Help me with sleep "training"

Background:  I've always rocked or nursed LO to sleep.  Around 11:00/midnight he wakes up crying and ends up bedsharing with us.  We used to bedshare from the beginning of the night, so this is good progress.  We moved him to a twin mattress in his room (from the crib in his room) about three months ago. 

I'm ready to be done with the rocking because he's gone from falling asleep rather quickly to needing to be rocked for up to an hour.  He obviously tired too and fighting it, so earlier bedtime is not an option.  He rarely falls asleep nursing anymore and is showing signs of weaning soon I think.  I'd really like to do away with the bedsharing too, but it's not on the top list of priorities right now.  He's getting very restless/kicking at night and it's physically wearing me out.

Do you have any non-CIO options to share?  Tonight I finally just sat in the rocking chair and stared at him until he fell asleep, but I was sitting there for an hour.  Is this a good method and he'll eventually get used to it or is there something better I missing? Should we do whatever method we choose just at the beginning of the night at first and then phase out bedsharing later or try to do it in the middle of the night too?

Thanks!