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Aha, found the other Infancy gospel here: Infancy Gospel of Thomas. I've excerpted the most odd passages below.

Yes, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas! I remember my 1st grade nun teacher telling us those stories. She called them "Jesus stories". It wasn't until a few years ago, when I read those other gospels, that I realized that these stories could have been added to the official canon.

I don't remember which gospel contains what story, but I especially liked the stories of Mary, Joseph, & baby Jesus during their refugee flight into Egypt, and how baby Jesus' used bathwater cured the sick & those suffering from spells. (Like the man whose girlfriend had turned him into a donkey.)

Then there are the stories of Jesus as a boy. The son of Annas the scribe, IIRC, destroyed a dam or irrigation ditch or something that Jesus & his friends had been building in the mud. (I.e. they were making "play ditches, play dams", etc.) He destroyed their "work" because they were "building" things on the Sabbath. Jesus had also formed a couple birds out of the mud. When Annas' son was about to destroy them as well, Jesus commanded the birds to fly away, and they did!

Then there's the story of what transpired when the crucified Jesus spent those couple days in Hell, arguing with Satan - and Hell itself joins the argument!

They're a fascinating collection of stories, and a rip-roaring read besides. And realizing that most of these extra gospels were written around the same time as the "official" gospels - and taken just as seriously by some at the time - really throws light on how we should view all those stories of miracles in the "official" gospels.

Er, if you don’t mind I’d like to put in two cents for the Lurkers following your discussion.

When we read the Bible with our eyes, we will only see words and there will be no significance difference to other texts.

But when the Spirit indwells, though the eyes read the Bible, the Spirit reads the Word. The Truth comes alive within us. Nakatu X and I use the term “ringing true” to the Spirit.

Moreover, that same Spirit guides us to the Biblical passages, other text, people, etc. – we need at the right time and gives us understanding we could not achieve by hard work.

Thank you for sharing the "Jesus stories" that you remember! It was fun to read about them! :o)

They're a fascinating collection of stories, and a rip-roaring read besides. And realizing that most of these extra gospels were written around the same time as the "official" gospels - and taken just as seriously by some at the time - really throws light on how we should view all those stories of miracles in the "official" gospels.

If I can accept two assumptions: (1) Jesus did indeed perform miracles, and (2) the source of the miracles is the Judeo-Christian God, then I can believe a third assumption--that God was involved in perserving the books of the New Testament that best represented His Son.

If you go the other extreme--that if one miracle was an urban legend taken seriously by others, then it discounts all other miracles--that is not quite valid either. People have been making up childhood stories of legendary leaders for millenia.

I do not like the view that if a book was not included in the canon, then it should necessarily be considered to be "heretical" or "evil" in some way. As Alamo-Girl pointed out, the New Testament quotes from the Book of Enoch many times. However, the pitiful few extracanonical books I have read never had the ring of truth to it, and there are also more logical reasons why they were rightly not included in the canon.