help! my 2.5 yo screams bloody murder at every accomplishment

[Belize Caye Family]

... and it's getting to the point where I am losing my patience inside. I don't even know where to begin. 

He had a very quiet and happy babyhood, playing and discovering and learning how things worked. I never clapped or made a big fuss when he did something, like put the blocks in the corresponding holes in the shape sorter. Just a simple phrase of acknowledgement and we moved on to discover more. Now, 2 years later, the more he sees other people's praise, clapping, celebrating, crying out in joy, etc, the more he's "freaking out". 

My son starts screaming and crying every time he accomplishes something, every time we arrive at a destination, every time something happens that most kids would be happy about: birthday songs, reaching a goal, a train passing by... This is triggered by anything at any time. Just this morning he made an amazing block building using every block in his collection, and when the last block was placed in the tower, he started screaming, crying, and... clapping. What have I done?? 

It is getting to the point where I am walking on eggshells. I want to protect him from these episodes but I can't always do it. There was a birthday party at the playground where we happened to by playing last week... the kids started singing Happy Birthday and I knew what was coming... and it did. When they finished the song and the birthday child blew out the candles, my son screamed and cried, and everyone thought it was soooo cute... It breaks my heart though. 

I distract, I redirect, I remove him from the situation, but I am at the end of my rope. 

Thanks for listening... maybe I just needed to vent. This too shall pass... 

[OTMomma]

I don't want to be an alarmist- and many kids go through weird stages of having trouble with transitions, but have you read about autism or aspergers?  This is a common kind of problem with kids on the autism spectrum, and I would suggest you read about that and see if it sounds like your son.

I wish I had more good advice- I don't think you should feel bad about your son's reactions- its not really your job to sugar coat the world for him, just comfort him when he becomes upset and point out that all is still OK, even as things change.

[amberskyfire]

I was also going to suggest autism. I don't want to scare you, but that was the first thing that came to mind. It usually shows around age 2. Have you had him evaluated  or have you asked your pediatrician? It could just be one of those phases and he'll grow out of it.