Dictionary / Vocabulary / 物心が付く
ものごころがつく
to become old enough to understand what's going on around oneself (of a child, etc.)
Also written 物心がつく
僕は母のことを知らない。物心がつく前に、母が家を出て行ったからだ。
I don't know anything about my mother. Before I was old enough to remember, she left our home.