Wantagh sophomores celebrate their leap day birthdays

Birthdays can be exciting, even more so when it comes around once every few years.

Wantagh High School sophomores Tyler Santomauro and Brianna McLaughlin are similar in one unique way: They were born on leap day, Feb. 29. According to them, it’s a fun experience to have their actual birthday come around once every four years.

This year, they’ll turn 16, or four, depending on who you ask.

“It’s cool,” Tyler said. “You pick your birthday sometimes, or sometimes you get the real one.”

Brianna says she thinks about how interesting it is to be born on leap day when the date approaches. Her family celebrates her birthday on Feb. 28 when it is not a leap year. When her actual birth date occurs, Brianna says her family makes it a special moment.

“We just celebrate it more I guess,” Brianna said. “Just like, a bigger party. We have it at a restaurant instead of having it at home.”

Tyler’s mother, Cassy Santomauro, says he chooses when to have his birthday on non-leap years. Mostly it’s celebrated on Feb. 28, but sometimes it’s celebrated on the nearest Saturday, or even on St. Patrick’s Day. Last leap year – when Tyler turned 12 – his mother says his friends gave him birthday cards that said he’s turning three, and gave him gift cards to baby stores as a fun way to celebrate.

“They just love the fact that he's got this special day that he can say he's four, or 16,” Santomauro said. “We just like to make it a little bit more of a celebration.”

Santomauro knew her son was going to be a Feb. 29 baby, because she was scheduled to have a C-section that day. She said doctors tried to convince her to change the date, but she didn’t want to.

“The doctors called me like five times about changing the date,” Santomauro said. “They said, ‘Do you want to change it?’ and I'm like, ‘no, I want this birthday.’ I thought it was the coolest birthday ever, so they were trying to talk me out of it.”

The purpose of leap day is to adjust the calendar of the Earth’s orbit around the sun as part of the Gregorian calendar. The planet’s annual rotation is not exactly 365 days, so to keep the calendar aligned with the astronomical seasons, a correction in the form of an extra day is added every four years.

Brianna and Tyler say their friends find their leap day birthdays interesting. According to the History Channel, there are around five million people in the world who were born on Feb. 29, making it the rarest birthday in the world.  

“They just think it’s cool and interesting that you have a birthday every four years,” Brianna said.

“Sometimes when I’m talking about it and someone stops by, they’ll be like, ‘Oh, you’re born on leap year?’ and then ask questions about it,” Tyler said.

Santomauro says Tyler loves his birthday, because it makes him stand out despite being a little bit shy.

“It makes him feel like he's different than everybody and he loves that part,” Santomauro said. “He's a little quiet sometimes in the beginning, but this is something that lets him be the star, so he loves it.”