Beanie!

Chris Wells at Arizona

Chris Wells at OSU

Zach during his "Beanie" phase.

Zach's first words were Mama, Dada, no, go, Grover and Beanie - in that order. Beanie was the nickname of Ohio State's star running back, Chris Wells, who went on to play in the NFL for the Cardinals.

Every weekend during the 2007 football season, Zach would put on his number 28 jersey and yell "Go Beanie!" whenever Daddy said to. It was pretty cute, and became one of the defining traits of his toddlerhood.

Zach (age 9) with Chris Wells at a Columbus Crew game, July 2014

Last week, we took the kids to a Columbus Crew game. I got the discounted tickets through Columbus State, who was selling the tickets as part of Ohio Educator's night at Crew Stadium. The tickets allowed us to stand by the boards during the team warm-up. As the kids were watching the players warm up, Chris Wells and his family was being led to the VIP section down front. In what I can only describe as a crazy mom moment, I walked up to him and told him Beanie was one of Zach's first words.

His usher immediately stepped in saying, "Mr. Wells can't stop. He needs to get to his seat," but Wells stopped and asked if Zach was there. I pulled Zach back from watching the Crew and Wells said, "Let's get a picture." Zach wasn't sure what was going on, but he smiled and we explained later. Pretty cool.