The Sensitive Child

I really wonder what is the emotional development for a 4 yo child.
Recently, Janelle has been having alot of emotional meltdowns. She can and will cry over the slightest matters. Initially we thought that it could be due to crankiness by lack of sleep or over-stimulation but it proved otherwise.

She has been seeking alot of attention from me and my hubs recently and she will appear sad/disappointed if we are not able to attend to her immediately. She will seek hugs from me and want me to cuddle her like a baby. She will get jealous over her brother, which I believe is normal & I do pay attention to address the jealousy issues. But it seems to be more than just jealousy that is causing her to have such intense meltdowns lately. I have tried to ask her but either she is not able to verbalise what she is feeling or she may have no idea as to why she is feeling as such too. I have prompted her by asking if she is feeling angry or sad, and she will let me know how she is feeling. But when I asked further, she will not be able to explain why she is feeling that way.

There are many instances that she will just look at us with the sad / disappointed / hurt expression and she may cry any moment. As she can cry, stop and cry again almost every 10minutes, it can get pretty frustrating at times. We tried to ignore her but she will explode to screams when we walked away.  We have attempted to talk to her, justifying that her behaviour was undesirable and what she should have done instead but she will not listen.

Punishment will not work in this case as it may seem to make matters worse rather than addressing the emotional soul. Guilty as charged, I have shouted at her a few times when the situation got too tense but i do not mete out punishment as I believed that it is an emotional development that she is going through. But I am really curious if she is being over sensitive at her age or this is a passing stage for all kids.

Till last night, I figured that her intense emotional meltdowns could be partly due to the fact that my hubs and I will be going for a short trip without the kids.

Yesterday night, she seems to be in deep thoughts at bedtime and I asked her why she was still not sleeping. And her reply was "I love mummy and I want mummy with me always". This sets me thinking if she is bothered by the fact that my hubs and I will be going for a short trip without her (for the first time) and she may be missing us already though we have not left for the trip. I have prep her beforehand that daddy and mummy will be going for a short trip and she will be sleeping with grandpa and grandma while we are away. But I guess she must be feeling upset now knowing that we will be flying off soon and she will miss us dearly.

Somehow, I do hope that her current sensitive soul is due to us being away for a short trip and she will be definitely be better when we return. Otherwise, her incessant crying will really make us go bonkers and we will have a hard time trying to remain patient while addressing her emotional meltdowns.