His change in texting habits has me concerned, how to deal?

Aly-you do sound a bit insecure. If he is great and the two of you have a good connection-then quit fixating on texts. Also,things are still casual-not exclusive or official,it seems. Relax and be confident and too busy to sweat over a few texts.
My boyfriend of 6 months and I text constantly, ( he lives 90 min away and we send weekends together)but hours cn go by in between,because we also have separate lives with things to do and friends,work etc. Be cool,live life and see what develops.

Yeah, don’t self sabotage. I’ve learned that the energy you put out is what the universe tends to deliver. Sounds idealistically simple but when I think he loves me, he’s behaves like he loves me, when I think he’s being cold or “something’s wrong” he seems distant I do really believe “energy”. If you don’t, observe yourself and your affect on people when you’re excited & when you’re upset. See how people around you react or change. Are they magnetized or repelled? I used to be extremely detached and first sign of trouble I’d close off. I now live by the above philosophy & also by the saying by… Wilde?? “The best way to find out if you can trust someone, is to trust them” Good luck!

Amanda – we’ve talked about it, he told me exactly this “hopefully what we’re doing is dating and eventually that’ll turn into you being my girlfriend.”

I’ve actually met a few important people in his life, including close friends and both parents. He was open about the whole sex thing, both of us enjoy sex a great deal but I don’t want that to be the only thing he focuses on. It’s possible I gave too much too soon, I’m afraid to tell him that I want to become exclusive. He told me that he wants me to always tell him how I feel. It isn’t like he wants me to suffer with the over analyzing bull, but it’s hard not to without feeling a bit unhinged.

I also worry that your insecurity will bite you. On one hand you ask him if him dating you leads to anything (which is sort of insecure because it makes it clear that youre all in already and leave it up to him) but on the other hand youre afraid to talk about being exclusive.
So its not so much the change in texting that is a red flag but your own insecurity. And i dont mean to make it worse for you now here.
So first i would put a lit on the sexual texting. Use texting to arrange dates and a bit of a chat but nothing more. Make him want to see you in person by not overtexting.
Do takes lane’s advice on where to read up. And fast. But dont go overboard with applying what you read. I mean dont go out of your personality.
Bear in mind that this still can go both ways (in or out) and use your time to assess if he is a good match for you. Try to take of the in love glasses and see him for what he is.
Remember you can live also just fine without him
And there should be a talk ar some point about where both of you can state what you want and if you see a future.
But for now, keep your anxiety under control and let him rake you out. Take care

“But recently, his texting habits have changed drastically. It went from texting all day to texting occasionally and a lot of being left on “read”. He does reply eventually, of course, but each day it seems like more time between those replies increases. ”

Very common player strategy.
The lovebombing in the beginning is designed to make your brain addicted to him.
He then gives you less and less attention.
This will make you even more compliant.
Then he can ignore you for months and come back and he has been on your mind every single day and you don’t even know why.

Always wait many hours before you answer any text message. Be inert and slow. It will make the guy impatient and he realizes that he must call or meet you IRL to get a convesation with you.
Because texting won’t work on you.

Oh gosh, I really hope he isn’t a player! He seems really interested as I said, but something always feels off when he is texting less. He has a life, I get it. I do, too, and I admit that I am without a doubt looking into this way too much. He has texted me today, texted to say good morning and we had a brief conversation about something he enjoys and it just kind of stopped, which doesn’t surprise me because he is likely with his buddy and doing what they usually do together.

He mentioned that he’s a-okay with meeting my parents, I’ve met his and a couple close friends. I don’t know if that means anything. I don’t want to see obsessive or clingy but I also don’t want to feel like I’m doing something wrong. He says he really likes me a lot, so maybe that’s true or maybe it isn’t. Time will tell.

Again thank you for the wonderful responses that keep coming in. I’m going to try working on myself to avoid becoming too concerned about this whole thing.

Things are great when we’re together in person, indeed, but I am going to become extra aware when we hang out from now on. I’ll worry less about the texting (or at least try) and focus more on the time spent together in person. See if it remains consistent (how often he wants to meet up, that is.)

Update:

Thanks to everything that put in their two cents, all was super helpful.

He decided yesterday to make things official, at least as far as labels go. He was excited and happy about it, too. Surprised me with a nice dinner and I met more of his family. He also explained why there are times when he replies very slowly or not at all and it made sense. I’m going to try putting an end to my sobsession with how often/how many texts I get from him, because things are pretty good where it counts – in person.

congrats on being official. moving forward, i suggest you either relax on your expectations with texting or stop referring to yourself as “chill”. chill girls don’t ask guys if they’re into them, if they’re feeling them. and chill girls most definitely do not obsess over a guy texting them or not.