My partner loves and appreciates me.

What they say when you are not in the room teaches you more than anything said to your face. Somebody repeats it back later, he was telling us about your work, he was proud of it, and it lands differently.

Appreciation at home tends to go unspoken because it seems obvious. Obvious things are exactly the ones that stop getting said.

It is fine to ask for it. There is nothing weak about telling someone you would like to hear it out loud from time to time.

It also runs in reverse. Say the thing about them today, ideally to somebody else.