Once my twins were a year old, I started them feeding them the same way I feed older kids-- three meals a day with the family, two snacks about halfway between meals, and nursing on demand. I think it's different for each kid-- some kids continue to be very dependent on breastmilk for their calories and nutrition, take to solids slowly, and continue nursing a lot. Other kids seem to start to rely more on solids. I think you just have to follow their cues, and try different things and see what works.
(I don't mention DD1, because I EPed for her, so it was way different.)
I never noticed that offering more solids decreased the night nursing any, especially in a child who's primarily nursing to get to and back to sleep. That was my DS, at that age--- the nursing, for him, was all about sleep. He wanted very little of it when he was awake, but he needed it to fall asleep for naps and at night, and nursed frequently throughout the night as a way of getting back to sleep. I could have fed him whole roasted rhinos all day, and he still would have nursed all night, because for him it wasn't really about food anymore.
As far as milk at meals-- I think a small amount is okay, if you want to offer it, but there's not any reason he has to have it. In my experience, it was offering bottles of milk that led quickly to weaning. Small amounts in cups, with meals, didn't seem to make a difference in how fast or slow weaning happened.
