Jamie loves books. She enjoys flipping through anything from larger bodied apes, to architecture, to a national geographic about mummies, a classic cowboy boot book, and her new favorite Xtratuf boot book. It has all of her favorite boots in one book! The book idea came about when Jamie’s love for Xtratuf boots happened. As many of you know, the chimps can’t have our cleaning boots because they are made of rubber, which they will sometimes eat. At night we always offer Jamie a pair, or two, or three of her favorite boots or a book before we lock up and leave for the night. Every night instead she would need to groom her favorite Xtratuf boots before bed. These grooming sessions could last anywhere from 25-40 minutes or forever in Jamie’s mind :). Some nights grooming was never enough. As a caregiver, you never want to leave until all the chimps are content. It can be very distressing to see someone like Jamie knowing she wants something she can’t have and then having to say sorry but know she is unhappy when you leave, even if you leave her with another favorite pair of boots she can have. I decided maybe if we made a book off something like, Shutterfly with everyone wearing their Xtratuf boots, maybe that would help her at night!
Well, what I didn’t know was how much she would love it. I knew she would like it, but if you read Katelyn’s blog on Monday, it was very apparent she approved of the book. And that the book evolved into her being able to communicate which boots she wanted right in that moment! On Saturday when I gave Jamie the book, I barely got to page two before she was pilo and running over gesturing for the book! Jamie took the book into the Playroom with a low groan of approval and quietly started flipped through the book. It felt like Jamie was saying, finally!
I only purchased one book because I had no idea how she would respond to it. Sometimes we humans get so excited to give the chimps something. We think “oh Jamie is going to love this” or “Jody is definitely going to use this” and then it’s a flop. Chimps are funny that way. While Anna and I were cleaning the other day we were thinking of different ideas like making a blanket with the boot pictures, or a pillow, or a new book with current and old volunteers shoes that she loved! Now, of course these could all be flops too, but you have to try to find out! If anyone would like to find out, I have put a Shutterfly gift card on the wish list so we can get another 2 or 4 copies of this book for Jamie. Or so we can make a new book for her!
Jamie nesting with the book.
Today I found her book with some pages bookmarked. This could be by chance. But, if we know Jamie she was probably folding those piece over to come back too.
This photo was taken pre-Xtratuf boot book! The other night Diana and I could not figure out what boots Jamie wanted to look at. So we brought her collection out. It turned out later she wanted completely different boots, but she had fun looking.
This book is now always an arms reach away from her.
Jamie up close grooming.
Don’t forget about The Queen’s Brunch. The online auction is going on now! I have been bidding on the Negra painting and keep getting out bid and I am currently in a bidding war for a beautiful Jody colored pencil drawing. Look out for me 😉 Please join us live on Facebook, June 13th for the brunch, it’s going to be so much fun. We hope to see you there!
