It might be a bit of a stretch to call it a philosophy book though.

Gudanov, to paraphrase the Zen and the Art of Motorcycles guy, the Subaru you're workin on is yourself....

When I was a wee thing, I once blew up a overhanging lightbulb by spraying it with a squirt-gun. Luckily this was in the basement, where it was easy to dustpan the shards. Didn't know it would do that.

And one day we were driving along (this was back before seatbelts were unheard of and children's car seats not even dreamed of) and I managed to open the door. I was dragged for several feet - clinging to the door handle - before my mother got the car stopped.

My great-grandfather never made me wear a seatbelt in his car (despite my parents repeatedly asking him to) and had this little wooden booster seat for to sit on so I could see over the dash. One day when I was about 4 I tried to get into the car and couldn't get the door open, so I climbed in his side. We got up to about 30mph and my door flew open and fell out of the car on to the road. I still remember rolling and looking up to see the breaklights on my grandfather's car as he slammed on the breaks. I ended up with a huge knot on my forehead from hitting the asphalt and assorted scrapes and bruises, but thankfully no serious injuries.

Our own Nutty both stuffed a peanut up her nose (at 3, on a dare from a neighbor boy) and got a Fisher Price Little Person wedged in her open mouth so that she could not remove it herself and was stuck crying with her jaw wide open (probably also 3 or 4). This latter continues to be hilarious to me.

Remarkably, our brother, who used to come home bloody on a regular basis, never pulled any of this kind of creative/curiosity antic that I can recall. No stories about me, either, but I was an uncommonly rational and obedient child.

I had a physical anthropolgy professor tell a story about the time she was sorting infant skull bones and eating corn chips and accidentally put the wrong hand in her mouth...

As a child, my dad ... burnt down a nearby cornfield, made his own nitroglycerin(?) which he'd climb on top of a ladder to drip tiny drops onto toy cars so they'd explode(*) and at one point generated so much chlorine gas in the basement, it bleached out all the laundry hanging to dry.

(* he probably could have blown up the house had the full container been spilled. Chemistry kits in the 50s were much more exciting than now!)

One of my coworkers once told about how her son stuffed something up his nose. But he didn't tell anyone for about a week. The first they knew was when there was this awful smell hanging around him and then got him to 'fess up. They took him to the emergency room - the whatever it was being too firmly lodged to get out - and he'd run around and make friends with people. And people would smile at this cute little boy ... until he got close and the smell hit them.

got a Fisher Price Little Person wedged in her open mouth

And it was probably one of the old-style ones with the wooden bottoms, right?

a story about the time she was sorting infant skull bones and eating corn chips and accidentally put the wrong hand in her mouth

Oh dear.

I dumped my entire mug of coffee on me at work this morning. Luckily, a coworker gave me a lift home and back to work so I didn't have to wear coffee-sodden clothing all day long.

Old-style Fisher Price, but in the plastic era. I think it was the green white dude with a bald head. Like the dad here [link]

We still have those Little People. Oh, how I loved them.

Oh, how I loved them.

Oh yeah. I just don't like the new kind much. Blahblahchokinghazard, whatever.

There used to be parties at this one artist's house. She had so many of the playsets, it was awesome. Sesame Street house, haunted house, something with dragons, airports, garages, the a frame house, circus, farm, school...