What is the earliest age that you can reliably remember?

I think about this a lot. I often have recurring images that I know are based on old memories but I can’t say from when, only that they are most probably from when I was extremely young. I think its a sort of interesting challenge or quest to find what they are from and why there is a significance attached to them. As far as earliest, I vaguely remember bits of preschool (age 4?)

I can remember being stung by a yellow jacket at two. I remember seeing it on the ground wriggling around, picking it up, and POW! I don’t have an emotion for it, but its my earliest memory.

I remember seeing my grandmother’s house burning. We were parked on the side of the highway. My grandmother’s neighbor had called my parents. My grandmother was not home. The firefighters and police would not let us on the street. I was two. I remember details very vividly. I was so scared and sad. I remember my mom crying. My grandfather set the fire. He was drunk and was trying to kill my grandmother and my two aunt’s while they were sleeping. Luckily he had called my grandmother and threatened her, so she left and was not home. It still makes me sad and scared when I think about it today. They lost everything…but not their lives.

My third birthday party, but it’s sort of like watching a movie, I don’t feel viscerally connected to it.

Always an interesting question; answers from one month ago. Note the theme of yellow jackets (see Boffin.)

Early Memories

I am 3–4 and spending my weekly Friday night w. my grandmother (60 yards away from the carriage house where we live.) I am in her mahogany bed; she is taking off a corset w/o removing her clothes. The whalebone, laced, steel stays corset seems to stand alone, unaided, in a corner. She then somehow gets into night clothes and removes daytime outfit in a fit of distortion.

We sleep together happily in the double bed. I can also remember her smell – partially drowned by French perfume…unlikely on an old Jewish Yenta.

I remember being hit by a truck when I was 3 years, I remember everything, from the clothes I was wearing to the smell of the hospital..,

I have a memory of going cherry-picking with my family. I have since confirmed that I was two when I went, but I;m not sure if this is a false memory or what? The next oldest memory I have is like when I was 4/5. I don’t remember emotions for any memories until much later, but the memories are pretty vivid, and remembering them sometimes gives me current emotions.

4 years old!

I refer to gailcalled…
This site is becoming automated…
Answers are being provided….
Love it….

Thought this question was covered earlier….

Boffin, gailcalled, if you read the questions, you’ll see they’re different.

@Hi, deezer; slightly different wording but same intent. The answers in both refer to earliest memory (or to nitpick, memories..also to both questions.)

Yes, I realize that, but I restricted mine to “reliable” that can be confirmed, as well as emotions attached to it, which the other question didn’t.

i actually remember being potty trained