What does it mean when a guy teases you for a while and suddenly he is nice?

okay so i secretly like this guy who lives around the block and ever since we met ( 6th grade ) he teased me, but now its the summer of 7th grade; so were 8th graders now, and just recently he has been nice and defending me and caring about how i feel and yesterday he was saying my name in baby talk, i want to know if he likes me or if he is just being a normal flirty-but-not-serious guy??