It seems to be a fairly common trait of AS and HFA that we have unusually good long-term memories.
I remember a few things from when I was a baby/toddler. I remember my first day of pre-school. My mum had told me that she was taking me to pre-school that day and I was sitting at the table telling her all about "my school". I had never been to school and had no idea what went on, but that never stopped me from thinking I knew all about something. I was 3 years old.
I remember, as a baby, crying for a bottle of milk and my mum telling me that I couldn't have any (I guess that was when she was trying to move me onto solids). I remember how drinking milk made me feel and how it tasted when I was a baby.
I also remember learning to walk. I guess I walked a little late, but I can't have been much older than 18 months. I remember my father getting angry at me and ordering me to walk, and how scared I felt. I think that having such intense memories of very early childhood is why I have always had such an affinity with children.
We moved away from Jakarta, to Thailand, when my son was 2 years and 6 months old. We returned 2 years later. When we drove past the apartment building that we used to live in my son said "hey, that used to be my house". Just as we were saying how amazing it was that he remembered, he said "and that's where my friend Ricky lives". He even remembered his play pal.
We decided to go bowling one day after we had returned to Jakarta, and we asked my son if he remembered the bowling alley. The last time he had been there he was barely 2 years old. He said yes but I didn't really think he did until he started talking about the DVD shop next door to it (it took me a while to remember the DVD shop, but he described it in detail and the penny dropped).
I remember a few things from when I was a baby/toddler. I remember my first day of pre-school. My mum had told me that she was taking me to pre-school that day and I was sitting at the table telling her all about "my school". I had never been to school and had no idea what went on, but that never stopped me from thinking I knew all about something. I was 3 years old.
I remember, as a baby, crying for a bottle of milk and my mum telling me that I couldn't have any (I guess that was when she was trying to move me onto solids). I remember how drinking milk made me feel and how it tasted when I was a baby.
I also remember learning to walk. I guess I walked a little late, but I can't have been much older than 18 months. I remember my father getting angry at me and ordering me to walk, and how scared I felt. I think that having such intense memories of very early childhood is why I have always had such an affinity with children.
We moved away from Jakarta, to Thailand, when my son was 2 years and 6 months old. We returned 2 years later. When we drove past the apartment building that we used to live in my son said "hey, that used to be my house". Just as we were saying how amazing it was that he remembered, he said "and that's where my friend Ricky lives". He even remembered his play pal.
We decided to go bowling one day after we had returned to Jakarta, and we asked my son if he remembered the bowling alley. The last time he had been there he was barely 2 years old. He said yes but I didn't really think he did until he started talking about the DVD shop next door to it (it took me a while to remember the DVD shop, but he described it in detail and the penny dropped).
). Another time, standing on a wooden bridge, I had my little dinosaurs helplessly slipping through my hand, all the way down to the lake, through the small gaps/perforations (I'm very clumsy motorically and couldn't tie my shoes until age 12 or so). Nobody would take them for me, and my heart shattered as we went home empty-handed, with my gradually faint gaze still fixed on the lakebed where the toys were lying for 'eternity'.
