Squeezing his stuffed puppies with delight: "Doggies so sweet!"
Looking at a wallet photo of himself: "so cute."
Unlike very, as explained by The American Heritage® Book of English Usage, the use of so "presumes the listener will be sympathetic with the speaker’s evaluation of the situation, or invites the reader to take a similar point view."
So far, we agree!
p.s. Amma's homemade bibs (as seen here) are so great!