Studying Chinese

I have been trying to practice every day, saying "I am your mama," and trying to get the pronounciation of Therese's Chinese name.  I bought a DVD called The River Dragon King, which is to teach Mandarin to children.  The kids love it and have learned a few words from it.  I have also learned how to say, not just apple in Chinese, but red, yellow, or green apple.  I'm sure that will be a crucial skill in China!  We have also learned the words for grapes, watermelon, mountain, and flying cloud.  (There is a flying cloud in the story on the DVD, but I'm not sure how often it comes up in a normal conversation in China.)  I ordered a book on Chinese, thinking I could study it a little bit every so often.  The day it came I was so excited.  After I got the kids to bed I sat down to study and read, "Chinese is charactarized by parataxis whereby grammatical elements such as phrases or clauses are coordinated without the use of conjunctions....  English relies on hypotaxis.... Sentences in paratactic languages such as Chinese are necessarily simpler and less embedded than those of hypotactic languages such as English...."  I closed the book and went to bed.  I think I will have to catch up on my sleep before I tackle it.  I think I will have to use mime to communicate with Therese.  Or I can always ask her whether she wants a red, yellow, or green apple.