Are things improving

I literally just wrote a post 10 mins ago haha so sorry to flood the page with questions but I'm so confused and unsure . My partner and I have been together 3 years almost and he seems very avoidant. I see all the deactivating strategies over the course of our relationship, pushing me away , flirting with others , fault finding . He can be really cruel when I'm upset and the constant criticism gets to me also not being able to talk about things . When I was pregnant I couldnt even talk about names with him he would just shut down but things give me hope that its changing . He used to chat to random women online which he stopped because of it upsetting me , he does do little things for me like buying my fave chocolate or taking an interest in my hobbies and finding info about them . I recently had our son and then a few weeks ago he said he loved me for the first time completly put of the blue without me practically forcing him ( which I know I shouldn't have done ) that was a huge issue in our relationship so for him I'm seeing it as a big step . I'm wondering if he might be slowly becoming more secure or if its maybe our son has had some kind of effect on him . I do know things drastically need to change or we need to part but I dont know if I should keep going a little longer just in case things are finally getting better and he is becoming more secure . I know over the course of our relationship I have worked on my anxious tendancies as well . Wow this is hard work so good luck to everyone on here trying to work on things no matter what your style is