Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Early memories...

Just curious, but what are your child/ren's earliest memories? Meaning, how far back does their memory take them. Can they remember things from infancy or toddler years?

FWIW I just asked DS9 and he said he remembers being two and trying to get oj for himself. He climbed up on a stool and just as he reached for the oj he wet his pants. He says he remembers being really embarrassed. I personally do not remember this happening but he was toilet-trained before age 3 and never had any accidents once trained so...

Also, I have a memory that is from when I was two as well. I remember my father pretending to throw me into the alligator pit and being terrified - wasn't sure he was pretending I guess. :-)

I have had people remember birth or pre-birth events during hypnosis however.

What about your children? What got you curious?

When my son was almost 3, I discovered that he remembered something from age 13 months.

When he was 13 months old, I ordered him a pair of dressy shoes online to wear to a family wedding. When they arrived, I got them out for him to try them on and it turned out that they had sent the wrong size (several sizes bigger). I put them in my closet, knowing that he would eventually grow into them. One Christmas when he was almost 3, I pulled them out for him to wear. When he saw them, he said "I can't wear those, they're for the wedding." He remembered who's wedding they were for, but when I reminded him that it had passed, he thought for a minute, and then wanted to know which shoes he wore instead.

I've never really inquired with either of my kids to see what they remember, because it's hard to determine what they remember themselves or from stories we've told them or pictures. But that moment caught me by surprise.

My DD has always had a great memory to the point that I have referred to it as "photographic" memory and has always referenced events in her early years during infancy when she was around 2 but I thought perhaps those memories would fade as she gets older. She is now a little over 3 1/2 but still remembers things with major details. Such as this weekend when we were headed to a community Easter egg hunt she brought up a previous egg hunt where she only found one egg because the older kids were grabbing all of them and someone came by and gave her ticket to get the rest of the allotted eggs. And yes, she was absolutely correct but this happened when she was 15 months. Another she brought up is how silly the Easter bunny is since one year he hid the eggs in the back yard and the next year he hid them in the front yard. Again ... absolutely correct and references the Easter when she was 15 months old.

Though I don't have specifics, she talks about things that happened when she was a baby as well. Such as things her
'Nana' would do with her. Her Nana passed away when she was only 14 months old but she remembers her and the specifics.

So I was just wondering if this is more a GT thing and if others experience similar things with their children. And I also wonder if those memories will eventually fade. I'm hoping she holds on to her memories of her Nana. She loved her so much and they had such a special bond.

I can just answer for myself here but I know for sure that I have a memory (very vivid actually) of before I was 2. I'm not sure how old I was at the time but it's a memory of my parents together and they divorced right when I was 2 (I also clearly remember the divorce).

DC15 and DC19 both remember some things from around age 2, some memories of which we have no pictures and have not really discussed (different playground equipment that was recalled, their grandparents' old house...). In my own experiences, I have visual memories from very young and experiential memories (people who have passed on, relatives I haven't seen since, fun times with my dad...) from around 2. It seems to be more of the emotional memories or the everyday routine activities that we remember than less significant things...

I can only remember things from when I was about three years old on. However, my hubby, best friend, and son (all HG, where I am not) all claim memories from a very early age (memories from the crib, so under age 2 for sure).

DD has a great memory, but at 2.75 I'm not sure how much will stick.

I remember playing at the party we had when my cousin was born, he is 1 year 1mo younger than me and the party is usually 6 weeks after the baby was born (so I had to be over 14mo but much younger than 18mo). The memory is vague about the baby's clothes & me playing with my mom and her disappearing for a second. I also remember the party we had for my little sister when I was 2 years 2mo, I was running with my cousins when dad took me. He hold me hanging from my armpits, I was uncomfortable and mom was standing next to us holding my baby sister (like you hold infants), I wanted mom to hold me like that too, my sister had the party clothes on. These two memories I can easily time as the new baby wears those clothes only at that party. I have lot of other memories but I don't know how old I was. I do not remember the apartment we lived when I was under 12mo old.

My mom always asks me if she wants some details from our childhood. When I tell my memories, she starts to remember it too. She says I got my memory from my HG+ father.


DH used not to believe me but now that DD can remember places and ppl she saw long long time ago he is starting to trust my memories.