Potty Milestones and other Potty Thoughts

Potty milestones, there is such a thing, right? First pee, first poop, first day in big boy (or girl) underwear, last accident, first time making it through the night...we are no where near the latter, but we did do one big thing last night. Sam pooped in his potty last night for the first time! It was quite a surprise to all of us and called for celebration...cheers, everyone looks, watch it get flushed, etc. We are not even officially potty training yet, but we 'play' on the potty. Sam often sits on his potty before his bath to pee pee but that's the extent of his potty skills at 27 months.
I think my hesitation is the reason we haven't started. I often need something to make a decision for me...like the bed thing (BTW-look back at that post to see some pictures I added of Sam in his big boy bed.) Sam crawled out and we had to convert the crib to keep him safe. If something doesn't make the decision for me, I spend way to much time thinking about the right time to do it. Which is the case now with the potty thing. At our two year check up the pedi advised us to start 'now' (back then) rather than later. He feels older kids are more difficult to train because they're more independent, which leads to potty battles. Then I hear people say that their almost three year was trained in a day (or week), with no accidents after that first week. The child just decides they're ready and they do it....often times because of the influence of friends their age using the potty. And so, I keep procrastinating because I have nothing making me do it, or any great reasons to do it now or wait. I also have myself convinced that Sam's going to be difficult to potty train...just don't ask me why I think that...another means of procrastination. A couple factors: 1. We do plan to send Sam to preschool next year (9 months from now) and some of the schools we're considering require him to be potty trained, and 2. I don't want to be dealing with ANY potty training issues with a new baby in the house and all that comes along with that (no, we're not preggers yet, but would like to be sometime in the near future). I guess, the reality is he will likely be potty trained before he starts preschool and before we have another baby, but I know me and I know I will continue to put this off until the last minute unless something changes my mind.
I did go to a potty training luncheon recently and bought the speaker's (Dr. Pete Stavinoha from Children's Hospital in Dallas) book, Stress Free Potty Training. That's a move in the right direction, isn't it? I haven't read the book yet, but I liked his message...identify your child's temperament and learning style and pick the potty training method that best suits your child. Maybe it's time for me to do a little reading. (Not much of that has been going on recently.)
I'm sure there will be more to come on this issue in the next 9 months, so stay tuned...