Bets! I have returned tanned and rested from the beach and village... so I am catching up!
Triple J makes some salient points here, as usual. Seems to me there is still quite a bit of analyzing and not taking things at face value even when he is communicating them... fixer-mania, and it takes one to know one, so I feel pretty qualified to recognize this myself.
It does feel strange when they start communicating what they weren't saying before.
Your interactions (sleeveless shirt included) all sound pretty positive. It does seem like the callback clarifications work pretty well for you both... in terms of creating some understanding. This also works well for me and my H (when we are communicating) and I think it works *precisely* because it is a 180 from what was not working... keep it up.