Confessions of a Leap Year Baby

Birthdays are fun, right? Remember back in elementary school when you would bring in a special treat for your birthday and everyone would sing to you and your teacher would say really nice things about you?  I got to do that twice.  When I was eight and twelve.

In kindergarten, when I was turning 1 1/2,  my very sweet teacher pulled me in front of the class on my "birthday" (February 28th) and gave everyone a lengthy explanation about leap year, which involved a beach ball sun, a globe, and me demonstrating the earth's orbit.  I did my best to nod, smile and add in a few tidbits of information -- and generally just tried to appear way less confused than I actually was. Am.

math is hard.

A few years later my beloved late grandfather came to visit me on my birthday.  I'm guessing I was 2, 2 1/4 at the most.  He was trying so hard to educate me on leap year the way he knew best-- through mystifying mathematical equations.  At one point, he looked to me for the answer to a question that to this day would still fly over my head and I responded, "Well Pops, I guess we don't really know when my birthday is." 

It's been twenty five years since that first public discussion of leap year, and twenty years since Pops and I gave up trying to mathematically prove why leap years exist.  Since then, I've put in the time and effort and really educated myself on leap year. So, boys and girls, sit back, relax and read on to have all your 366th day of the year questions answered.
By a show of hands, how many of you know why leap year exists?

That's what I thought.

The actual length of a year (the revolution of Earth around the Sun) is 365.2422 days. If we didn't have leap years, the seasons would shift about a quarter of a day every year, and after 100 years the seasons would be off by 25 days. The extra day adjusts this drift.

Fascinating stuff, huh.

Do you know anyone born on leap year day?  Now you do.  Hello, my name is Erin, and I'm a leap year baby.
(Hi, Erin.)

Here are some more fun leap year facts for you: 

"Leap year was ne'er a good sheep year." (old proverb)  For all you sheep farmers out there.

A leapling is a person born on a leap day. Many feel that being a leapling is a sign of good luck. (If you know me, you know this one is open to interpretation.)

Ages ago, Leap Day was known as Ladies' Day, as it was the one day when women were free to propose to men.  Go get him, ladies.

One has a 1/1500 chance of being born on Leap Day.

There are no numbers (yet) of the percentage of leaplings who are also gingers.  But my guess is we are a rare breed.

Leap year babies are always above average in looks and intelligence, and rumor has it Helen of Troy was also a leap year baby.
(There is a 100% chance I made that last one up.)

Started from the bottom now I'm here.

I'm often asked when I celebrate my birthday on non leap years. Simply, I take 2/28 and 3/1 as my birthday.  Not such a bad deal, is it.  And, when an actual leap year rolls around...hold on to your hat because it is P-A-R-T-Y time. For my 4th birthday, one of my best friends and I forced my high school chemistry teacher to have a month-long birthday countdown on his white board.  For my 5th birthday my college roommates and I threw a big, crazy college party.  I invited my parents, because I had never celebrated a leap year without them, but because they still had a busy young family at home, I didn't expect to see them. And, so, I behaved like I wouldn't see them. Midway through the party, the aforementioned bff found me, grabbed my face in her hands and said, "Schuette, get it together, your parents are here."  And then, my parents and my college friends had a rollicking good time rolling in the leap year.  My sixth birthday involved renting an Irish pub and drinking Irish beer, and when I turned seven, I had a princess-themed party.  All the little princes and princesses in my life came out to celebrate.  It was awesome.

The past few years, I've had to work on my birthdays.  I've been lucky enough to stay close to home so I can still celebrate with my nearest and dearest.  Crazily enough, two years ago I ran into the same kindergarten teacher who first explained leap year all those years ago. That was the same year and same auto show I found out I was expecting Gracie.  Leap year or no, that was the best birthday ever.

Grandpa!

MIMI!!

This year, I had to work on my birthdays.  But it wasn't so bad because I made a new friend. His name is Aaron, too.  Maybe you recognize him?

In the evening, we celebrated at the same spot with the same people we had two years previous.

two years previous

Except a new, very important person was there:

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday -- and a big shout out to that same bff from high school chemistry and college for hosting.  Megan, outside of my first birthday, I don't think I've celebrated a leap year birthday without you, either!  How lucky am I?!

People also ask me if I enjoy having a leap year birthday, and the answer is yes.  It's a bit confusing to explain, and it can be a little anti-climactic when March 1st is over...but generally, it's an interesting and unique part of who I am. Also, I'll get to turn ten with my daughter.  How many people can do that?!

I hope you all have fun birthdays and can still do things like this:

Anthropologie boxes and a fit bit.  Do my people know me or what. #ilovepresents

And then this: