When you aren’t sure about a baby’s gender

I suppose we’ve all been in the situation where a parent with a baby visits your business.

It’s always nice to say something about the kid. But sometimes that can be complicated if you don’t know the child’s gender.

You can’t address the youth as “it.”

Sure, you could ask the parent in question. But new moms and dads can be sensitive about that sort of thing. To them, the answer is obvious.

Names aren’t always much help these days. (Don’t get me started.)

So you might wait to hear the parent use a pronoun. You know, “He’s sleeping a lot right now” or “She already has a tooth.”

But if such a clue is not forthcoming?

Long ago and far away, I worked with a nice old guy who didn’t take chances. In such situations, he enthusiastically declared, “My, that IS a baby!”

I know. Doesn’t make much sense. But he sold it with a big smile and some fairly sincere happy-to-see-you vibes.

What do you do?