Becky Janzen, left, Scott Shreders and MacKenzie Lee McFadden, held by her mother, Amy, share a common life experience: They were born on Feb. 29 on a leap year.

Today is the leap day of 2008.

That means we have 366 opportunities this year to see the sun rise or set, an extra day to earn money, have a day of leisure or find romance. (Ladies, let’s remember this date is also known as Sadie Hawkins Day – you may ask for your boyfriend’s hand in marriage.)

Regardless of how common or uncommon this year might be, stop to think for a moment how many people you know who have a birthday only on leap day. Statistics say that there were 9,792 babies born on Feb. 29, 1988, in the United States.

My son happened to be one of them.

I remember the morning was cloudy and cold, but I didn’t care. I was going to be a mommy, finally! My (now ex) husband and I had known for several months that we were having a boy.

I had known, as only a mother who trusts her intuition can, that my son would be born as a leap day baby, even though our doctor had given us a due date of Feb. 15.

I have worried over the years that my son would feel cheated as he grew older and had a birthday only once every four years, so it is with interest that I chatted with him as well as other area leap year babies for this year’s leap day.

Logistics question

There are about 200,000 babies born on leap day living in the United States. Worldwide, the number is 4.1 million.

Becky Janzen, service coordinator for Prairie Commons Apartments, is one of those.

Janzen is a member of the Honor Society of Leap Year Babies. She was born in Wichita and made the cover of The Wichita Eagle when she was 4 – her first real birthday – because of her unique birth date. Janzen says that having a leap birthday is “a little special,” and she remembers her 16th birthday in particular as being a very big party.

“Having an actual birthday, turning 16, and having a party with my girlfriends was something I have always remembered,” she says.

Janzen questions why Leap Day isn’t marked as such on calendars – the rare date is listed simply as Feb. 29.

“There is a Groundhog Day, Flag Day, First Day of Spring – all of them are marked as such on the calendar, so it would be nice if Leap Year Day was listed on it,” she says.

My son, Scott Shreders, is a student at Kansas University and an employee of the Eldridge Hotel. He says the neat thing about having a Leap Year birthday is it is so rare.

“I never give much thought about my birthday until it comes around, or until I fill out employment documents,” he says. “First, people are a bit shocked when they learn of my birth date, and then they ask me the inevitable question of how old I really am, or make a comment about how tall I am for a 4-year-old.”

(Scott is 6 feet 5 inches tall.)

When to celebrate birthdays that don’t fall during Leap Years is a point of contention for Leap Day families.

Piper Seetin, born to Travis Seetin and Melissa Irwin of Lawrence in 2000, celebrated her first birthday on March 1, Irwin says, “since that would have been the calendar date had it not been a leap year.

But Janzen and Shreders are strict Februarians, people who celebrate their birthdays in February.

“I always want to celebrate the 28th of February,” Shreders says, “because it would be a day earlier than having to wait until March 1, which is when my mom wants me to celebrate. Who wants to wait an extra day, especially when you are a kid?”

(After all these years, I finally get it. I guess I should have just asked you before!)

One thing they all agree on is that having a Leap Year birthday is special and that the year of their actual birth date makes for a bigger party than for the other years.

Shreders, who lives at Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at KU, is happy that his birthday falls on Friday this year, but he adds: “It is unfortunate that this is just my 20th birthday instead of my 21st.”

He should be pleased, though. Shreders will be surprised by the arrival of his uncle from Indianapolis, his aunt from Tampa, Fla., a special package sent from Iraq from another uncle and a basketball signed by KU basketball coach Bill Self. I guess I am still trying to make it up to Scott for giving him a once-every-four-year birthday.

Janzen says she’s taken advantage of the once-every-four-years birthday, too.

“I generally have a bigger party on Leap Year,” she says. “Some restaurants will give you a free meal, but other years they won’t give you one for your birthday because it doesn’t fall on any given day.”

Likewise, there’s a point of frustration for Janzen: “Sometimes, when you try to enter 2-29 into the computer, it will be kicked back out as nonexistent, and I have to e-mail the company asking them to have it fixed.”

Anyway, happy birthday to Scott, Becky, Piper and all of the other Leap Day babies. I hope none of you hold it against your mothers for giving you this rare, but special birthday.

I assure you – we meant well.