That's better.

When you kid finally comes clean and tells you 'I'm scared you're going to throw me out' - you've got something to work with.

Grateful as hell I have the presence of mind these days to recognize this as a developmental milestone and not an insult. (That? That was my mother.) Then the fact this has been scaring him for weeks sinks in and it breaks me all over again.

Dammit, I was right. I just botched the approach.

But now that we know, there's hope to recover the situation - again.