Ok!

First thing; Lucid dreaming is exactly what you described from your Grade 2 experience. The dream world snaps into sudden clarity (I get an electric feeling throughout my body), and you suddenly have control. So yes, that is lucid dreaming! You can do anything, be anyone, and control everything!

Secondly, reality checks and daily awareness are absolutely essential to lucid dreaming. Without these things, any time you become lucid will be almost pure luck. ADA (All Day Awareness) and Reality Checks (you can find tons more info on both topics on this site) are in my opinion the most important part of lucid dreaming; along with the pure desire to want to lucid dream.

Basically, reality checks are done periodically throughout the day, and at unique occurances (sex, getting very mad at someone, seeing a car crash, or anything that seems to stick out from your daily routine). All day awareness is pretty much constantly taking note of how the "Real World" feels. How the leaves move, how smells waft, how the sun feels on your face. Up until you are lucid, dreams are bizarre and non-sensical; and you will eventually be able to realize this very easily with ADA and Reality Check practice. The idea of reality checks is that you will see something unusual in your dream, and out of habit your dream self will do a reality check, which will almost always fail in a dream, as its not reality!

Dream journals are also an essential part of lucid dreams. They let your dreams become more and more vivid, and you can recall more and more cool stuff. I now look forward to dreaming, even if it isn't lucid, because my dreams are always entertaining, and now I can remember and make sense of them. But keeping a journal also lets you pick up on dream signs - unique things that occur often in your dreams, that you can train yourself to look for and become lucid when you see them in dreaming.

When you are lucid you will KNOW. An amazing energy fills your body, and your dream is suddenly crisp and life-like. There are still weird things, like twisted hallways and strange landscapes, but its like Alice in Wonderland; you are really THERE. You can feel, touch, taste, smell... Its incredible.

So stick with it, learn more on awareness, meditation, and reality checks, and keep on recording those dreams!

~Raven