diff --git a/src/editor/lang-heynote/nested-parser.js b/src/editor/lang-heynote/nested-parser.js
index 3efa9ca..9e96c14 100644
--- a/src/editor/lang-heynote/nested-parser.js
+++ b/src/editor/lang-heynote/nested-parser.js
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ export function configureNesting() {
                 //console.log("found parser for language:", langName)
                 return {
                     parser:languageMapping[langName],
+                    overlay: [{from:node.from, to:node.to}],
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/editor/todo-checkbox.ts b/src/editor/todo-checkbox.ts
index 2a74a2b..4cbac72 100644
--- a/src/editor/todo-checkbox.ts
+++ b/src/editor/todo-checkbox.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import { EditorView, Decoration } from "@codemirror/view"
-import { syntaxTree, ensureSyntaxTree } from "@codemirror/language"
 import { WidgetType } from "@codemirror/view"
 import { ViewUpdate, ViewPlugin, DecorationSet } from "@codemirror/view"
 
+import { getNoteBlockFromPos } from "./block/block"
 import { isMonospaceFont } from "./theme/font-theme"
 import { transactionsHasAnnotation, SET_FONT } from "./annotation"
 
@@ -48,38 +48,22 @@ class CheckboxWidget extends WidgetType {
     ignoreEvent() { return false }
 }
 
+const checkboxRegex = /^([\t\f\v ]*-[\t\f\v ]*)\[( |x|X)\]/gm
 
 function checkboxes(view: EditorView) {
     let widgets: any = []
     for (let { from, to } of view.visibleRanges) {
-        syntaxTree(view.state).iterate({
-            from, to,
-            enter: (nodeRef) => {
-                // make sure we only enter markdown nodes
-                if (nodeRef.name == "Note") {
-                    let langNode = nodeRef.node.firstChild?.firstChild
-                    if (langNode) {
-                        const language = view.state.doc.sliceString(langNode.from, langNode.to)
-                        if (!language.startsWith("markdown")) {
-                            return false
-                        }
-                    }
-                }
-                
-                if (nodeRef.name == "TaskMarker") {
-                    // the Markdown parser creates a TaskMarker for "- [x]", but we don't want to replace it with a
-                    // checkbox widget, unless its followed by a space
-                    if (view.state.doc.sliceString(nodeRef.to, nodeRef.to+1) === " ") {
-                        let isChecked = view.state.doc.sliceString(nodeRef.from, nodeRef.to).toLowerCase() === "[x]"
-                        let deco = Decoration.replace({
-                            widget: new CheckboxWidget(isChecked, view.state.facet(isMonospaceFont)),
-                            inclusive: false,
-                        })
-                        widgets.push(deco.range(nodeRef.from, nodeRef.to))
-                    }
-                }
+        let range = view.state.sliceDoc(from, to)
+        let match
+        while (match = checkboxRegex.exec(range)) {
+            if (getNoteBlockFromPos(view.state, from + match.index)?.language?.name === "markdown") {
+                let deco = Decoration.replace({
+                    widget: new CheckboxWidget(match[2] === "x" || match[2] === "X", view.state.facet(isMonospaceFont)),
+                    inclusive: false,
+                })
+                widgets.push(deco.range(from + match.index + match[1].length, from + match.index + match[0].length))
             }
-        })
+        }
     }
     return Decoration.set(widgets)
 }