Excessive Crying

My son turned 4 in November, and since then I have noticed that he seems to be ultra sensitive to EVERYTHING!  If he asks me for something and I say "no" or "not right now" he gets really upset and seriously starts crying. If he wants to go to a friends house and I call and the kid isn't home, he cries. If he wants a piece of gum and I say no, he cries. Just this morning I told him we were going to see some of my friends tomorrow night. One of them has a baby about his brother's age, and the other one doesn't. He got so upset when I told him that my other girlfriend didn't have a child. He has started begging for EVERYTHING. He will wine, then storm off and continue to bug me for whatever it was that he wanted. I've been thinking that it's a 4 year old's way to express that he is upset, but it is getting worrisome for me. Please tell me it's normal. How can I handle it. I've justified his disappointment, and tried to explain that some things are just out of our control. Sometimes our friends aren't home because they have things they need to do w/their parent or school or whatever. You don't need to have cookies before dinner, and you don't need a cookie as soon as you finish your last bite. UGH! It is soooo frusterating. If I tell him that it's no reason to cry, I feel like I am making things worse. Please help, I need some advice on how to handle it so that don't emotionally damage my child and myself!

[jdtm]

One book that might help you is called "the highly sensitive child" by Elaine N. Aron.  If you google this title, you should be able to find more information about this topic.  I would suspect this book might even be in your public library system (although it can be obtained on-line and in some bookstores).  All the best ...