Last week was Bubby's very first week of preschool, and he survived with minimal meltdowns. Only one big meltdown, to be exact, but that should be expected from a two-year-old getting the hang of an 8 a.m. to about 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday gig.

Preston did the first-day drop-off duty with the schoolboy while Pre-K teacher Mommy had first-day duty in the classroom -- a classroom directly across the hall from Bubby's classroom, if you can believe such luck! Here's the photo Preston took on his phone of the major event then graciously passed along:

Ah, my little big boy.

According to all reports, Bubby did just fine with his first day of school. That evening, his teacher e-mailed Megan two more photos -- the other two photos in this post -- showing what fun he had throughout the day.

I'm not sure if Mrs. L (whose real name I can never remember except that it has an ending that sounds something like "peanut") is just a super fantastic teacher and e-mailed photos to the parents of all twelve of the toddlers in her class, or if it was special treatment for a fellow teacher who happens to be the parent of one of her students.

Either way, Megan was pretty happy to see the highlights of Bubby's first day. And I was pretty happy to steal the photos off Megan's blog for use here. (Thanks, Meg!)

During his first week of formal schooling, Bubby learned lots. But it wasn't learning letters (of which Bubby already knows all of those in his name) or colors (of which Bubby already knows all the basic ones) that were his greatest achievement. It was pooping. Yep, you heard me right. Bubby pooped ... in a big boy toilet ... at school! Something he'd never done outside of the comfort of his own potty chair before. It required no begging, pleading, bribing or anything of the sort.

(I personally think it might have been the allure of the preschool's miniature toilets installed specifically for little ones that led to his crowning achievement so early in his academic career.)

Whatever the reason may be -- and the reason remains unclear at this point since he's not duplicated the accomplishment as of yet -- Bubby received TWO suckers from his teacher for his work. When he talked to Gramma that evening, his most enthusiastic comment about his school day was "Two suckers! TWO SUCKERS!"

Megan, who's been using the ONE-sucker reward system for potty training, had only this to say: "Thanks a lot, Mrs. L!"

Ya better stock up on suckers, Meg. Seems the lesson of the day is that TWO suckers are better than one. And clearly the secret to success!

Today's question:

What important lesson have you recently learned?

Bubby got his "first official time out" yesterday. Megan called, rather upset, to tell me that their houseguest had left the bathroom door open, Bubby got in there, and he made a mess. I imagined lotion squirted everywhere, maybe some lipstick drawings on the cabinets, garbage strewn across the room.

Nope. None of the above. It was the age-old toilet paper unrolling.

Kids have been fascinated by toilet paper since its invention, I believe. Andrea was our biggest toilet paper fan when the girls were little. It prompted me to purchase this picture that hung in our main bathroom for years:

Andie was caught in a similarly red-handed fashion many times. Apparently we mentioned it so often as she grew older that she honestly believed that was a picture of her—something I learned only after hearing her point out the picture to a friend she was showing around the house. Many years and bathrooms later, I don't have the heart to get rid of Andie's potty picture so it now hangs in a spare bathroom downstairs.

For Bubby's first hands-on toilet paper unrolling, he was more organized about his chaos: He placed all the unrolled sheets directly into the toilet. (At least he understands a small portion of the potty process! I'm tellin' ya, the kid's a genius.)

Megan busted him fairly quickly, prevented a clogged toilet and placed Bubby in a time out. Being the ever-conscientious pre-K teacher that she is, Megan followed the timeout rules and Bubby's punishment lasted one minute. (For the unenlightened, the rule is one minute per year in age.)

It was a very traumatic minute—for Megan. Other than minor admonishments when Bubby tries to climb as high as he can possibly find a foothold or when he's making a diaper change a difficult and dirty time, Megan hasn't had to do much disciplining of her baby.

So that one minute was about 59 seconds too long for Megan. Bubby, on the other hand, survived it without major psychological harm, it seems. He may have even learned something ("No play!" as Megan firmly stated in her best stern-teacher tone).

When the time was up, Bubby wrapped his arms around his mommy and gave her three big kisses; a sincere apology, I'd say, coming from a kiddo with a vocabulary of fewer than five (very unclear) words.

Still, Megan needed assurance from her mom that she did the right thing, and she was on the phone with me before the slobbery kisses from Bubby had dried.

You did the right thing, Megan. I promise.

(But I'd make sure the bathroom door stays shut going forward, if I were you.)

Great Grandma Idea #23: I'm thinking I need to make our longtime bathroom picture a traveling display, bestowing it on each of the girls' households as the grandkids take turns mimicking their Auntie Andie. With Bubby being the only grandchild so far, it's a pretty safe bet Megan's house will be the first awarded such an honor.