Changes come in clumps. I’m probably not alone when I tell you that several of my friends got married right around the same time as I did, and subsequently had their first kids right around the same time I did and, eventually, will get divorced around the same time I do.

Such is how the world turns, and now is the time on Sprockets when people have their second child, should they choose to do so. My wife and I have not yet made a choice one way or the other – though we were considering the pros and cons almost immediately after we had Kid #1.

The jury remains out for us. But if we do have a second, my wife would love a daughter.

So much so that I would not be surprised to see her attempt to shove a second son back in.

Thankfully, it seems possible it may not come to that.

Back when we popped our little guy out in 2010 (I use the term “we” loosely), he was born into a landscape littered with male babies. I think we knew of more than ten kids being born to our network of friends and acquaintances and maybe two were little chickadees.

As such, even before we learned the gender of our son, we knew he was unlikely to break the mold; maleness was inevitable. Especially after we’d accidentally veered from our Chinese-based “HAVE A GIRL, GUARANTEED” regimen of reproductive intercourse.

To paraphrase The Wire: “This is gender war, gentleman. The Chinese will not save you.”

They certainly didn’t save us. But…this time there’s a chink in the armor (NO PUN INTENDED, RACISTS!) Someone in our inner circle has FINALLY had a girl. HUZZAH!

To quote Rocky IV: “He’s not a machine, he’s a man!”

And just like that we have reason to believe things could be different next time!

Might round two – should we embark on that journey – yield us a bouncing baby girl? It’s too soon to tell, really. After all, several round twos for friends have already produced more boys. But perhaps with this news the floodgates will open and emissaries of the fairer sex will flow forth.

And then we’ll have the dream scenario – a daughter for my wife to bond with, a younger sister for my son to protect, and a Pandora’s box full of stress, anxiety and forthcoming assault charges for me to hold shut as long as possible despite her inevitable progression into adulthood.

Regardless of what should happen down the line, suddenly hope springs eternal: anything seems possible. The (perceived) increased possibility of a daughter might even be enough to nudge our family down the road to additional offspring. Now, nothing has been decided, and the luck of the Irish couple that will be blessed with a baby girl is nothing to bank on (I’m only half-Irish), but having a daughter no longer seems so out of reach.

Especially if we manage to stick to the Chinese calendar this time.

Who knows, maybe we’ll get SUPER lucky and add a hermaphrodite to our family. The best of BOTH worlds!