Does a dog's single blinking, nodding and staring mean anything?

Our neighbor’s very cute one year old Labrador retriever gives me a single blink whenever I wave at him. Sometimes I’ll be standing there and he would do a single nod. I’d like to think he is saying hi. There’s also a lot of staring contest between us and I usually lose because I needed to do something. He just hangs out. Am I right? Thanks.