A-たように-B Clarification

Question

I was looking up this pattern on here today because I'm still a tiny bit unsure of the exact meaning.

Although there are multiple questions about this, I've found that the meaning varies slightly based on which one you read.

For example, the following says that A-たように-B means "to do B as it was done when A":

Difference between だったように and のように

Whereas this says that A-たように-B means "to do B as if doing A":

Ta form + ように + phrase with verb meaning/usage e.g. 拗ねたように頬を膨らませる

Based on this, I'm not sure which translation is correct for the following sentence:

子供の頃に作ったように雪で人や獣の像を作り、四方の壁に飾る。

1. Make statues of people and beasts out of snow as you did when you were a child, and decorate them on all four walls.
2. Make statues of people and beasts out of snow as if you did when you were a child, and decorate them on all four walls.

I know the "if" is small here and I'm probably just tying myself up in knots unnecessarily, but 2. hints that she never did it as a child, and she's doing it now as if she had.

Can anyone kindly shed some light for me?

Answer 1

The first translation is correct.

In the second link, the verbs used before ように, namely [拗]{す}ねる, [諦]{あきら}める, and [思]{おも}い[切]{き}る, all describe a person’s state of mind. You cannot tell for sure that another person is in a particular state of mind. You rely on what you can observe from the outside for that judgment. That’s where the verbs in the main clause come in. They all describe a person’s external behavior, namely [頬]{ほほ}をふくらませる, 小さく[頷]{うなず}く, and 口を[開]{ひら}く. Each sentence is saying that the way the person in question behaved made her look as if she was in the said state of mind.

作る in your example, on the other hand, describes a concrete action. If you see someone making a snow statue, you can tell for sure she is making a snow statue. Besides, the same verb is used in the main clause, too. The sentence is simply comparing two concrete actions, now and then. She did make snow statues when she was a child.

If she didn’t make snow statues when she was a child yet she is making them as if she had, then the sentence would be something like:

（あたかも）子供の頃に作ったかのように雪で人や獣の像を作り、四方の壁に飾る。

This expresses the idea of an unreal "as if".