Olivia had her holiday concert last night. She was all excited about it - not nervous at all. "God, mum, you should just hear some of the other girls. They get so nervous that they feel sick. What is wrong with them?" Oh, the scorn of a 13 year-old girl.

I had her check before the concert - she was 249 and bolused to correct that. I'd rather have her run a bit high for these things that go too low. She did that once. It wasn't pretty.

I went into the cafeteria (which doubles as an auditorium at her school) and read until the concert started (The Tailor's Daughter - excellent if anyone's interested). Finally, the chorus filed in and took their positions on the risers. I found Olivia in the back row but refrained from waving as so many of the parents were doing. Seriously, what is that? They are in middle school, not kindergarten. Do you really need to wave back and forth to your kid at that age? Really? Am I missing some vital parenting gene here?

Anyway. The entire time she was singing, I kept scanning her face. I finally realized that I was watching her for signs of a low - to see if she got wobbly or if her face went white.

It sucks. I just wanted to enjoy the concert, to listen to my daughter sing, to watch her having fun. Instead, in addition to that, I watched to make sure she wasn't going low, wasn't acting funny. And as soon as she came off stage, I had her check again. She was a nice, respectable 128.