Well, since reading kleinfranken's byte on their first memory of school , I couldn't stop thinking about my earliest memories; -

The first one I have is of a garden. It was huge and yellow. I remember feeling slightly offended that my elder brother and sister were allowed to go to this garden up the street to play and I wasn't. I mean, this garden was full of sand. At the time, I felt that sand was a very exciting thing to play in, adventurous even. I saw nothing wrong in leaving my house to follow my siblings (without their knowledge) all the way along one whole street. Once there, I remember seeing many children playing in the sand; in all, about six. I remember my siblings being surprised to see me there and a little while later, I remember my mother coming to the sand garden all fretful and calling my name.

Turns out I was 2 years old and had run off down the street to play with the other kids in the garden of a house that was being renovated, garden and all.

My Second memory is of a great big red van that my aunt drove. She had it because she ran a kind of door to door sales thing. I remember sitting in the front seat whilst my mum stood on the pavement. The window was wound down and I was really pleased because my aunt (she owned the van) and I were going to the shops!

My mother exclaimed through the open window that she would miss me and she mock-wept. I remember saying, "So why don't you come with us then?"

Word for word, I could swear, that's what I said.

When I asked my mother about this particular memory, she said I was two years old and everything about that particular memory was true, except for the fact that I spoke. I would swear anything that I spoke those words, yet I was only two years old; I was apparently, still speaking semi-gibberish at that age.

Yet, even before that, I had conscious memories; -

I remember being quite little and my mother and father took me somewhere really white. We waited for a little bit and then I was taken to a room that seemed mostly made of glass.

There were lots of people (now, I'd say about four). Everything was white and big.

The four people crowded 'round me. They had small, white masks 'round their mouths which were held in place by thin strands of material wrapped around their ears. The thin coats that they wore had no marks on them at all.

I started to cry as my folks left the giant, white, half glass room. I saw them leave through the door and walk along the corridor. They stopped to look at me through the window/wall. I was bawling my eyes out as I lay there on a small, white bed and the only thing I could think was "why are they smiling and waving when I'm lying here, crying, and obviously frightened. Where are they going? They're not going to come back, are they? Oh no! Who are these strange white, no-mouthed people?! Why are they crowding 'round me?"

Again, I had to ask my mother about this one;

She said I had some kidney problems when I was two years old (I have no idea what they were; she won't say) and that I had to go into hospital for a couple of days. She then went on to describe my memory. Apparently the no-mouthed people were doctors and nurses that were prepping me for my brief stay in hospital and my parents were smiling and waving as they left in an attempt to cheer me up and make everything seem okay.

My fourth memory is of getting my ears pierced. Again, I was about two and half years old; -

There was a small grey street with a great wall running along one side. There were a couple of small shops and it was one of these shops that my mother, my sister (ten years older than me) and myself went into.

I remember there being another woman there and she said I should sit on a specific chair situated right in front of her. My sister and my mum each held one of my hands and told me that I was going to get my ears pierced just like a 'big girl' - like my 12 year old sister.

I don't really remember much after that except for being mildly yet briefly upset at the pain; - nobody had bothered to explain the concept of pain to a two year old but I swear, from experience, even very young children know exactly what's going on and can understand what adults are saying.