Earliest Memories as a Child?

Question

I was curious to see if anybody else had trouble recalling life prior to being adopted? This question is more for those that were in an orphanage, foster care or another type of care for the first few years of life before being adopted but open to anybody.

I was in an orphanage until I was almost 5 years old & where it was in a different country/language I really can not remember anything. My first memory was of myself in a bathroom stall ripping off a teddy bear's head at the airport before meeting my parents & then running away in the airport later on that day. Sometimes I think I remember something but can't figure out if it is my imagination or if something did happen...

I'm wondering because most people I talk to say their earliest memory was between 2-3 years of age where mine was when I was practically five.

Answer 1

My boyfriend was adopted from Haiti by missionaries when  he was 17 months old. It was very open and he has always called his birthmom, mom. Somehow he still remembers french Creole. He speaks both languages to this day. So it might be pretty early.

Answer 2

earlist memory was when i was five months old and torn away from my foster carer's arms by my new adoptive parents. I can remember it vividly i was crying and reaching out and thinking "i dont want to go, why cant i tell them?" I even remember what the room looked like down to the wallpaper on the walls. Since then my next memory was when I was 2 when I hit my head on a giant oil collumn heater

edit: why was i give a thumbs down? How can you down a fact? This lies very close to my heart because I live this moment over and over. I am just glad you have never had a memory like this.

Answer 3

A lot of folks can't remember their early childhood and since your memories were in another language it was probably easier to learn your new language if you put the other one away somewhere.  It could be that you blocked it out for a thousand different reasons, too sad, too scary, too confusing.  I remember so many things from my childhood and I'm sure they aren't my memories, but that I've heard the story so many times from parents and grandparents that it feels like a memory.  Interestingly, when discussing childhood memories with siblings we all remember it a little differently.  Everyone remembers from their own perspective.  I wouldn't worry about it much.

Answer 4

I remember being absolutely terrified of ambulances and sirens.  I would freak out completely.  I did this pretty much since my adoptive parents received me.  

Have since found out that my mother was transported to the hospital from the home in an ambulance.

Answer 5

I can remember being 2 with my new adoptive parents when I was 2.  I remember a few things -- the cot on which I slept, and sleeping on the floor next to my parents' bed.  I used to leave my cot and lie next to their bed during the night sometimes.  I do not remember my 13 months with my nparents, nor do I remember my time in foster care.

Answer 6

sounds like a tough begining to life

sorry to hear that

i really dont recall anything until about the age 4

when we moved into a house i remember

running from room to room,

Answer 7

I was not adopted or anything, but my very first memory, is of me at about 2 or so looking for my pacifier (or something) in the apartment we lived in until I was 3 1/2. The memory is very clouded, but I do vaugly remember it.

Other, more vivid memories are when I was about 5 and mostly about my neighborhood friends, the snakes one of their brothers used to catch from my yard, and the neighborhood itself.

Answer 8

My earliest memory is my fourth birthday, so you're not that "late"...

Answer 9

For me I was probably between 3 &4 years old. Having to be held down to have my hair washed, as I was petrified of water in my face. My next memory is of my big black and white rocking horse I called Zoro.  I was adopted by the 1st set of parents at about 9 months old and taken away from them and readopted at 2 and have no memory of that time. That is about all I remember untill i started kindergarden. I look at pictures of times before that and don't remember anything. I think your subconsious blocks things out especially painful things.

Answer 10

I can remember back to being about 3, which is around a year before I was adopted.

Answer 11

I was never adopted but I can remember things like 3-4 years old.  But just a little and then the next set of memories I have was like 5-6 yrs old.

Answer 12

I remember a room, it had two cribs and two bunkbeds in it, a change table and dresser,  the carpet was pale blue and the walls were pale yellow. There was barely enough room to walk between the furniture. I remember a lady standing over the change table, there was something hanging above me.

Nobody in my life can recall a room like this. My only thought is that it is the foster home I was in from birth to three months. I was never babysat so that isn't where the memory is from.

*** edit

Hey Dawacky and Florida Gal I see your thumbs and just wanted to wish you both a warm welcome to the A.$.$ Lickers Glee club...

Amazing how it goes around here isn't it?

Answer 13

I;m not an adoptee, but my sister was taken from us at age 2 and I was 7. I have many memories of her and remember when she cam home, my other sister and I threw every toy in the house on top of her in the play pin and said over and over again "awe ain't she precious" we of course got in trouble (as if a 5&6 year old should even been watching a newborn). and my last memory of her was being there for ther smmer and she was standing in her crib. I wanted to see her so I climbed up there and stepped on the bar that collapses the side, she fliped out on her head and her mom "M the horrible" as we called her, accused ME a 6 year old of trying to kill her. I loved her so much and was so confused when she was taken out of my life.