FARGO -- Dylan Dauenhauer's shirt says it all: "I turned 12 on 12/12/12."
The quiet sixth-grader with a big smile, who turns 12 today, said he's "excited" his golden birthday falls on the once-in-a-century date.
His mother, Steph Dauenhauer, said it took the family a few years to realize that the numbers would line up like they did today.
Since then, though, "we've kind of built it up," she said, pointing to his shirt, which was one of his birthday presents.
"And why not?" she asked. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
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The family has scheduled Dylan's birthday party for Saturday, and invited 11 friends (Dylan makes 12) to join for bowling starting at -- when else? -- noon.
Dylan's birthday today might not be quite as exciting as his weekend party, though. He's taking tests in both his language arts and religion classes at Sullivan Middle School, followed by gymnastics practice later tonight.
Beyond just the uniqueness of his birthday date, 12 has been a pretty important number in Dylan's life -- it's his favorite number, as well his jersey number in soccer.
That's where the coincidences end, though.
Dylan wasn't born at 12:12, "and he wasn't 12 pounds when he was born, thank God," his mother said with a laugh.
The last time it was 12/12/12, 100 years ago, the weather wasn't all that different from today's forecast. According to WDAY-TV, the temperature on Dec. 12, 1912, reached 20 degrees with no precipitation; today, the high is 30 degrees with a chance for flurries.
And while Dec. 12 is just the latest in a string of repeated dates that we've seen for the past 11 years, this one will be the last -- for a while. The next time the numbers line up will be nearly 90 years from now, on Jan. 1, 2101.
