Dunham will be celebrating her 12th birthday on Leap Day this year. During years without a Leap Day, she always celebrated on Feb. 28, rather than March 1.

“We just celebrated it on the 28th, so it would still be in February,” she said.

Dunham said her family never really did anything extra special on her leap year birthdays.

“I just remember my grandpa and grandma always taking us to Shakey’s Pizza in Cedar Falls,” she said. “I lived in Shell Rock, so that’s where my special birthday would be.”

Now, she’s a kindergarten teacher at Pleasant View Elementary School in Webster City, and she said her students get a kick out of her unusual birthday.

“The more funny part was once I got into teaching kindergarten, I only lived two blocks from school and the kids knew that and saw me walking sometimes and didn’t think I was old enough to drive,” Dunham said.

While she’s only had 12 birthdays, including her upcoming birthday on Saturday, Dunham will be turning 48.

She said there have been some “glitches” that have been caused by having a Feb. 29 birthday.

“When the insurance companies were converting to have everything done on the computer, and my birthday being the 29th wasn’t an option in their system,” she said. “A few of them put me in as March 1, and I was like ‘No, my birthday is not in March.'”

Dunham remembers one birthday that was made extra special when she worked at the former Thompson Pharmacy, which was owned by Tom and Judy McLaughlin.

“One year, when I turned five, Tom made me a special cake and cut it out in the same of a five, which was actually my 20th birthday,” she said. “And at the store there, they put balloons up everywhere and he put a big banner across that said ‘Happy 20th/5th birthday.’ He made that one pretty special.”

Another year, a parent in one of her classrooms gave her some leap year books to share and read with her class.

This year, Dunham plans on bringing treats in for her kindergartners, just like she does every year.