racing them. I know the room was small, and they were probably pushing the cribs back and forth. I remember being wrapped in a blanket. The grownups were laughing and I was happy.

I remember being in a play pen in the living room with my brother, 2 different times. My Mom told me that we figured out a way to stand up and move our bodies to make the palypen go from one end of the living room to the other.

I have other memories too, and I think they must be from when I was very young.

Happy Monday!

[doc03]

21. When I was 2-3 years old we moved from an apartment in the city

to a big old house in the country in 1950. I remember riding in the car as we came up the hill
and first saw our new home. The place was pretty run down, I remember my mom and dad putting new
wall paper up and painting everything.

[Mad_Dem_X]

22. Watching the moon landing on TV

I was standing in the middle of the living room, looking at the TV. My mom was either standing behind me, doing some ironing, or sitting in her chair right behind me. She would have been eight months pregnant with my sister at the time. I was about two and a half years old.

[Harker]

23. ...

bright green grass

red glass-bottomed boat

two white swans

[AmyStrange]

25. WOW!! Thank you everyone for sharing...

-

That was a lot more replies than I thought I'd get.

Most were nice memories, and also a couple scary ones, but I'm glad you're all still with us!

It was an interesting read, with most of them being from around 2 or 3 years old, and (obviously) with one or both of your parents nearby or some other family member.

Once again, thank you for sharing, and I hope you are still having a happy Monday.
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[TexasBushwhacker]

26. Hurricane Carla 1961

I was 4. The power was out, but we had a gas stove, so cooking wasn't a problem. My mom even made Jiffy Pop popcorn!

[gratuitous]

27. Couple of things

One being flat on my back while Mom put plastic pants on me, I'd guess to go over my diaper. I think that's the earliest one. But far more complete is a memory of eating a home-made cookie cooling on the rack on the kitchen table.

Which leads to a Dad joke, inspired by this post:

What's the first thing you know?

Old Jeb's a millionaire.

[milestogo]

28. Sitting at the counter of a diner with my mom, and having oyster crackers to float on my soup.

I would sink 'em because they taste good soggy.

[Laffy Kat]

29. Cradled in my mother's arms taking a bottle.

It was in the front seat of a car and I was drinking the bottle while we were crossing a bridge. I saw the bridge suspension cables go by over us. I think that's why I may have remembered the event because it was the first time I had seen such a thing. Who knows? The memory is just a blip. It was probably the old Memphis-Arkansas bridge.

[frogmarch]

31. I was around 10 months old

and going to America from India aboard a troop transport ship (my dad was an American soldier and my Anglo-Indian mother died soon after I was born), when the screaming of alarms and people shouting woke me. The Red Cross worker (who later became my adoptive mother) picked me up from the cot I'd been sleeping in next to many other children in cots, and with my 3-year-old sister, hurried us to the deck. Lifeboats were being lowered into the dark churning ocean. Mom said we might have to go swimming. I remember thinking, I don't want to go swimming. Then I remember being pulled out of the water, confused and afraid.

When I was about 11, my sister and I recounted to each other our earliest memories. That was mine. Mom, who was in the kitchen, heard me describe it and came into the living room where we were. She said it was impossible for me to have remembered that, because I was a baby when it happened. She said the ship had been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, but that the military took care of it. She said I had fallen from her arms and over the railing, but that I was wearing a life jacket, and I was okay.

That's all I know about it, even though as an adult I tried to find out more about the torpedo event.

[AmyStrange]

33. That is traumatizing, especially at ten months old, but...

-

your age doesn't mean it isn't a real memory.

Although, it probably didn't become a real memory until you were able to understand language.

According to psychologist, most conscious memories are based on our ability to translate them into words.

Thanks for sharing, and I'm also glad you made it out alive!

Life preservers for everyone!
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[frogmarch]

34. I remember thinking it at the time, and

I remember seeing Mom's face as she said we might have to go swimming. I really do believe a lot of babies understand spoken language, at least some of it, at a very early age, even before they can speak themselves.

Thanks! I'm glad I made it out alive too.

[LAS14]

32. Two things at about 18 months. I don't know which came first, but...

.. I know the age because of where we lived.

1 - My grandmother was visiting and she had a soap dish that I coveted. I hid it before she left. Many years later I learned that she had left it for me because I liked it so much.

2 - My mother and I were walking on the street in Chicago and a man asked her if he could give me some chewing gome. I believe I said something cute and that was part of the family story, but I find I can no longer remember that. I do remember the event.