I agree with Chimp about it being a step in the right direction. Some of us like to call those dreamlets, the type of dreams where it's just kind of starting, but it's much more stable and sensible that the imagery we get in hypnagogia, but at the same time it's not a full-on dream yet. When that happens to me (and I luckily manage to be aware in that phase), I like to imagine myself in the dream. And by that I mean I try to interact with the dream. At first I'd have no body, like I'm just an observer. But then I try to think I'm just in first person mode, and then I visualize my dream body reaching out to touch objects, or move my limbs a little. I try to imagine how it feels when I am reaching out and coming into contact with the dream objects, and most importantly, I try to look down at my dream body. It helps me reinforce the thought that my dream body is really there, I just havent seen it yet. So once I establish my dream body is there, I do a reality check and have fun

As for treating DCs as you would irl, why don't you try verbal reinforcement when you are lucid? Once you get lucid and think about interacting with DCs, you can verbally tell yourself 'he is not real. i can do whatever i want' or anything along those lines. I know it seems pretty straightforward and silly, but many times our dreaming mind (even when lucid) can still struggle with really comprehending the implications of being lucid, such as no rules/laws of physics or reasonsm basically. And saying it out ooud can even boost your lucidity since you get more awareness by reminding yourself.

Hope that helps a bit, you can try doing that if you want~