I recently did this with Sonja. And, the good news is that she has put herself down every single time since. No real crying, and often she just lies down and goes right to sleep. I am glad that I waited until she was this age, because I think she was ready, and it was not as harrowing as I thought it might be. We've also had success with this at night-time, too. Next step is converting her crib to a toddler bed in prep of the second baby coming:) Congrats! Hope it keeps going well for you.
I agree with you all that it is much easier to put them down at this stage. I love that dd will now play with her soother and projector before going down as well as when she wakes up. Also, I think it is a lot easier to tell when she is tired then when she was younger.
Re: Nap Training (OMG - good...)