Leap Year baby celebrates extra special birthday

Written by Holly Hashimi
Wednesday, 22 February 2012 10:28

Dave Benoit (Supplied)Dave Benoit will be celebrating an extra special birthday this year.

Benoit, who turns 40 this year is considered a Leap Year baby and has only celebrated nine other birthdays on the actual day of his birth—Feb. 29.

For the three years in between, the Keyano College IT manager makes sure he makes the most of his missing birth date.

“Because I’ve gotten ripped off a day three years out of four, I decided to use Feb. 28 and March 1 as my birthday,” he explained. “It’s a nice way to console myself and get a little extra out of it.”

The biggest misconception Benoit said about Leap Year babies is the fact that they don’t age according to the number of birthdays they celebrate on Feb. 29.

Often on his actual birthday, he will hear “You’re turning 10 years old today.”

That is not correct.

“I’ve been alive nearly 40 years,” he said. “I’m not turning 10 years old…It’s 10 birthdays old.”

CUTLINE Fort McMurrayite Dave Benoit celebrates his birthday on Feb. 29. Supplied