Leave the blooms alone, pick the fruit as they become ripe or as needed, fertilize as required for the tree's health. I don't think the taking "a few of them off" (fruits) had anything to do with the progress of your tree. - Millet

The fruit can take several months to grow and ripen. You think your tree is just sitting there but it is really at work thriving and growing. If you see fruit, let them be and they will ripen nicely. Meyer lemons do ideally well in SF as well as here in the Sac Valley.
I planted mine three years ago and right now it is 6 ft tall with about 20 green unripe lemons on it. They are gorgeous trees and very rewarding. They bloom several times a year and produce fantastic fruit. Just give it a little citrus fertilizer, Ironite if you see a pattern of yellow leaves, water as reccommended, and a pruning once in a while if the tree's growth is out of control. Other than that they stay green year round.

I'm new at growing dwarf lemon trees. I fertilized in February, and I now have 6 buds peaking open! My question is this, the tree is not shaped well, when can I prune it and how do I do it?

Kreish, if you prune now, you may ruin the chance of your tree fruiting. Of course this is up to you, but I don't recommend pruning trees, except for stray or dead branches and rootstock growing below the graftline..Toni