Their personalities are totally different. One leads, and the other tends to follow. But there's one thing Delonte and Devonte Mitchell, both 7 years old, have in common -- their birthday, Feb. 29, leap day.
"Happy" it's finally here is how Delonte describes her feelings this leap year. "Great" is the term Devonte used. This year will mark only the second time in their short lives the twins will have celebrated their true birthday.
The Felton Laboratory School second-graders can't agree on what day their birthday is celebrated in non-leap years.
Delonte claims it's March 1; Devonte says Feb. 28. But mom Cynthia Mitchell of Orangeburg says it's usually whichever day falls on the weekend -- and most often, that's March 1.
"See, I told you," Delonte smugly said to Devonte. And because leap day falls on a Friday this year, the tradition will remain in place, with plans for a grand birthday party -- a Sponge Bob set-up complete with balloons and, of course, two cakes -- set for Saturday, March 1. Delonte's cake will sport eight candles; Devonte's, a candle shaped like the number eight.
Cynthia said Delonte's original due date was set for April 14, 2000, but on Feb. 13, her water broke unexpectedly.
"I had no idea I was going to have twins," said Cynthia, who said her father is also a twin. "I found out on Feb. 13." Turns out Delonte was in front of Devonte the entire time they were in the womb, a fact the Mitchell family finds amusing as they joke about Delonte's bossiness.
"She was born 10 minutes earlier than him, but she thinks she's the boss," Cynthia said.
"She's not the boss," Devonte interjected. "Me and daddy, we're the boss."
Regardless of who's the boss, Cynthia said the pair sticks together when needed.
Cynthia stayed in the hospital until the twins were born, with doctors at Columbia's Palmetto Health Richland trying to hold off delivery until the last possible moment.
That moment came on Tuesday, Feb. 29. Delonte arrived at 4:49 a.m., with little brother Devonte coming into the world at 4:59.
"She was premature," Cynthia said of Delonte, who weighed a mere 3 pounds, 15 ounces at birth and had to stay in the hospital for several weeks to gain weight. Her brother was 5 pounds, 3 ounces and able to leave the hospital with his mother two days after delivery.
Devonte taunted his sister: "I came home first. Yeah. You
had to stay in there. Because they liked me."
Delonte just ignored his comment, talking about school, their upcoming birthday party and her favorite foods instead.
"He's goofy and always asks questions," said older sister Kyhara Hubbard, 14, of Devonte. Cynthia adds, "He's very short with words. He gets straight to the point."
Kyhara said she gets strange looks when she tells people that her littlest brother and sister only have a birthday once every four years.
"I tell my friends they're turning a different age, like 2," said 11-year-old brother Desane Mitchell Jr. Desane Jr., whose birthday falls on Nov. 17, said he's not jealous of the twins' birthday.
His mom gives a look that says otherwise, but Kyhara pipes up quickly. "I don't feel jealous," she said. "I don't. I'm glad my birthday comes every year." On July 21, to be exact.
"He asked me why they get special attention for their birthday," Cynthia said of Desane Jr., who she said claims he, too, deserves special attention because his birthday comes late in the year.
Cynthia said having twins unexpectedly wasn't a problem, because she had her husband, Desane Mitchell, and Kyhara and Desane Jr. to help.
"We can't do no more than love them," Desane said. "The Lord will provide."
"It's unique," Cynthia said of the special birthday. "It was a surprise."
T&D Features Editor Wendy Jeffcoat Crider can be reached by e-mail at wjeffcoat@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5546. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.
A special day indeed
T&D Staff Report
Although the chance of being born on leap day is about one in 1,500, there’s another T&D Region girl joining the Mitchells in turning 8 on Friday.
Emily Benton, daughter of Trey and Beth Benton of Bamberg, was born at 11:13 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000, at the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg.
“I’m really happy about it,” Emily said of getting to celebrate her real birthday this year. “We’re having a birthday party, and lots of people are coming. We’re having a modeling party.”
Emily, Delonté and Devonté not only share a rare leap year birthday, they also share an even rarer century leap year birthday.
According to www.infoplease.com, the Gregorian calendar incorporates a leap year with 366 days instead of the normal 365 once every four years to compensate for the extra five hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds per solar year. Because it is not quite a quarter of a day, three leap years are omitted every 400 years.
Most years divisible by four are leap years, but century years are only leap years if their number can be evenly divided by 400. Those century leap years that can not be divided by 400 are omitted to bring the calendar year in near harmony with the solar year.
With that in mind, the three local leap day babies are even more unique, having been born on a century leap day, and a millennial leap day at that!
The site says there are approximately 187,000 people in the U.S. — and 4 million worldwide — who celebrate a leap-day birthday.
Emily, who will be celebrating her second true birthday this year, has alternated between Feb. 28 and March 1 in the past to mark the special occasion.
When asked if her family would wait to celebrate her birthday on Saturday, March 1, Emily said no way.
“We’re having it on my birthday, finally,” she said.
Emily said she wishes her birthday came every year but enjoys having the unusual day to herself.
“It makes me feel special,” she said, “because people I know don’t have birthdays on that day, every four years.”
Emily is a student at Richard Carroll Primary School in Bamberg and enjoys school, her classmates and friends, church activities, dancing, cheering, drawing, modeling and playing baseball. She is currently training for several running events and has participated in Charleston’s Cooper River Bridge Run and Reindeer Run.
When she grows up, Emily wants to be a teacher or a fashion model.
Emily has a 21-month-old sister, Reagan, and is the granddaughter of Chick and Brenda Smith of Orangeburg and George and Sheryl Benton of Bamberg.