statt + genitive case

J with the grammar skillz: "Ich baue jetzt statt eines Hauses ein Loch in den Berg hinein."

And then in a following sentence he says "Statt Lichtern baue ich Fackeln ...", Which is a switch to the more colloquial dative, but it makes sense because with the genitive there would be no lexical case marker (statt Lichter) and obviously his little mind senses it needs to be marked!