Waking up to heroes

I see Iron Man and Captain America every morning.

They’re part of a makeshift art gallery my sons have set up, which continues to weave its way through our home.

At first, just a few, colored pictures were displayed along the white chair rail in their shared bedroom. Then their masterpieces were hung with care from various spots along their bunk beds and eventually all over their beautiful navy walls.

This week, houseguests may notice a few more hanging in the family room.

And I’m OK with this.

What began as a $3.99 purchase of a giant floor pad at Christmas Tree Shops has provided my boys with hours of creativity. It was intended to get us through a rainy day, but it has given us so much more.

I am passionate about home design — and kitsch certainly isn’t my style — but I’m not the kind of mom who would ever discourage a museum.

Kid clutter is not the same stress as having dishes in the sink or baskets of laundry to put away.

In fact, Ty and Dimitri’s variations on “Earth’s mightiest heroes” leave me smiling and charmed.

Ty is 5 years old and will begin kindergarten at a Dallastown School District elementary center in August. Dimitri is 3 years old and will start preschool around the same time.

Of course we’ll still be close, but things change once kids start school. They’re far more independent. And if my sons are anything like my 8-year-old daughter who’s bound for third grade, they will immerse themselves in learning and trying new things.

There will still be coloring, I’m sure. But the majority of the artwork will come from class projects — not things they made at home.

While I’d love to tell you we will carve out time for painting and drawing at home, we probably won’t. We’ll be inundated with fall sports and school assignments that get juggled among work schedules and other events.

So I’ll leave up Iron Man and Captain America for as long as I can.

Plus, every mom knows you can always wake up to worse.

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