Il bambino gattona vicino al fasciatoio.

Il is the definite article, meaning the. In Italian, you usually need an article before a singular noun when you mean a specific person or thing.

So:

• il bambino = the child / the boy
• bambino by itself would sound more like a dictionary form or a label, not a complete normal noun phrase in this sentence.

It can mean either, depending on context.

• bambino literally is the masculine form
• bambina is the feminine form

So il bambino can mean:

• the boy
• the child, if the child is male

If you want a more gender-neutral word in some contexts, Italian might use il bambino generically, but often gender is still marked in the grammar.

Gattona is the third-person singular form of the verb gattonare, which means to crawl.

So:

• gattonare = to crawl
• io gattono = I crawl
• tu gattoni = you crawl
• lui / lei gattona = he / she crawls

In this sentence, il bambino is singular, so the verb must also be singular: gattona.

Usually, yes. Gattonare most often refers to the kind of crawling a baby does on hands and knees.

That makes it a very natural verb in this sentence. It is more specific than a general English verb like move.

Because vicino is commonly followed by a when it means near / close to.

So the structure is:

• vicino a + noun

Since a + il = al, you get:

• vicino al fasciatoio

Examples:

• vicino alla porta = near the door
• vicino al letto = near the bed

So al is just a contraction of a + il.

Al is one of the Italian preposition + article contractions.

It comes from:

• a = to / at / near, depending on context
• il = the

Together:

• a + il = al

Italian does this very often:

• del = di + il
• nel = in + il
• sul = su + il
• col = con + il in some usage

So vicino al fasciatoio literally contains near to-the changing table, but in natural English we just say near the changing table.

Fasciatoio is a changing table or changing station, the place where a baby’s diaper is changed.

It comes from the idea of fasciare, historically related to wrapping or swaddling a baby, so the word is strongly associated with baby care.

Here it functions as a word meaning near / close to, followed by a.

You will often see it used in a few different ways:

• La scuola è vicina. = The school is near.
  Here vicina acts like an adjective and agrees with scuola.
• La scuola è vicino a casa. = The school is near home.
  Here it behaves more like an adverbial expression.

In Il bambino gattona vicino al fasciatoio, it works as part of the expression vicino a = near.

Because in this sentence it is not directly describing il bambino as an adjective. It is part of the location phrase vicino al fasciatoio.

Compare:

• Il bambino vicino al fasciatoio = The child near the changing table
  Here vicino is tied more directly to bambino
• Il bambino gattona vicino al fasciatoio = The child crawls near the changing table
  Here it describes where the crawling happens

So there is no need to change it to match bambino here.

The word order is very standard:

• Il bambino = subject
• gattona = verb
• vicino al fasciatoio = place expression

So it follows the common pattern:

subject + verb + location

That is one reason this is a very natural beginner sentence.

A simple pronunciation guide:

• gattona ≈ ga-TTO-na
  The double tt should be held a little longer than a single t.
• fasciatoio ≈ fa-sha-TO-yo

A few useful details:

• ci before a, o, u usually sounds like ch in church only when written cia, cio, ciu, but in fasciatoio the sci gives a sh sound
• io at the end often sounds like yo

So fasciatoio has a smooth sound: fa-sha-TO-yo.

Because Italian usually does not need subject pronouns when the subject is already clear.

Here the subject is explicitly stated:

• Il bambino gattona

Even when the subject is not stated, the verb form often tells you who is doing the action:

• Gattono = I crawl
• Gattoni = you crawl
• Gattona = he/she crawls

So adding lui here would usually be unnecessary unless you want emphasis:

• Il bambino gattona = normal
• Lui gattona = He crawls, with emphasis or contrast

Yes. Bimbo is a very common shorter form of bambino.

So:

• il bambino = the child / the boy
• il bimbo = the child / the little boy

Bimbo can sound a little warmer or more informal, but both are natural in everyday Italian.