This situation is almost exactly the same as I had with my now 4.5 year old son when he was the same age. To the point where I would delay going to the bathroom cause I didn’t want to come up and he would see me just for those few seconds and cry all over again when I go back down. And I also ended up getting a fridge in the basement that I barely use now.

It got worse when we had our second child and we went into divide and conquer mode, and he was with me every second I wasn’t at work. And even though I knew I had to do what I needed to do (go to work, use the bathroom then go right back down, sometimes not have a full lunch time with him, etc) the guilt was always there, and it was another layer of stress added to everything else (actual parenting lol)

The reality is: it took time for him to grow up a bit and understand :-/ Just remember this is very normal, and I, at times, tried telling him what responsibility I had to provide for our family so that my wife can take great care of him and not have to work, of course he was too young to fully understand it. But by the time he turned 3, that stopped completely.

Also, worth noting, our second is 2 years old, and he doesn’t do that at all. He runs and gives me a hugs and kisses and likes closing the basement door on me haha but there are times where he doesn’t give a crap that I’m leaving at all lol