Well, yeah, I can see that. Maybe he needs to learn some new vocabulary words! I might have missed this part, but have you ever told him how much it would mean to you to hear him actually say he respects and admires you?
So you guys talked about it and you tried to be very calm and let him see that it is safe to discuss this type of thing with you. I saw that he thought you were pretty amazing in the way you've handled it so far, so clearly you did a good job there. What did he say about it? Was he regretful? Did he apologize?
