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Remember When: Imagine a life at the Upton Abbey

Imagine only having a birthday once every four years; these famous names are among them

<p>Two young ladies have found the fountain of youth, and it&#8217;s easy to find for anyone born on Feb. 29, as the leap year day only occurs every four years.</p><p>Eight years ago,<a href="https://www.timesleader.com/features/engagements/513567/leap-year-bingo-to-be-played-at-wyoming-area" target="_blank"> during a leap year</a>, Kyiah Wheaton of Wilkes-Barre and Melody Pratz of Florida, were born on Feb. 29. Today marks the second time in their lives they&#8217;ll celebrate on their actual birth date, and they are celebrating in big ways.</p><p>Kyiah, a Mini-Mohawks cheerleader who likes to work on art projects, celebrated with her classmates on Feb. 26 and had a party with friends at Skateaway in Wilkes-Barre on Feb. 27, but her family is determined to have an authentic celebration on Feb. 29.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re going out to dinner, and we&#8217;re going to do something special,&#8221; Kyiah said. The second grader said drawing butterflies and flowers could qualify as a special activity for her.</p><p>Kyiah&#8217;s grandmother, Brenda Nelson of Wilkes-Barre, said the child&#8217;s birthday has been an interesting family conversation since she was born.</p><p>&#8220;They told us at the hospital when she was born, she&#8217;d either be the 28th or the 1st of March,&#8221; Nelson said. &#8220;We told them we wanted her birth date on her birth certificate to be the 29th, because that&#8217;s when she was born.&#8221;</p><p>The family celebrates Kyiah&#8217;s birthday on Feb. 28 during non-leap years, but they tend to have a bit of fun with the situation.</p><p>&#8220;On a year when it falls on her actual birthday, we tell her she&#8217;s only so many years old, and she looks at us weird,&#8221; Nelson said. &#8220;We have to explain it to her. We joke around with her and tell her she&#8217;s never going to get old.&#8221;</p><p>Melody, who resides in Florida with her parents, is the granddaughter of Francis and Maryann Grevera of Nanticoke. Melody&#8217;s father, Andy, said they default to Feb. 28 most years, but they try to make a fuss about the Feb. 29 celebration.</p><p>&#8220;We had a bigger celebration on the four year anniversary,&#8221; Pratz said. &#8220;This year, we had a <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/features/373818/fun-horse-show-opens-benton-rodeofrontier-days-bull-riding-and-bronco-riding-on-tap-for-weekend" target="_blank">horse riding party</a>. We have a riding stable nearby that my daughter&#8217;s been taking lessons at. We had a dozen friends and cousins with her. She had a lot of people that she loves around her.&#8221;</p><p>Like Kyiah&#8217;s family, Pratz said he and his wife play around with the idea of having a daughter who, at least on paper, ages slower than most.</p><p>&#8220;We tease her a little bit, saying she&#8217;s only 2,&#8221; Pratz said. &#8220;She has an older sister who never hesitates to target her with teasing.&#8221;</p><p>Pratz said Melody understands her unique birthday now, but some of her friends are still a little confused.</p><p>&#8220;We had a sign made up, and it said, &#8216;Happy Second Birthday Melody,&#8217;&#8221; Pratz said. &#8220;Some kids got the joke and some didn&#8217;t.&#8221;</p><p>Melody is beginning to embrace the humor in her birth date.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s funny, because I just say I&#8217;m turning 2,&#8221; she said.</p><p>In Kyiah&#8217;s family, special birthdays are a family affair as her mother was born on Christmas Eve, and her grandmother, Nelson, was born on Father&#8217;s Day.</p><p>&#8220;It was weird how it came about, but I think it&#8217;s cute,&#8221; Nelson said.</p><p>Nelson even joked about what hiccups might come as Kyiah reaches certain milestones in life.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m confused about when it comes time to get her driver&#8217;s license,&#8221; Nelson said. &#8220;We have no clue when she&#8217;ll be able to get it. I would like input on it.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Kyiah Wheaton of Wilkes-Barre turns 8 years old today. This Feb. 29 marks the second day in her eight years she got to celebrate on her actual birthday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL022916wheaton.bdy_.jpg</photo0><caption0>Kyiah Wheaton of Wilkes-Barre turns 8 years old today. This Feb. 29 marks the second day in her eight years she got to celebrate on her actual birthday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photos </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Melody-2nd-Grade.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Melody Pratz of Florida turns 8 years old today. Melody enjoys joking about her decelerated aging process. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Melody-2nd-Grade.jpg</photo1><caption1>Melody Pratz of Florida turns 8 years old today. Melody enjoys joking about her decelerated aging process. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photos </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_BirthdaySign.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A sign Melody&#8217;s parents had made for her 8th birthday on Feb. 29. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_BirthdaySign.jpg</photo2><caption2>A sign Melody&#8217;s parents had made for her 8th birthday on Feb. 29. </caption2><photoCredit2>Submitted photos </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Kyiah Wheaton, Melody Pratz turn 8 &#8230; or 2</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Matt Mattei</p><p>mmattei@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Matt Mattei at 570-991-6651 or <a href="mailto:Twitter@TLArts">Twitter@TLArts</a></p></shirttailMeta></div>

Kyiah Wheaton of Wilkes-Barre, Melody Pratz of Florida celebrate Feb. 29 birthdays in special ways