Although the anniversary of James’s birth will only roll around every four years Melissa said her son would have a birthday celebration every year on February 28.
“We’ll have two celebrations every Leap Year,” she said.
“He is extra special and something of a miracle because I thought I’d never have a baby. I had low fertility due to past surgeries and thought it wouldn’t be possible.”
While James is a first child for Melissa, Michael has five children and three grandchildren.
“James will be a very young uncle to my grandchildren,” said Michael.
“The youngest is just a few months old so they will be playmates for him.”
As well as running Canaan Honey, the Brandons have a lawn mowing business and Melissa, a qualified teacher, plans to start providing home-based education when the time is right.
“I want to spend as much time with James as I can,” she said.
“I’m quite besotted with him already.”
Leap days, which happen every four years, were introduced to recalibrate the calendar.
Because it takes Earth 365 days and almost six hours to orbit the sun each year, the accumulated extra hours are added as an extra day to the shortest month every fourth year.
The odds of being born in a leap year are estimated to be around 1 in 1500 and those born in 2024 will join around five million others in the world who share the birthday.
Liz Wylie is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. She joined the editorial team in 2014 and regularly covers stories from Whanganui and the wider region. She also writes features and profile stories.
