The men and women who share February 29 as a birthday are accustomed to attracting a little bit of curiosity.Popularly known as leapers or leaplings, they measure their lives by a different schedule than the rest of us.And a sampling of residents who share February 29 as their birthday revealed some traits in common: the children of leap years like to say they’re younger than they appear.Born in the leap year of 1972, Paget resident Corrina Rego today celebrates her birthday for just the tenth time on its actual date. “It’s going to be my 40th, so I think I’m going to have an Eighties party,” she said. “I was ten years old in 1982, so that’s how we worked it out.”In ordinary years, she said, Ms Rego usually picks March 1 for her birthday, but she has no strong preference.“Whatever falls nearest to the weekend,” she said. “I guess I do feel special because of it. It’s just kind of weird, and being born on February 29 means that everybody remembers your birthday.”According to family legend, Ms Rego’s parents kept their fingers crossed that she would be born a “leapling”.“I remember being told my mother took some kind of old wives’ tale type of drink, because my father was desperate to have me on that date, just because it was unusual,” she said.John Robbins, born in 1956, recalled trying to get his car license on February 28, because February 29 wasn’t acknowledged as his date of birth.“But they wouldn’t let me have it early,” he said.Mr Robbins added: “February 29 really does create certain challenges. An unnamed insurance company always has a tough time generating my policy, and sometimes at TCD there’s some issue the system wants to use the 29th when there isn’t one, or something like that.“They have to hand write my policy for me. Other times I’ve had to go back to places and get a different date.”Saying he plans to celebrate today with “just a family dinner”, Mr Robbins said different family members held different opinions as to which day he should use for his birthday during non-leap years.Denise Belvin, born in the leap year of 1948, also said that TCD didn’t put her real birth date on her license.“The computer doesn’t recognise it,” she said. “The girls at TCD get a big laugh out of it.”She prefers to use February 28 on regular years. “My mother always said, I was born in February, not March.”According to leap year calculations, today’s birthday is Ms Belvin’s sweet 16.“It’s unusual considering I’ve got grandchildren older than that,” she laughed. “But really, when you think about it, February 29 is when I’m born, so I have my anniversary on the 29th.”Her four-year-old grandson, Ethan Vonhassel, e-mailed The Royal Gazette: “I told my mum and dad to buy her a bike, as she will be allowed to ride one now.”Born in 1972, Lisa Currin said she likes to use her often-absent birthday as an excuse for a two-week party.“This one is going to be special for me because I’m going into the double digits,” she said, referring again to the selective counting enjoyed by “leaplings”. By that reckoning, she turns ten today.“I have a son who’s 11 and a daughter who’s nine, so for a while we’ll be nine, ten and 11,” she said. “If I discipline my son, sometimes he tells me I can’t because I’m younger than him.”When she was 16, she said, her parents threw her a surprise fourth birthday. “It was a complete surprise, with a Disney princess cake.”This year will be nothing over the top. “I’ve heard about it being lucky by I don’t hold to that,” she said. “I just love it because everyone remembers my birthday.”Meanwhile, Elizabeth Hill resident Eulie Hewey, who is 72 today, doesn’t buy the maths of “anniversary birthdays”.“I remember I had everybody say to me I am sweet 16, and I told them I am just a sweet old lady,” she said.Ms Hewey said she doesn’t place any particular significance on being a “leapling”. “God spared my life just to live through each day,” she said.* February 29 is also when women can propose to their boyfriends. Did you? Let us know what happened. E-mail jdeacon[AT]royalgazette.bm