I remember back to around 2 or slightly before. Most of my oldest memories are just like a picture, a wall or the view down the stairs. I remember the layouts of homes we lived in very young. I remember our cars and random moments in them, such as sitting in a truck with my dad reviewing state capitols at a little under 3 while my brother was being born. I remember times when I threw up and a few different occasions when I had nose bleeds. I remember the flavors or antibiotic I had to take for ear infections and various "pictures" of them sitting in the refrigerator. Most of the stuff I remember my parents have no memory of or occasionally when I mention it their memories are jogged. After 3 I remember almost everything. I not only remember everything everyone says, but also where we were when it was said and what positions we were in. I never forget anything anyone has told me. I am not a good person to lie to!
My son just turned 5, so it's hard to say if he will follow in my footsteps. He has a great memory for facts (knew all of his states at 24 months, could count to 1000 by 3, easily learned the months/days of the week, remembers the order of songs on his CD's, etc.) and often amazes me with his comments on early memories. What is odd is that he always says how old he was, I can't believe his sense of time. He might say "One time when I was about two and a half we went to Grandma's house and the dishwasher was broken". I'm not amazed that he remembers that, I'm amazed that when I look back at my memories I am able to place it in the summer and checking it against the other things that occurred that trip, at age 2.5. I'm not sure how he could have a concept of time so strong that he can date his memories so well from when he was so young.
I have asked him if he remembers being inside of my belly and he says no. He also doesn't remember a lot of baby things I have asked about. If he sees a baby toy though he seems to recognize it and knows if it was a favorite. I assume through some visual/emotional vague memory thing. He has also been trying to remember how to say hello in Russian for the last 3 days and keeps forgetting... then again, so do I! Looks like he may be taking after me at being really good at one language, and completely inept at learning any others (except sign, we both pick right up on that).
Anyway, memory is so interesting to me and I really enjoyed reading this thread
