We’re back. A week of lounging, swimming, eating and sleeping in Portugal (Timmy the class bear included, pictured) has done the trick: Misery Guts is (temporarily) less miserable, I’m (temporarily) less tired and BB is bursting with memories of ice cream licking and swimming pool splashing.

The addition of Timmy to our party has certainly caused a stir among Mumsnetters. After my last post about class teddy bears having a lot to answer for – and letting the side down in spite of myself by taking the damn thing on holiday to snap in various enviable locations – featured as Mumsnet’s blog of the day, the Twitterati went mad.

It seems we’re all at it – rushing around with kids, class mascots and cameras in tow in a bid to illustrate action-packed accounts of the bear’s stay at our house at a day’s notice. It’s like having homework all over again. Needless to say I haven’t actually written up Timmy’s diary entry or printed out the pictures yet – like homework, it’s still hanging over me to do.

But back to the holiday. I couldn’t have got through it without snacks (not for me, for BB). Despite best efforts she flatly refused to eat anything she didn’t recognise, and being on holiday I couldn’t be bothered to argue. So a large part of her diet was sourced from the suitcase, in the form of packets of cheerios and squidgy pouches.

Luckily for me Goodness Gracious sent us a wad of their new organic and gluten-free pouches (pictured) to review before we left, and I couldn’t be more grateful. As well as simple pureed fruit such as apple and pear, the travel-friendly pouches, which don’t need to be kept in the fridge, come in more substantial combinations including apple, banana, prune and quinoa (try getting that into a BB on its own) and complete meals including chicken, sweet potato and spinach and carrot, broccoli, pea and quinoa.

They were, quite simply, a godsend and if you’re going anywhere with a pre-schooler who turns their nose up at anything that isn’t instantly recognisable I’d thoroughly recommend taking these with you (they cost from £1.05 each).

I’m not sure I’d say the same about the class teddy bear though…