Little Lion...

Ethan had the wrong name during his entire NICU stay. The hospital uses the last name/maiden name of the mother for all admitted newborns. John and I aren't married so Ethan was referred to as "Ethan Intal" during the final days of his life. (I'm still trying to correct his death certificate.)

I suppose this bothered Ethan when he was still present.

The night before Ethan had his MRI, one of the night shift nurses made a name tag for his isolette. The name tag had a lion on it. The following morning (just hours before we received his poor prognosis) I asked the nursing staff if they knew that his real last name was “de Leon”, but they said no.

An interesting coincidence, don't you think?

His last name means "lion". If there is one thing that all of the men his family has in common, it is deep pride in their last name. I guess Ethan had this pride too. Even though he was still medically alive, his soul was already floating elsewhere doing things to let us know he was still around. Showing pride in his name was one of them. And so he became "Our Little Lion".

He was the E.N.D. of the boy cubs A.N.D. the reason behind the safe arrival our little girl. :)