...When was Mary supposed to have babysat obama? If it was fall of 61, that would have put her baby at just over 2 years old, and certainly still in diapers. Mary didn't say she baby-sat in Fall 1961, Mary said she baby-sat when her daughter, born July 1959, was 18 months of age. That makes it JANUARY 1961.
........When was Mary supposed to have babysat obama? If it was fall of 61, that would have put her baby at just over 2 years old, and certainly still in diapers. .....
Mary didn't say she baby-sat in Fall 1961, Mary said she baby-sat when her daughter, born July 1959, was 18 months of age. That makes it JANUARY 1961.
Here's the article that I've found describing Mary's memories.
Baby Sitting Barack Obama on Seattle¹s Capitol Hill
It does not say when Mary babysat. It says,......
...."Mary Toutonghi. Much to our delight it turned out Mary actually knew Ann Dunham and had baby sat baby Barack for two months"..... and
........."She recalls as best she can the dates she baby sat Barack as her daughter was 18 months old and was born in July of 1959 and that would have placed the months of baby sitting Barack in January and February of 1962. [Note: 9/3/09: I believe Mary's daughter was older than what she remembered which would account for the age discrepency]."...........
.........."Mary strains to remember the days back over forty five years ago and relates that she did not know why Anna was in Seattle but remembers she was ³anxious to get back to her husband²."............
Okay, if Mary babysat for the 1961 fall semester for two months, this would put her daughter at 25 to 29 months in between August and December of '61. This is still within the diaper phase of a toddler. If it was spring, '62 Mary's daughter would have been 2 1/2 years in January. Still very possible for her to be in diapers. If I were "guessing" I would assume Stanley Ann might haved used Mary at the beginning of her college days in Washington. Mary would have been close by and her first acquaintance with a possible babysitter. She might have found other, more permanent, arrangements the longer she stayed in Seattle. But, I am merely guessing since I haven't found where Mary says "when" she babysit, only descriptions of what was occurring in her life at the time of her babysitting.
The author of this article further confuses things by messing up the timeline, saying if Mary's daugher was 18 months, that would have put the babysitting timeline at Jan/Feb '62....Huh?? She should have said that would put the 18 month babysitting timeline at Jan/Feb, '61.