Moving on up

As any Pseuodo Dad will tell you it isn't easy when you try to take your first step anywhere two or three steps into the process. When I was just living with Mum we lived in a one-bedroom flat in southwest London. When The Boy and The Girl came to live with us we had to move to a two-bedroom flat. Because we had to move quickly we ended up in the most horrible estate you can ever imagine. It was like being on the set of La Haine - high-rise living with low-income families despite both Mum and I earning decent enough money.

After a year spent living surrounded by gangs of kids out at all hours we managed to move to a lovely two-bedroom house in a much nicer, child-friendly area. The kids go to a great school and are doing really well, but as they're nearly seven we need to move to a three-bedroom house so they can have their own room. As London makes millionaires live in pokey houses we have little choice but to move out of the city to Kent, an area still commutable but almost half as expensive.

Again, as with moving to La Hain, we're faced with doing something we wouldn't choose to do, but have no choice but to do it. As a kid I had no idea how difficult it was for my parents. Mum and I are only 27, and would like our own baby at some point, but unlike most 27-year-olds we don't need to make the step from a one-bedroom place to a two-bedroom place, we're talking two-beds to four-beds - not easy, especially when we have to live near London because of our jobs.

The Boy and The Girl are at Biological Dad's house this weekend - always nice to have a lie-in, but horrible missing them and knowing they'll come back scared as he lets them watch Lost, even though we've repeatedly told him what a moronic idea that is.

So, we went to Kent for the first time to scope it out and see whether it is doable. I really wasn't keen, but I can't stop picturing their happy little faces when they find out they'll have their own bedroom. I can't wait to have to explain to The Girl why we can't make her room actually look like a princess's castle. Or seeing The Boy have his own space for the first time in his life and hearing how he'll want it to look. I can't wait to have more money so we can see their eyes as they unwrap a bike - pink for The Girl, Baa Baa Boo Bah (Bob The Builder) for The Boy. No matter what I want, I want what they want twice as much.

PD