My DS has just turned 4. Over the past few months, he has become quite prone to bursting into noisy tears when he doesn't get his own way or if I tell him off. Previously, he was more likely to get angry and hit out (he still does this sometimes).
He is also more likely to do "dramatic" crying now when he hurts himself. It used to be that when he hurt himself, he'd cry with pain / shock / whatever for a couple of minutes, and would then be fine. Now, it seems to morph into "over the top" crying.
Whether he's cross or hurt / upset, he seems to be able to calm himself down from the crying quite quickly - so when I say "that's enough now" it only takes a few seconds for him to stop crying.
In general, he's not a particularly sensitive child - he's quite boisterous, and in rough and tumble play, it's usually the other child who has had enough first, and him who keeps going a bit too long. So I'm not quite sure what to make of this new behaviour. He is starting to test emotional boundaries with me - sometimes if he's cross, he'll tell me not to come into his bedroom, so I'm wondering if it's all part of that.
Is this just a standard phase? Or is he trying to tell me something that I'm missing?