Delhi News Bureau

If age is tallied by the number of birthdays an individual has celebrated, then Leap Day babies have
found the secret to perpetual youth.

Robert Cairns of Delhi was born in 1940, but in 2008 he and his granddaughter, Katy, will celebrate
their 17th birthdays.

Jim Tompkins of Northfield fathered three children between his fifth and seventh birthdays.

Gabe Bliss-Beals of Burlington will celebrate his first birthday Sunday, but he already attends classes
with the 4-year-olds at Cooperstown Preschool.

Dr. John Olson of Cooperstown is a retired surgeon who has lived 72 years, but this year will mark his
18th birthday.

"I realized the other day that you are supposed to register for the draft before your 18th birthday," Olson
said Friday. "But I didn't do it because I already did it years ago."

Most people have a birthday every year, but not these "leapers," who get to officially celebrate only
once every four years.

About 200,000 people in the United States and 4.1 million people in the world are Leap Day babies,
based on the U.S. Census Population Clocks.

Leap Day babies can also be called bissextile babies. Bissextile is the official name of the day added
every fourth year to the month of February to make the year agree with the course of the sun.

Gabe's birth made the front page of The Daily Star after he arrived at 12:11 a.m. Feb. 29, 2000, at M.I.
Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown. His parents are Stephen Beals and Susan Bliss-Beals.

Susan Bliss-Beals said Friday that Gabe is a little too young to really understand the unique nature of
his birthday, but she did show him this year's calendar, which includes Feb. 29, and last year's, which
didn't.

"He has seen visually that his birthday isn't there every year," she said.

Bliss-Beals said that remembering people's birthdays is not her strong suit, so she was surprised this
week when several people have commented on Gabe's birthday.

"People have been stopping me on the street and saying, 'Hey, Gabe has a birthday coming up,'"
Bliss-Beals said. For the last three years, Gabe has celebrated on Feb. 28.

"He was born in February," Bliss-Beals said. "So that's when we have his party."

Bliss-Beals said her son is advanced for his age in some ways, which belies the fact that this will be
his first birthday.

"He is tall for his age," she said. "His taste in music includes Elvis and Cajun, and he is a backseat driver."

Rita Olson is throwing a party for her husband this year because he refuses to celebrate on the off-years.
They will be celebrating at the 1891 House, John Olson said.

"I only celebrate on my birthday," he said. "Last year, they forced me to have a party on my 173/4 birthday,
but everyone sends me cards every year."

Coincidentally, Olson and Tompkins had sons born in Leap Years who might have shared their Leap Day
birthdays, but both boys waited until March 3 to arrive. Olson's son, Steven, was born in 1964, the year
Olson celebrated his eighth birthday, and Tompkins' son, Dustin, was born in 1988, right after Tompkins'
sixth birthday.

Tompkins said Friday that he doesn't really do much to celebrate his birthday, but when he does, he usually
does it Feb. 28. This year he jumped the gun, even though it's Leap Year, because his wife, Serena, bought
him tickets to attend the Daytona 500.

Cairns said he has been celebrating his birthday on the off-years on March 1 because he shares a cake with
his granddaughter, Molly Cairns.

"This year is my real 16th birthday," Cairns said Friday. "A lot of people have been kidding me that I can
finally get a permit to drive."

Cairns said he actually applied for his driver's license on his fourth birthday.

Ann Cairns, 62, said she is often accused of robbing the cradle when people realize how young her husband
really is.

All three men admitted that their children enjoyed the fact that they outdistanced their fathers when it came
to counting birthdays.

A person has only a one-in-1,506 chance of being born on Feb. 29, but because of the novelty of the birth date,
many leapers know of other people with Leap Day birthdays.

Tompkins said he lives three houses away from Wes Brundege, who will be celebrating his 12th birthday
this year. Brundege shares his birthday with his mother, Anna, who was also a Leap Day baby.

Bliss-Beals said Gabe and Olson have formed a bond over their shared birthday.

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Patricia Breakey can be reached at (607) 746-2894 or at stardelhi@stny.rr.com