Vacuum Cleaners and Talking Bears

For months Kinsey was afraid to meet new people, she would cling to me and refuse to look at new people who tried to talk to her. In new surroundings it would take hours for her to warm up enough to go play, and if anything at all upsetting happened in a new place, her fun was over and she was ready to leave.
Then, I guess about six months or so ago, she decided that she wasn't afraid of those things any more. When she sees new people she smiles and talks to them, in new places she runs off to play without another thought. She still keeps me (momma) within sight if she can, but she is much more independent.
She also use to stand and just observe almost the whole time in her Children's Church class, and now she participates and talks and plays. Everything I read says this is normal for her age and that it happens just that fast. One day nervous and stand off-ish, the next, social and happy.
Well it also says they can develop sudden fears to things that they have been around their whole lives. It is just a part of developing awareness or something like that, and she has come into a new phase of it.
Her whole life she has seen and been around the vacuum cleaner and it is loud, yes, but has never scared her. Now she acts afraid and sits on the house whining the whole time in a high pitch squeeking sound that I can hear even above the vacuum's 'vrooming'. Weird.
Another new one is the Christmas bear she has played with for months now. You push his hand and he reads the Christmas story about santa and his reindeer. His mouth moves and his head turns back and forth like Stevie Wonder. She loved him for weeks and weeks, but now when you turn him on she freaks out. It is so funny, but I try not to laugh.
Her last silly fear is the Harrigan boys 'vrooming' their cars around in the house. They may have crashed into her long ago, but there was not traumatic experience I can link the fear to. They don't bump her with them any more, but she gets so worked up when they even start to make the 'vrooming' noise. They can be across the room and she will run to me like the car is coming to get her. It is so weird and rather sudden. I feel bad when she acts so afraid because the boys don't get it, I don't even get it and so I try to explain that she is just afraid and thank goodness they just shrug their shoulders and move on. There really is no rhyme or reason to it and so I just hope that we grow out of this phase soon.
Especially the one with the vacuum, because the high pitch squeaking noise she makes while I'm using it is highly annoying. I keep thinking the wheels on the vacuum are squeaking, but it carries on even after I've stopped moving it and it is coming from the couch, not the machine. Hahaha!
Too funny!